"Trekking"

I had one of those weekends where rest wasn't involved, so I'm beat this morning. Unfortunately, it's only Monday morning and I have a few days of desk surfing to conquer before I get to play in the mountains with the Nishi HS hiking club.

A few months back, I was imbibing with teachers at a work party and they invited me to join their hike at the end of March. I had been asking Mr. Kubara to take me along on a hike with the hiking club for a while, so I was psyched to join. I didn't realize at that time that the expedition they were talking about would involve a four-day trek up the tallest mountain in Kyushu and camping with students. Ah... the things we agree to at work parties!

Well, Mr. Kubara reminded me of my promise recently and took me, along with some students and another teacher, on a "practice" hike Saturday. We hiked a mountain near Omura in POURING rain. I was wet to my undies by the time we got back to the car.

The hike was really fun, but would have been better without all the the rain. We crossed a river about six times and some places we had to rely on ropes to get up and down some tricky spots. We also met a few ladders along the way. I just kept thinking how much more I'd be enjoying myself if my feet were squishing the water out of my soaked socks within my boots.

We are leaving on Thursday night for Yakushima. We've got a long trip to get to the island, then we'll have two days of hiking. When I tell my Japanese friends where I'm going, they ask me to take pictures and say, "Yakushima is beautiful." When I tell them I'm hiking it, they look at me very doubtful and say, "Are you going to be alright?"

I can do it. I just hope I don't break a limb along the way.