Climbing Mt.Omoto

Photo Diary: 3rd Oct 2009. Every day when I leave my flat I am greeted by the site of Okinawa's tallest mountain, Mt.Omoto. By world mountain standards its peak is barley above sea level at around 530m, but still, on a hot and humid day it still offers a fair hike.I'd been planning on climbing it for a few weeks now, with my original idea being to get up at around 6am and cycle to the base of the mountain before the heat of the day sets in. Late nights meant that this plan never came to fruition and I finally lost patience with myself during the middle of last week and made a spur of the moment to climb it after lunch.

Big, but they get a lot bigger than this. Some of Japan's biggest spiders can be found on Ishigaki

The first thing I became aware of was the sheer abundance and variety of life on the trail. I could barely take two steps without a lizard darting out from under a stone and the chirps from insects were so loud that they actually became quite disorientating at one point. I was also lucky enough to bump into a large 'kuwagata' beetle which are kept as pets throughout the whole of Japan and can attract extremely high prices.

Despite the fact that I love taking pictures of all types of wildlife I'm extremely arachnophobic, and Mt.Omoto is a hardly the ideal location of arachnophobes; spiders with a leg span of around 25cm are not unheard of.

During the hike to Omoto's summit you're likley to meet many lizards like this one

However, spiders were not my prime concern. As the path narrowed I suddenly became aware of something which I really should have considered earlier - the potential for a habu snake encounter.

With a length of around 10cm this Kuwagata beetle would fetch around 5000 Yen in a pet store

I didn't see a single other sole during my hike to the peak and given that I was all alone and without a mobile phone a bite from a habu snake would have been no joke. Indeed, I bumped into a friend yesterday who told me that he'd seen two habu snakes while surveying construction sites over the last few of weeks. He thought that I was crazy to have have done the hike alone at this time of year, but still, something is only crazy if you're aware of how dangerous it is before you do it...right?

While the trail starts off quite wide it gradually narrows and becomes more overgrown and jungle-like as you approach the summit. This may be an indication that most people give up before making it to the top, although my guess that the insects pay as much a part in people making the decision to quit as fatigue does. It must be said though that while the foliage protected me from the sun it also had the negative effect of blocking out any breeze and raising the humidity significantly.

I finally made it to the peak at around 4.00pm, which only me around 15 minutes to take photos and take a rest before heading back down. The view from the peak is outstanding, in fact, it reminded me of the view of Ishigaki island which I'd enjoyed from the plane when I arrived almost a year ago.

Although it was pretty hazy I could clearly distinguish the Hirakubo peninsula extending to the north, Kabira to the west and the pacific ocean to the east. It was really nice to see the physical shape of the island which I'd become so familiar with through looking at maps.

I became aware that I was burning sunlight and began the hike back down. As usual I found hiking downhill far more tricky than uphill and I must have taken at least seven stumbles during the descent. The fact that I was wearing skate shoes rather than hiking boots probably didn't help. I arrived back at the base of the mountain around 50 minutes later and began a rather lazy ride back to the city.

Climbing Mt.Omoto is something which doesn't seem to interest most tourists who visit Ishigaki and it's something which I'd neglected doing for far too long. It turned out to be more enjoyable than I'd expected and I'll definitely be heading back again in the near future. Next time however I'll set out at a more reasonable time and I'll be sure to take a phone, some friends, and a picnic to enjoy at the peak. If you're interested in climbing Mount Omoto then you may find this page useful.

On arriving at the summit I was treated to a fantastic view of Ishigaki's pacific coast