the old post trail

day 53
tsumago - magome



it's a 3 hour hike over the mountain pass from tsumago to magome, and clearly, we're going to need fortifying. after breakfast, we get a full 30m away from the ryokan before stopping to gorge on eggplant buns roasted over this cozy fire. yes, that's another open fire in the middle of a wood floor.






you can tell a lot about a city's ecological footprint by looking in the ditch.






the three hour walk took us 3.5 hours. but we stopped to smell the flowers. our ryokan host does it in 1 hour, of course.


























check out this little guy's erosion control skill.































the ubiqitous salaryman. wearing a suit up in the mountains, on a nature walk. naturally.
















fire. wood.

our ryokan for this night. hope they're not brewing tea while we're sleeping.






this gives last night's meal a run for the money. the amazing thing is, breakfast looks nearly identical. different items of course. not so amazing that we eat it all, plus lunch and snacks.