Backpacking Japan's Ancient Trail: The Kumano Kodo Pilgrimage Part 1

Japan from ancient castles to towering Peaks to the far north these are just some of the amazing locations in the country we've had the privilege of visiting now we set our sights on the legendary Kumo Coto a series of pilgrimage routes filled with sacred sites located in the Key Peninsula of Japan in total we would be hiking over 40 Mi along the way experiencing the history of the region dating back over a thousand years as is often the case though Trails this incredible are just as difficult [Music] [Music] the first part of our long kumoto adventure began here at the haneda airport okay we are on the Tokyo Montreal now this is a straight shot cuz we're on the express from the airport all the way to hamam matuo we're going to transfer at hamam matuo and then take another line to Tokyo station and that's where we'll get on the bullet train in Japan just getting to the Wilderness to hike is a long process but one made easy thanks to Japan's extensive public transit system after a quick transfer we made it to Tokyo station from Tokyo Station we would hop onto the tokaido shinh kanen bullet train and make our way to Osaka okay that took a little while but we are on track 15 we have almost an hour to kill let's go find some place to eat and so we bought some ubet or train station lunch boxes and made our way up to our platform so I remember in Japanese class they they would talk about different Japanese cultural things and one of the things is to ride the bullet train and get a station lunchbox got some tempura shrimp oh that's good a lot better than I expected cuz like the rice is still soft and stuff I thought it was going to be like cold and hard it's actually really good yeah yeah it roughly came out to $7.50 us for a nice lunch box yeah this is good stuff there were all sorts of different treats and souvenirs you could buy at this train station eventually our train arrived at the station but we needed to wait for the cleaning crew to finish so I got a little beverage in the meantime room it's plum Plum it says 196° and it just seemed to speak to me so apparently in Japan there's no open container laws so you can just drink alcohol on the streets it just tastes like it's like grape juice yeah it's like a plum soda with a slight alcohol flavor Thomas was so impressed that he decided to get a second drink and do a wiel and just in time our train was ready to be boarded we made some idle conversation while we waited for it to depart how don't we have underwater this actually is way ni F flying is a a terrible experience imagine if planes had this much leg room [Music] now our train would travel at a top speed of 200 mph or 320 kmph taking us to Osaka from there we would catch a second train that would take us to a smaller town called na Robbie and I dug into our Bento boxes during the ride a lunch box that's not bad what is your chicken and mackerel I wanted to go kind of light for a big hike cuz I don't want to take too many risks the bullet train continued taking us out of Tokyo at a truly impressive speed we just passed another bullet train and that was kind of frightening see other bullet trains flying by in the other Direction were unnerving but the ride was quiet and comfortable enough to take a nap as we admired the unique Suburban Landscapes of Japan we were lucky enough to get a clear view of Mount Fuji during the summer months it spends most of the day covered in clouds how tall is Mount Fuji maybe 12,500 ft you can compare it to like mount reneer mount reer is 14,000 ft but it has a similar presence to mount ler when you're driving by and you just see this really like iconic looking mountain in the distance you still have aspirations to clim it you know maybe another time but it's just been so hot and humid here that'll probably be dry up on the mountain though I don't know I still want to but it's just not it's so busy I don't know I don't I don't feel that urge too yeah Andrew's [Music] awake we still had a ways to go but now that we were surrounded by mountains and Greenery it felt like our adventure was truly beginning hasard train ride continued we were treated with all sorts of stunning Japanese [Music] scenery our old friend Daryl who was in our previous set of videos in Japan had helped us plan out this entire hike but due to a series of unfortunate circumstances he wasn't able to join us Daryl's planning had been invaluable but since this was an unfamiliar country and an unfamiliar Trail we took some extra time on the train to look over our plans so I really wish that darl could be here not just because it'd be great to have him here but he also knows this all already so we wouldn't have to do anything we are furiously rubbing all four of our brain cells together just to get something going the landscape had now transitioned back to a more urban one as we approached another major city so this is ngoya this is actually where I studied for two semesters oh really when I lived here yeah we already in Nya mhm we have about another hour or two on this train and then we switch at Shen Osaka we arrived at Shin Osaka station where we would have to transfer and the summer heat hit us all at once wa sweltering it's 96 right now next stop we got 15 minutes we need to ride the Kudo shio 19 probably to the Jr lines that [Music] way it's this one right here yeah 6 C 5c okay we had made it to the next train which provided some much needed relief from the intense heat it had been a long journey so far and we still had a ways to go before our final destination of tab all right so we've been traveling for just under 4 hours now we've got about a little less than 2 hours we get there we got to do some preparations for tomorrow but I think I'm feeling pretty good about the hike how about you oh he wasn't listening he feels good about the hike too after another quick stop the train continued [Music] on WE again passed through a variety of Landscapes since it would be my first time in a rural part of Japan I decided to ask Robbie about it what are three things I need to know about Japanese countrys less people speak English I don't know what else I don't know I'm asking you you've been here before the Striking scenery around us was now gilded in the Golden Glow of the low Evening Sun Amber clouds hovered above the distant ocean waters as we passed through more small towns the sun sank behind the surrounding [Music] [Music] HS eventually we paused in a small town called Gobo and it seemed we were the only ones left on the train anyone else here there a don't get off my train stations are deserted and the train is definitely quiet what' you say oh we got 30 more minutes and then we're there we got one last glimpse of a brilliant Sunset as we rode through an area with lowerline Hills near the coast the train rolled right along the water's edge giving us a brilliant view of the Pacific Ocean as we neared our final stop [Music] ke that's our stop yeah right on time 4 minutes 4 minutes packing my stuff how was that ride it was nice but man this is such a journey we're on we haven't got to the trail yet we got off the train and we're met with a summer evening Sky nothing matches the magic of train stations at night oh I love it so much from there we exited the station and saw a preview of our hike on the way out that's our Trail right [Music] there now we made our way to to the Inn we were staying at for the night keeping an eye out for places to eat on the way there um everything is closing so we should probably make sure that we can actually get a restaurant before everything closes cuz look at all these shutters it's only 640 this like dinner time all right I got to go home we continue towards the end stopping for the occasional [Music] distraction we now entered a more residential area of town which was full of houses and apartment buildings it was a quiet evening a clear contrast from the bustling city of Tokyo eventually we neared the Inn where we would be staying tonight so we are staying at the Tsukasa house and as they say in Japan Tsukasa Is Mikasa our host showed us around and gave us a helpful overview of the hike ahead of us also there's a number sign like this every 500 M awesome next it was time to look for dinner so we are the only ones staying at this hostel tonight so uh that's fun are you feeling this atmosphere right now feeling this heat right now I have to think about the fact that I'm going to feel like this for the next 72 hours wa I've had this this experience a couple of times now where you get to these cities after dark and they're just like empty it literally feels like a movie set yeah it's just everybody is gone we continued our search for food through the silent town and ended up walking through some strange places okay Thomas just took us down a random alley he says there's restaurants down here what is happening right now those are just tile squeaking where are we look at this floor light dude what did we just walk through I don't know what is this magical place we just came through there this feels like a fever dream the intense heat and humidity and the all day traveling just makes this feel like the most unreal situation right now like what is this room is this a real room these empty back alleys felt like an abandoned movie set or Lial space but with a more appealing Japanese [Music] aesthetic so vastly different from anything I've ever experienced in the US man so interesting all right so the restaurant that was recommended by the hotel was closed there's another one open right here though there's also a bunch that we passed by I think anything we'll do at this point but the restaurant was in isaka or Japanese Tavern and was filled with quaint rustic decor we were LED upstairs into a small Booth where we were given warm moist towelettes smells kind of good actually but there was one hitch the entire menu was in Japanese we managed to get some drinks but it would take more effort to order food if Daryl was here he'd just be like y we can get this one this one this one this one this one this one this one this one we'd be done I need you Daryl it has hard mode right now right yeah cuz not every Foreigner is going to have a friend out here that can translate [Music] those potatoes that's right so we did no research on this place so we didn't know how much it would cost but it looks like it's going to be pretty expensive so we're going to eat like monks not just walk like monks like I had a little slice of potato and a half and I'm like okay that's it for me tonight was entire thing was probably just a quarter of a potato now with my subar reading ability and the help of Technology we did manage to order a variety of food okay these are fried shrimp balls this is fried chicken and then we've got temper [Music] assortment wow this really good shrimp flavor is super aromatic so we've got some grilled macel it's like let's try one of these salty and it has this like subtle sweetness super good I just love mackerel it's got a sweetness to it should I eat the Pinko leaf or the Japanese maple leaf are they edible this one might be cuz I know people eat maple leaves sometimes but I don't know about that this is the the best saddest meal I've ever had you drinking your sauce Thomas [Music] no all of the food was of utmost quality but we ultimately left unsatisfied we didn't have the budget required to fill up all four of our stomachs [Music] here that food was delicious overpriced way too small of portions yeah you hit it exactly right that is the best saddest meal I've ever had now it was back through the town to buy more food and some snacks for tomorrow's hike we found our way back to the train station's convenience store and explored around a bit [Music] hey and we got another preview of the hike ahead that looks manageable I think I will find Enlightenment through this suffering yeah wow that was awesome hole we made our way back to the Inn where the rooms provided relief from the heat the AC is working wow it's nice here since that was definitely not enough like a little Fried Rice with pork and egg would you like any I am actually okay oh man yeah yeah good okay so Thomas and Andrew are staying in the sakuro room me and Brian are in Kiku let's find out what they're doing Thomas what are you doing I'm selfs AED I'm in my my hypobaric chamber right here is it hypobaric or Hyperbaric all right good night good night okay it's 9:55 p.m. we're going to get up at 5:15 a.m. and try to catch the 615 bus I'm going to try to get as good a night of sleep as possible because tomorrow will be the litmus test for the rest of the trail it also might rain but uh we'll sleep and hopefully have a good night we'll see you in the am the first step in our journey would begin with the 40-minute bus ride from Key tab station to the Taki GD OG bus stop we would then hike 13.3 km or 8.26 Mi to the town of chatu Yu where we would stay the night next we would travel another 24.5 km or 15.2 Mi to the town of hungu and stay another night the third day would involve another 16 km or 10 Mi to Kachi and finally the fourth day we would travel 14.5 k or 9 miles to the kamano nii shrine before taking a bus to katsuura for a long train ride back to Tokyo looks like it's going to rain at 1 or 2:00 p.m. with any luck we'll be done with most of our hiking by then the good news is it's only 76° F then again it's 5:30 in the [Music] morning we were all a bit nervous about the upcoming hike the the distance the heat the rain and the uphills were all variables that could make things difficult for us but we were also excited to wander through the forests and mountains again to experience the wild sight of Japan that often gets overlooked in popular culture we left the inn and made our way back through the town of tanabi it was the break of dawn and the streets were nearly just as quiet as they were the night before in the distance we could see the Tory Gates that marked the entrance to the to shrine okay thank you to Aki at sucasa house thank you for your hospitality and the nice beds and cool air conditioning we've made it with 13 minutes to spare on the kumano Coto we would continue to stay at similar ends each night this meant we were on a bit of a time limit to get to each Town while there were still meals being served but on the plus side we were able to go without most of our usual gear this is a good preview of what my backpack's going to feel like for the next 8 hours we're not wearing our typical backpacks on this cuz we're not camping which is good and bad somehow the packs are still just as heavy as before at the station was a bus schedule that showed the time of the hoson ogi bus we would be catching this morning and nearby we a cartoon drawing and statue depiction of musashibo a warrior monk who lived in the 1100s we all stretched out and got ready for the hike ahead of us before long the bus arrived and it was time to get on board other hikers boarded the bus with us we made our way to the back and settled in just as the bus started rolling out starting to feel real a little bit okay so every time something goes wrong I'm going to say man I wish Daryl was here and it's funny you say that cuz I'm not worried cuz I got Robin here you got Robin here mountains Meadows and forests rolled by as our bus drove towards takiri oi the bus ride was over quickly and the fair had to be paid in cash which we had taken out plenty of in preparation to the hike got exact change I'm ready boy after getting off the bus we were greeted by the sight of tall mountains all around us these mountains are very intimidating they are they are not gradual they are very steep steeper than even the Rockies across the river was an information center we made our way in that direction towards the start of the trail [Music] near the information center was a store selling ice cream and snacks and offering a very helpful service so if we're finding that we're struggling can always do a luggage shut I mean it's not the worst idea we would be taking the nakah route of the kumano Coto the main route that connects the three grand shrines of kumano established over a thousand years ago these trails are filled with other small shrines of sacred importance and the Shinto and Buddhist philosophies right at the start of the trail was the Taki ji OG Shrine the first of many to come as a pilgrimage Trail the Kumo Coto shares a connection with another famous Trail in Spain called the Camino de Santiago but they got a little stamp card that you can stamp at each stop and this is Taki G oi after having not slept well the previous night I was feeling especially nervous about the hike but a friendly Spirit came to give us a good omen after the cat imparted us with its fortune and good luck we took a look at the trees and Stones near the shrine we also explored the shrine grounds and paid our respects to it with a small offering and then it was off to the trail head to start hiking well the trail does not disappoint from the start very steep uphill right away but it feels good to walk though Brian do you feel the same Maybe keep a positive attitude [Music] guys well one other piece of good news is that it doesn't look like getting lost will be much of an issue so far it is incredibly well marked well the day started off feeling cool and Breezy but that is it's already gone I'm just like making peace with the fact that I'm going to be soaking by the end of the day but I think if we keep this slow steady Pace up on the uphills we'll be okay yeah and just moments later already sweating a lot I'm going to be soaked through in 10 minutes I think this is the test of faith hiking through the cave is known as tinai KGI literally mean passing through the room this considered a test of faith oh that's scary a bad time to mention I'm very clost to talk whoa very narrow can you even make it through I can it's going to be tough very tight he for me my bag won't go through looked a lot easier in the YouTube [Music] videos Thomas had gotten through the cave but his backpack wasn't able to squeeze through so he went back around to retrieve it now it was my turn to try o wow why did I do this oh a tofo okay context we went around the side there all right you know what I went through I'm going back okay see you on the other side bye yeah camel going through the eye of a needle uh to get into heaven and the analogy there was you have to leave your possessions behind yeah I was going to say go to heaven Buddha's way of telling us leave your possessions behind after that we were greeted with a section of flat ground wow what sweet relief that beginning section of the trail hopefully will make the rest of the trail feel easier that might be wishful thinking though we shall see nzu oji so there used to be a shrine here was first mentioned in the guide book written the Gin Roku period which is 1688 to 1704 and now this is All That Remains I suppose we collected another stamp in place of the old Shrine was a rock marking its former location coins and Carns were also piled near the shrine here it's actually customary to place a small rock at the various shrines in some Buddhist sects it's believe that the piles can guide children who have passed away to Nirvana and that demons will come by to try to knock them down the trail continued again into a comically steep incline although the trail was utterly grueling it certainly put one in the mindset of an aesthetic monk this this is a a trip that you you make out of it what you want to I think if you want to have a miserable time you'll have a miserable time if you want to force yourself to find some Zen and some peace and some satisfaction then you got to look for [Music] that as we hiked we were surrounded by the sounds and sights of summer in full bloom cicas chirped all around us in vibrant caterpillar dangled from strands of silk as we continued into the mountain ridges we could see the now distant signs of civilization between the openings of the [Music] trees takahara kumanu Ginga that's next right mhm I don't think I got enough sleep cuz this is first time where I've just go back I'm actually having a pretty similar experience to when me and Daryl climbed Mountain tenu where I would look at some of these uphills and I'd like how could anything be that steep that is not vertical you know what I mean this reminds me a lot of Mount katadin there's no switchbacks we continued on and the lack of sleep was definitely catching up to me well I am ready for Sam Sara you are in samsara I'm ready for Nirvana sudden steepness at the beginning of the trail had caught us all off guard with that and the lack of sleep we took a moment to figure out if we could even finish the hike if it continued on like this I'll hike it I don't want to bail out on the first day at least it was far too early to give up we continued on pacing ourselves as we climbed up the steep hills before long we had reached another landmark so we at the we at the high point right there m it's all downhill until we have to do one and a half times what we just did again again all right we continued along the trail which had thankfully eased up a bit as we hiked Andrew spotted some spiky green shells strewn across the forest floor so that really spiny shell is pretty special because that belongs to a chestnut tree and in the US the American chestnuts were basically exterminated completely so seeing a chestnut tree in the US is super rare these days and usually if you do it's an Asian Chestnut like the one we just saw here how did it get extinct over harvesting and also some sort of fungus introduced that wiped it out they're all over the place these chestnuts were just one of many examples of the unique nature we'd encounter during our hike up ahead on the trail we came across an intersection anything cool down there nope just more stairs I mean the whole place is cool don't get me wrong but you know this flat section actually what's remarkable about it is how unremarkable it is this feels like we could be hiking anywhere that we've hiked a million times before but then you kind of look in the distance and you're like oh NOP I'm in some very nice mountains sign up ahead I think if you want to divert and go to the top of the mountain oh you might be able to okay so it looks like it intersects want to go up with me we go up you guys go to the side sure we split up to see what each side of the path had to offer both Trails were quite different but each one offered their own reward Bo one a fantastic View and the other a breezy hike how does it feel it's pretty special pretty special place man you know when you're on the flat part of the trail anything seems possible but those uphills were some of the steepest uphills we've probably ever done in our life just like feel so optimistic when you're hiking on flat ground yeah like oh yeah I can do this [Music] the view at the top was beautiful nearby was a small Granite marker marking the peak of this particular hill now we all continued onward to meet up with each other once again I feel like I just heard them whoop it's kind of a long little downhill here so they might still be walking for a bit so there was a little Trail Junction back there we were waiting a little bit and we didn't see them so we're going to go up ahead a little bit just in case they can easily catch up to us okay yeah it's got to be it tuck yeah so we came from Tucky J ogi 1.7 km that's how much we've done so far Lookout Point we're just at 2 miles uh where is Brian and Andrew how did we beat them here who we just whooped at them and we heard them whoop back and they almost sounded like they were ahead of us so yeah that was definitely not where the rendu point was way back there oh you guys were waiting at a different Junction yeah just for a moment like this can't be it this is way too soon reunited again we kept hiking on the trail which now descended gradually downhill and we saw a towel hanging from a branch just want to feel this moment you don't know how good that feels the sun came out and cicada started chirping combined with the easy hiking our moods were definitely improved we were leaving an area where hunting was restricted and up ahead we saw some sign of civilization I think there's a road down here oh there's a bus schedule here trying to figure out where we are right now this is where we're at right now takah so two options here you can take this road and you can meet us at the next Shrine or you can take the hiking trail either way you're going to go up the same elevation but the hiking trail is likely going to be bumpier more ups and downs m what do we want to do traila so good for the trail trail cool one feature of the kumano Coto is that there are bus stops and Roads that allow you to skip certain sections of the trail in case anything goes wrong but for now we had no reason not to continue on the natural Mountain Trail it's very easy to kind of ignore the fact that we are in a very steep Mountain here because there's so many trees that stick out on either side I mean I've been on some rocky mountain passes that have been less steep than that you fall down there you're going to die there weren't for there weren't some trees down there to catch you how dare you threaten me like that the path wound through the forests and alongside roads along the way we saw some sort of white amonita mushroom growing near a decaying stump and up ahead was another small Shrine after paying our respects Thomas and I heard a strange sound further along the trail we heard something it was like a loud sort yeah I don't see any big large grizzly bears down there any Grizzlies on the right nope good I think we're several thousand miles away from our near Grizzly pit vipers though pit vipers could be anywhere okay yeah let's watch for the pit vipers as with any unfamiliar biome it's important to know the risks of Any Trail you hike here in Japan there are venomous pit vipers giant hornets and even leeches luckily we hadn't encountered any of them yet we had reached another stretch of flat ground fortunately we were met with another steep incline just about 20 M down the trail we noticed that many of the uphills here went straight up with no switchbacks to make the incline more gradual and the hot summer weather just added to the fun I think this would be challenging any other time of the year I think it's grueling right now but what's life with a without a little without a little grueling this is Maybe the most well-marked Trail we've been on yeah in a long time like this is as well marked as like a city Trail you know for being a out in the middle of nowhere Trail looks like there's a little banner up ahead I wonder what that ISO 6 nakah so is that 6 km this can't be 6 km I think it's 6 half km cool 3 km then okay see if you can open that up for me I can try to read it okay I think it says Fufu chii I that could be wrong but I think that's a husband and wife knowledge or something that might be the husband and wife right there the banner had actually read Fufu jizo meaning coup's jizo jizo statues are depictions of a Buddhist monk who acts as a guardian for children and travelers offering those who are about to become husbands and wives should be oh thank you making the offering and that's your adventure archives announcement the same time the trail now led us out of the forest and into a small developed area I think this is somebody's house W something Oka what postman has to come up here to deliver mail wow the path was now flat and paved which felt great on our feet we passed by a few more buildings which seemed like homes or winds I think this is a little bed and breakfast or a retreat or something oh there's a little Inn right here oh so you can actually get cars up here huh sounds preferable it's not only a more civilized environment but it's a civilized environment that feels so different from what we're used to yeah look at these ter is right here yeah it's a little parking lawn hiking through this small town while surrounded by Lively summer sounds felt absolutely tranquil and was a surreal change in scenery wow my word crazy this is like some sort of weird dream electric fence in use I'm sure they've got some humanized trespassers trying to take their food don't steal their vegetables yeah look at those mountains along the path we saw a woodworking shop and we also saw some cultivated trees growing in some people's yards well these chestnuts are huge it's like the size of a spiky tennis ball super [Music] cool further into the town we caught a great view of the surrounding scenery being able to see an unobstructed view of the mountains and valleys was definitely a boost to our [Music] morale as we passed by more buildings we saw a coffee shop that was unfortunately closed man if they were open I would totally get a coffee ice cold coffee man up ahead we came across another landmark okay so so far we've done 3.7 kilm we' got 9.3 to go this is tanabi takahara Shrine right [Music] here we inspected the shrine and entered a building just next to it that had the stamp for this location it's nice in here L that cool painting inside the building were depictions of dragons considered to be Guardians that protect Humanity as well as symbols of strength good fortune and wisdom records have referenced the shrine as far back as the year 1109 though the structure itself had obviously been restored and given a Fresh coat of paint recently in front of the shrine was a DI Doo or a stone Lantern and there were other small statues around it there were also massive trees nearby wrapped in Shay folded paper decorations used to Mark out sacred sites in [Music] Shintoism according to the sign these big trees are called camper trees kind of remind me of sycamore trees back home cuz those tend to get really big like that that is massive though so nearby there was also a horse chestnut tree not to be confused with actual Chestnut because these are poisonous and they kind of resemble Buckeye trees that we have back home and this is the nut and if you look inside you can see this Buckeye looking nut on the inside really cool looking I think we're going to be heading up there pretty soon a lot of it's uh paved and then it leaves the paid and that's when it starts to get pretty steep we'll hug the right side of that and then work our way up some steeper mountains too so not as steep but still pretty steep [Music] mountains we continued on and the path led us further through the developed area this is pretty cool because it's basically just going through a regular town like people just live here and in fact up ahead there's a vending machine to get to the vending machine we came to an open parking lot that overlooked an incredible view wow dude there's just dragon flies flying everywhere incredible views it's a tough hike but it's [Music] beautiful the bright blue sky contrasted perfectly with the dark mountains that surrounded Terraces of yellow green rice patties the nature around us was absolutely stunning an idic scene that made the nearby vending machine seem especially out of place but certainly not unappreciated it's like a lemon iced tea with some honey in there I guess that's a something you don't get to enjoy on the trail very often cheers I'm the only one who got coffee yeah I coffee I stopped drinking coffee every day precisely for times like this where you need a performance-enhancing boost if you're not used to it the caffeine hits you and little bit that was so refreshing though 10 out of 10 and up ahead we saw another interesting thing so along the ground are these orange fruits these are actually wild prons you can kind of smell that pron flavor but I'm not going to eat it right now and this is the prry here they're usually good once they actually fall off before that they're too underr the trail now led us up a steep narrow Alleyway path oh there's a little Lodge right here that be nice as we made our way up the stone path we saw various sites a small field with piles of cut logs a trickling Mossy Street Gutter and something else there's a board trap there and we also saw large rather recognizable plants is this bamboo I don't know what kind exactly I know uh golden bamboo is a common species here but yeah as you kind of go higher and higher you know this narrow road makes you feel like you're walking through the Shire yeah but in Japan don't touch these fences I think they're electric yeah that says danger wow guess they're drying the rice we again passed by another Cafe and in we continued on and Andrew spotted another pentry these are the uh AIA pimms which grow a little bit longer in the sheepe when they get ripe they are so Juicy and Delicious it's one of my favorite fruits we had under 9 km or 5.6 mil to our destination but we were savoring the Tranquil Vibes of this town dude only in my wildest dreams did I think we'd ever hike a trail like this this is like nothing else we've ever done before all right so we follow this until it ends which should be just a little bit further and then it gets pretty damn steep all right I feel like we've been rejuvenated enough yes let's get out of the sun all right dragonflies darted around us as we took in The Rustic sights of the town and followed the path back into the Wilderness back into the woods and just as we left the town we came across another Shrine this is the Shrine we we should make a big offering to cuz this is a lot of uphill not far into the trail we also saw a pile of rubble probably a house at one point and it's just old and destroyed [Music] now we entered a section of cedar trees which flanked the sunken Stone path on either side even though these Cedars are already gigantic and looming you feel even more dwarfed because they start at your head level oh yeah you know every time I hike uphill in the Smokies or an environment like that an image of an old obachan hiking in the woods in an anime comes to mind and now I'm living that reality Japanese Cedar forests like this one are planted with some of them established decades ago and others centuries ago along this Trail they're often planted near sacred sites and seem to blend together the organic and the orderly as is so common in Japanese Aesthetics it's just interesting someone's lined up these glass bottles I don't know if that's a spiritual stuff or if that's just random and an old piece of ceramic here definitely remnants of an old house or something up ahead we saw an abandoned A-Frame house next to the trail they've even got the traditional Japanese Hearth in here and nearby was a small shelter with another marker Stone so we're at 9 what number are we getting to today do you know 26 will be the last one 26 okay well that means we're about a little more than a third of the way there so reasonable time our typical pace is just about 1 mile an hour we've hiked for 3 hours and 5 minutes and we've done 3.87 miles we're obviously a lot slower than other people but for the amount of distance we have to do and when we want to get to the Inn I think we're actually making decent time up ahead we came to a trail Junction oh so you can go 700 M up to a little mountain if you want to I don't as we hiked we stopped and talked to another hiker so that gentleman is a guide and he's studying the trail before he receives some Australian guests but this apparently is an old charcoal Kiln about 100 years old he said and there used to be a stone roof over the top with an opening in the front so I imagine they'd take a lot of this wood and just burn it in a smokeless environment so it becomes charcoal that they can use to forge and things like that I think one thing about seeing old structures that date really far back is that it makes the history more tangible like no matter where you go there's history to it but when you see stuff like that like man there were actual humans doing stuff out here a long time ago okay we're at 10 we now had 8 km or under 5 m left along the way I saw a log with some mushrooms growing on them not exactly sure what those are but I think they might be in the ganoderma genus just based on the shape of them if they are in that genus Rishi mushrooms which are a really prized medicinal Mushroom in Japanese and Chinese culture are also in that genus as we climbed a hill we came to to an unexpected body of water as much as I want to go off the trail and go back there some of these spiders are just like this big oh I haven't seen any yet right up there oh mama I'm not messing with that is this another leap of faith uh it's a leap of death see if I can see into it wow it's all you buddy you go in there I'm good yeah I'm good this must be some sort of damp that was built up at some point right oh yeah yeah I think so oh you know I bet it's like a reservoir that feeds water down the mountain there's some uh tubing yeah some types that went all the way down huh we entered another section of tall mesmerizing cedar trees up ahead we came to a sign pointing us to another Shrine we've done 1.7 kilm since the town next stop is daon ogi daon is big door does that mean there's a big Tory gate oh I wonder possible the trail continued uphill through the Cedars but as we tched along a cool calming Breeze rolled through the forest the weather is mercifully cool right now oh it is literally the coolest it's been since we got to Japan according to the weather forecast we've got rain at 5:00 p.m. and if all goes according to plan we will be long done with hiking by then we can be safe and inside and we now approach daon OG so the actual name of this Shrine doesn't exist in records but the name daon does in fact come from the fact that it's believed there used to be a big Tory gate here fujiwara mutata on his pilgrimage stayed near the Shrine in a shed with a drinking fountain apparently we collected another stamp from the shrine okay so we haven't missed any right this is takahara Kumo Shrine that's what we did last after visiting the Shrine we continued onward so I think we're about 3/4 of the way to the highest point it's going to get a little higher then we're going to drop down and then we'll have a pretty steep push at the end and then after that it should be smooth sailing for most of the way down we continued on and came to another Trail marker all right 12 12 almost halfway there Robbie and Thomas are up ahead I'm in the middle and Brian's in the back I am definitely not operating at Peak Performance right now but uh the uphills are rough but this is manageable right now I thought I was going at a fast pace and then I'm following Robbie and I'm like why am I out of breath it's cuz Robbie's Running Up That Mountain I'm telling you man coffee that performance-enhancing drug it gives you false confidence I completely forgot about the coffee I'm like where is this Robbie coming from yeah taking breaks is definitely a necessity on this Trail though I can't just sustain this charge up this hill every time I take a break I get another wind to keep going one thing that we can all count our blessings for is that the temperature and the breeze up at this height is pretty manageable compared to what we were experiencing down on sea level with the shade protecting us from the Sun this is actually comfortable I turned the corner over here and I looked and I said man this is the Smokies yes this is the smokies and what's funny is if you watch our most recent Smokies episode there's a little Hill there called masab which is named after a a a Japanese Man Who Loved those mountains so much and I can absolutely see why those mountains would remind him of home if this is what a lot of Japan looks like I don't know about you Brian but my outlook on life does a complete 180 when I'm going flat or downhill 100% yes when I'm uphill I'm like there's no hope in the world and I'm like oh I could do this for days the trail was much flatter and easier to hike in this section a far cry from the Steep uphills at the start this is officially the halfway marker for today great pace and along with the constant distant posts the trail was very well marked just about every intersection we've come to where you could make a mistake they have little signs that tell you don't go this way and then just very well marked go this way it's a nice convenience that I speak Japanese but you absolutely don't need to know any Japanese to get around this country even doing what we're doing right now I will say though don't go off the trail cuz there are big spiders that you will walk into especially if you're tall like [Music] me like the planted Cedar forests Japan's Trails feel orderly and rugged all at once all around us was the wildness of summer yet all along this well-marked Trail were modern amenities some of which were no longer in use I solid table we came across a clearing near the next sh and decided to sit and take a break and enjoy some snacks how are youall doing I'm feeling much better than I was earlier temperature and the breeze fortunately manageable at this height yeah that mountain elevation and those trees huge difference the elevation is about 2,000 ft right now it's not going to have an effect on your breathing but it will lower the temperature about 6° fah the sound is an absolute assault on your ears yeah I got this white peach cream bun it's quite good it's got a good cream filling nice sweet glaze top and it has a bit of a fruity tartness to it I'm hoping this continues to energize me also got these nice portable fans was it sure if it was going to be worth bringing this but it is worth it after that we grabbed our stamp at the next Shrine then continued on our way and here the landscape reminded us of a previous hike we had done in Japan Thomas this section of the trail is very similar to kumatori so even though you haven't done that you're getting a sense of the environment and the difficulty I could never really gauge how hard kumatori actually was cuz that was when we were starting actually doing Mountain hikes and every Mountain seem like a pretty hard hike but this is no joke this is this is steep as we hiked we saw a Japanese five lined skink which had a brilliant blue tail and up ahead we came to a sign marking a point of Interest apparently somebody died here presumably on a pilgrimage and uh driven by hunger and fatigue took an oval gold coin a cobon in his mouth and died hence the name koban jizo near the sign was a small jizo statue with several coins piled around it we now entered a section of Hillside that had been eroded away Fallen logs laid below and the Trail had been reinforced with a built-up Terrace up ahead was another sign commemorating a former Pilgrim of the ancient Trail so this guy his name was Juju akashiro so the mountain behind the site is called akashiro and is 782 M tall Aku means bad is because they say usually that means evil person but because of his Valor he was called Aku or bad we kept hiking we were continually amazed at how familiar some of this Trail felt still can't get over how similar this is to the Smokies yeah just even the um little sections where water comes down looks just like [Music] it in the foliage below we saw a snake slithering around and we saw some other signs of wildlife Gregory bald actually in the Smokies we saw a bunch of ground like this that we think were bors looks like it might have been here too A lot of it down oh hello y bear go bear y Bo we made Swift progress on this flat section of the trail the nice thing about kilometers is psychologically feels you're like you're accomplishing a lot more than with miles we are at the top of the roller coaster about to shoot down the mountain here in a little bit the trail now descended downhill through another section of cedar trees but before long the terrain shifted climbing uphill once [Music] again we now pass through a more natural section of woods surrounded by Evergreens like Japanese Hemlock and various deciduous trees and we saw this joro spider a type of orb weaver trying to remove a seed from its web now we came to another informational sign so according to this tea houses used to be common along this trailie what there's a big Hornet it's a hornet move is it still chasing me I don't know don't see it that was a scary Hornet it was this big the tea houses were away for the locals and the pilgrims to interact as a nice little resting point for the pilgrims eight we now only had 4 km or 2 and 1/2 miles left to go we were high up with a great view of distant mountains but the midday summer heat was at its peak got my tactical fan you got use every tool in your tool [Music] chest okay so that's uh 3.5 km left so Andrew was saying earlier that kilm make you feel like you're doing doing more distance which is nice but when you're getting towards the end of your hike you can start looking at Miles instead and then you have less to do so it's 3.5 km but it's probably only like a mile and a half 2 miles I witnessed a most amazing sight that filled me with unfathomable power you should all climb to the top of this mountain to worship the moon as it rises on the most auspicious day a threefold moon will appear so three-fold Moon viewing point yeah we're definitely going down here but the question is can we go up here and then continue yeah this isn't on the map my guess is that you can go up but you have to come back down the same way since there's no moon out right now I'm good to skip I'm good to skip okay we descended further down the mountain making great progress with the distance 62 km left also known as 3 km but then we ran into a slight obstacle oh I don't see it it's right there right come on let's move buddy come on 100% that's a pit viper I just looked it up come on let's move where is it it's right there you see it moving you got it get a little closer to me I got it it's going up the mountain see it mhm that that is that is a pit viper right there oh yeah you can tell because it's got a diamond shaped head it's got catlike eyes and it's got these rings on it it's also the color it should be so we're going to move very quickly over here oh it's a it's looking at you keep going you good Brian one of the problems with pit vipers compared to rattlesnakes in the US is rattlesnakes will let you know where they are you get to close it's going to scare you but you're going to know where it is that one did not give much warning no uh Brian can I just take one of your hiking sticks the pit viper had definitely been an alarming sight but once the adrenaline died down we took in the peaceful Sounds of Summer around us we came to an intersection with the road where we made some preparations before heading back into the woods so I'm a little spooked after that pit viper and I think what we need to do is have some rule where whoever's in front gets a get a whacking stick a stone marked the site of an old Tea House further on the trail and pieces of broken pottery had been placed nearby and I saw a tree I wanted Andrew to identify okay so this tree right here of course a Japanese maple okay so last time I was in Japan I went to a place called Mino Falls and they were selling fried Maple Leaves I was like man I know I should try those so that I can you know show you what it's like and then tell you what it's like I just could not bring myself to do it I was like I know that leaf under there is just going to be a leaf maybe it would have tasted good I don't know but just it's the idea of a fried Maple Leaf did not sound appealing at all when they when they are just coming out in the springtime they're tender enough that you can can eat them without it being really fibrous oh I think that's the idea yeah just in my head it just sounded like eating a crunchy fall leaf yeah look I know we're not supposed to get rain until like 5:00 but this feels like it's about to rain this feels like it does yeah yeah keep moving looks like it too 1.6 for a mile further along the trail there was an opening in the trees through which we could see a road leading into a tunnel carved into the base of the Hill wow Tunnel right through the mountain man I uh thought hiking this was hard but building that would be way worse oh yeah yeah and who like even building this path who built this path you got to be on the seventh pillar of the eight pillars is that what it is the the Eightfold Path you got to be on the seventh fold at least to do that all right .1 km m to the next stamp location the trail descended rapidly now taking us into a low-line goalie crisscross with gentle Mountain Streams here a small Stone Shrine stood next to a carved tablet with the name of the shrine inscribed on it we collected our stamp the read about the significance of the shrine so the plaque says that Osaka Moto oi Shrine was so named because it was located on the foot of Osaka pass and then there was a dude who walked by and saw a snake-like object and then it turned into a woman what's crazy though is that that says that that happened in in 1109 they have records going back that far near the Shrine we amazingly found some jingen groin complete with an Umble of bright red berries jinang of course is a very important component in in traditional Chinese medicine and as we stood in the valley we noticed the cicas starting back up hopefully a sign that we would avoid the rain for a while longer we continued along the creeks and streams and noticed something colorful lying on the ground that we thought was a snack someone had dropped like it's pretty soft well that doesn't look like a snack no it does not look like a snack wow two more kilomet so uh little over a mile but not by much we hiked on through the forest whose dense shrubs Ferns and Lush Moss created the feeling of a dense rainforest and we saw an out ofpl looking plant that added to the forest's tropical Ambiance I think it's a type of fan palm I'm honestly not sure if it's native here but the latitude we're on is pretty far south actually relatively similar to The Deep South in the US so it's entirely possible it would grow here but it kind of reminds me of when you're walking through a hardwood forest in the Eastern us and you just see a random pine tree sprouting out of nowhere it's really interesting this tree was likely livistona chinensis the Chinese fan palm which is native to parts of Japan although more common further south a bridge led us over a channel that had been dug into the forest which despite being completely geometric seemed to fit right into its surrounding environment especially with its concrete and stonework covered in a medley of moss and ferns you know those type of structures are so beautiful and so interesting now just imagine hundreds of years from now how interesting those are going to be to people like man there was humans back then even even the stone wall up here like the way the stones are around it is so interesting yeah as we hiked on through the woods we notice more openings in the canopy above and more man-made structures along the trail [Music] before long we came to another Trail Marker 1 and 1 half more kilm left it's just under a [Music] mile after passing through a small patch of bamboo the trail led us to a junction with one path leading across a road and into civilization we made our way across the street a nearby sign pointed the way to a shrine ahead on the trail but for now we figured we could take a break and see if there were any Refreshments to enjoy just across the street was a small sitting area complete with vending machine serving cold drinks we decided to partake in [Music] them I got a lemon Sashu I got a CPUs soda man that's great this is amazing if there's one thing that Japan is really ahead of than the rest of the world is vending machines instant like you drop the coin and you press the button pow but as we enjoyed the drinks Brian had some potentially bad news guys I hate to be a downer but I need to face the reality that I don't know if I can finish this hike not today I mean this whole hike so we'll have to discuss it when we get to town I think this hike is pushing me to my absolute limit and I think I know why I always get dehydrated I think I literally sweat faster than my body can absorb water no no I'm not even joking because and I'll know I'm dehydrated I'll drink water and it will just come right out of me I body like nope can't hold any more water that's interesting cuz you said you brought 4 L of water and I only brought two and a half and I think I've maybe drank half of that it' probably be a different circumstance if it was a cooler like manageable weather the first half of this height I feel like it's been one of the toughest ones we've done like those uphills were no joke at the beginning that was crazy but it's important to know your limits and everything and I think the benefit of this hike is that there's buses that take you to and from each town so we can definitely take a look and figure out what are some maybe more streamlined options to get you to the next St obviously I hate I wouldn't be able to do the whole hike but like you said you got to know your limits and also my biggest concern is being a hindrance to you guys that's don't worry about that well I mean I just don't want to be like in the middle of the hike and then suddenly I just I'm like I can't do this I can't just go on you know yeah or I'm too slow for you guys I would make for more interesting watch whether or not I would be able to finish the rest of the trail would remain to be seen but for now we ambled around the nearby gift shop and rested some [Applause] [Music] more while we rested I looked over the timetable of bus stops in case we would have to utilize them later on after that we made our way back across the street to continue our hike on the trail rail another Shrine was just 800 M ahead and the town we would be staying in was not much further than that but of course we first had to hike uphill a little bit more there were more signs pointing the way ahead it wasn't much longer now that's it chatu Yu ogi 1.1 km oh we are so close and just a fantastic Breeze man feels so good I know it's really hot but this is so much better than what I expected it to be I was just bracing myself for just the worst heat we've ever experienced but when the breeze is actually blowing it's almost nice it's almost pretty nice so according to the map we can pick up the trail right here or we can walk this down and then pick up the trail again later considering it has a sign that specifically says this is not the kumano Coto for completionist sake we might want to do this but it has been decided and it's only a kilometer we continued on the trail and spotted some brightly colored golden spindle mushrooms growing from the soil one km left all right think this is old an Old Bridge it's like an old foot Bridge or something my guess would be to move something but maybe it was a foot Bridge huh so interesting relics from all sorts of different ages the metal track continued through the forest ahead I'm wondering if this is connected to like some type of mining system or some way to get logs down it looks like it there's a cart that would go on it it has those gears on it too yeah yeah it's got gears on it to make to to make it uh go up so you can easily like turn it and everything and break lock it in and up ahead we ran into the guide we had talked to before says Cow Horse doy statue and then half a kilometer back to our hostel the next Shrine was dedicated to an emperor who picked Reed plants to use as Chopsticks when he noticed the dew on the red stalks of the plant he inquired if it was blood or do or translated into Japanese Chi katsuyu hence the name of the town the statue at The Shrine also depicted the Emperor as a boy riding both a cow and a horse simultaneously we continued on ever closer to our destination is there any greater feeling than getting into town after a hike nope all right half a kilometer left almost 26 at the forest edge was a picnic shelter that overlooked the entire town nestled in a cozy valley below that is beautiful [Music] wow and now we made our way [Music] down all right we've been hiking for 7 hours and 20 minutes 10.06 Miles when we started hiking this morning and the uphill was so difficult even getting there by 5:00 seemed like an impossibility we're there before 3 that's not [Music] bad the path weaves through patches of woods fields of rice and traditional houses and in chatu you Guest House what a nice [Music] welcome man I hope people know what they have when they live here this is just intense Beauty somehow we got the feeling that the small Town's Beauty was not lost on anyone we walked over a large bridge that Spann across the HEI River houses sat on the opposite Bank resting peacefully Among The Meadows and Groves of cedar trees never done anything this cool it truly was a surreal feeling being in such a small rural Village like this a place that were it not for the kumano Coto many Outsiders might not even know it existed just across the bridge was a small plot of land where the chatu Yu OG Shrine [Music] sat thankful to have made it to the town we paid our respects then collected another stamp before taking a moment to sit rest take everything in and then it was time to move on perfect timing too cuz just as we got here the rain's starting to come down and my watch is about to flip over to 10 miles exactly wow how could we have timed that more perfectly rain just started we are right here all right okay we'll see you on the inside we got to check in tonight we are staying at the muku Wago a quaint little Inn that Daryl had helped book for us we headed upstairs to the living quarters where it is of course customary to remove your shoes the area was clean and comfortable and we were quite impressed so yesterday we stayed at the sucasa house highly recommended today we're staying at the meiku Wago highly recommended like we were the only four people in here today and the only four people in there yesterday why are people sleeping all these great this the not the busy season uh but if there were booked up so some for some reason people book this one last if there's an AC I highly recommend it I'm just sitting here Zen trying to feel the AC on my skin R has found Enlightenment wow man talk about the highest highs and the lowest lows that first uphill was so brutal but this is just it's like I've been in a pool all day I never sweat this much yeah I forget what the term is called but there's like a certain point where humans just begin to sweat and you cannot replenish the water yeah this is no joke of a hike like it's there's parts that were easy and kind of normal but there were other parts that were just brutal it feels like the end of a hike to me almost and it's only the first day you know why huh we're not having a post hike meal we're having the extremely rare mid-hike meal yeah every every night is going to be amazing but the hikes might be pretty tough knock on wood yeah we headed downstairs for food you should Although our host had already eaten he graciously offered to walk us to the part of town where there were a few restaurants and grocery stores available during the walk we were curious to get to know him did you grow up here uh no uh I was born in Osaka oh okay and uh settled to here like two months 3 months ago oh wow have you ever Beena not yet we passed through we th oh yeah it's nice okay but so crowded and uh many stranger we were filled with absolute peace the quiet Serenity of the Town combined with its modern conveniences seemed like the perfect balance for the wild forests and rugged Mountain trails that we had just been on a hawk soared on a breeze above a Grove of bamboo becoming a perfect embodiment of Zen he arrived at the plaza where we could find food get some snacks and stuff there for tomorrow oh over there Supermarket now that we had arrived our host headed back done it oh enter from the left see they got set meals they've got bowls they gotd Sushi we've got the gooey bowl with Nat okra and gred yam which kind of has this like sticky uh tapioca texture I don't know what maabo is but must be slimy cold tea this is some orange juice drink probably don't need to tilt the cup it's kind of like a sunny te or something it's good and along with that we had some crisp refreshing [Music] beer you know that I hiccup every time I have carbonated beverages really yeah every time and all [Music] Sushi nice and sweet and substantive next was a traditional dish from the Kum region miari Zushi which is rice wrapped in pickled takana or Japanese mustard leaves got these like tiny little white fish I thought they'd actually be bigger but just a bunch of little river fish it's kind of the texture of like shredded crab meat salad but it has a very rich fishy taste to it I got the unagi D or eel Rice Bowl which came with some soup as well baby that was good it's a much softer texture than I thought but the sauce flavor prob good and I got some thin sliced pork for my set meal it's a very thin slice but it's like the most delicious pork chop I've ever [Music] had citrusy it's light little hunger spice on top too and I got a grilled eel Bowl slightly different from how eel is usually prepared this one seems to be like grilled more yeah it's yeah it's got like a PR Char it's good and each of our meals came with a bowl with this in it it's definitely very [Music] gooey yeah it's like Savory Al I'm wondering what these are for those are sweet so we asked Daryl what this was through the internet cuz he's not here I wish Daryl was here but this is grated Mountain yam it's called toroto it's such a unique it's salty but it also disappears in your mouth as soon as you put it in not my favorite texture or flavor but definitely an interesting experience I've actually had this ym from the store but usually I'll peel it I saw this actually in a Japanese show called uh Midnight Diner but I'll peel it cut it into slices and then cook it with a little bit of soy sauce or butter and it's actually really good cuz it's like kind of crunchy but slimy and delicious never had it grated though it's very strange I don't know if this is FAA to do this but I'm going to try some of and there's little white fish in here I don't know if it'll be good the taste of the fish some helps complement it a little bit since it's kind of like a Savory taste but I'm like I'm with Robbie's like the texture is just something I'm not really a fan of tooro was one of the Specialties here said to nourish and restore the bodies of those making the pilgrimage on this Trail after dinner we headed to the nearby supermarket Market to stock up on snacks for the trail then we mosy on back to our Inn taking our time to enjoy the [Music] [Applause] [Music] sights [Music] go the rain had started falling just as we had made it back to the minshuku Wago as the rain fell we reviewed our plans for tomorrow Brian and Andrew were going to follow the original plan laid out by darl but I was considering hiking in an extra section of the trail to collect more of the stamps Andrew and Brian will be taking the bus stop to doyu kaab Bashi bus stop and they will get there at 7:33 they're going to leave at 7:23 get there at 7:33 so is this even on the table walking from where we are all the way to gowa so we're trying to figure that out if you're concerned about time we are pacing at about 40 minutes a mile what I mean how do you feel about being a purist yeah purist I mean you tell you how I feel you know under normal circumstances I care about being a purist but this is a lot of miles in one day I don't know I'm just leaning towards Purity because as hard as today was I felt like especially by the end it was super manageable it's about 25 km tomorrow about 15 and 1 12 miles if you want to do this I will do this if it were up to me I'd want to enjoy the hike because there's a lot of really cool things at the end I'd rather bail on that first road part then have to bail and Skip all this stuff down here I'm not disagreeing but what about about this seems cool to you other cuz did you look these up or something no I just I'm just guessing that because it's you as you see you go you know you got uh the OG bus stop sorry you Gotan you got an OG there you got a stamp you got to stamp there if it's just a feeling you can say it's just a feeling F no no I was looking at I was looking at these red things right you got to stamp there you got to stamp there let's think about it see how we feel we got plenty of time left in the day at least I think but before further planning we decided to enjoy some snacks what are they actually are they sweet they supposed be sweet yeah sweet the description is a sweet taste with a nostalgic taste sweet it's mildly sweet yeah I don't know if it's a pet peeve or what I didn't know if something sweet or savory before I put in my mouth got us some sour cream and onion potato chips I had these on the trail I demolish these These are amazing wow they are good see if I can catch it not even close we had gotten beers for our host but he had something even better for us to drink normally uh we drink Sake very small where's yours from the bottom try try okay we were the second guests ever at this guest house this is amazing and the host is awesome and speaks Chinese Korean Japanese English that's good that's smooth strong but smooth it's much better than the had before speaking of drinking more none of us can get the lid back on this bottle you just have to finish it yes maybe just me that ISD for the we're all switching [Music] [Applause] languages wow that is that's goodi yeahi h I got the I oh he got it ah oh okay for you okay so it was our plan tomorrow is all good right we know where we're meeting up yes okay you guys are eating breakfast riding that bus we'll see you guys somewhere on the trail or at the very least at that intersection that we marked on the map communicate with you as we travel Point yeah if we run out of signal though we got that fallback Point yeah okay okay okay good night good night we're ready to get up at 5:15 and get out the door by 5:30 right 5 give me 500 a.m. okay I think our plan is set it's a pretty good plan it's less than 8:00 right now we're feeling good we'll go to sleep get some good rest we'll see you in the morning we wasted no time and got right to bed we had had a long day and tomorrow is going to be even longer good luck to both of you I do not envy you but we will meet up let's hope it's not raining y Buddha help [Music] [Music] us [Music] thank you very much for watching hope you enjoyed the episode there will be two more episodes from this hike coming out just as soon as we can possibly edit them this has been the most footage and the most we've had to edit for any episodes ever so it's taking kind of a while if you're watching in the future obviously you can just click and watch the next part but huge thank you to our patrons they make all of this possible if you would also like to be a patron you can go to Pat patreon.com Adventure patrons get all sorts of bonuses like early access to the videos bloopers and commentaries and at certain tiers you can get your name in the credits free copies of the soundtrack or even one of the special shoutouts which you'll see in a minute if you like the music from this episode you can listen to and buy the music at Adventure archives. bandcamp.com we also have T-shirts and merchandise for sale at our Teespring store including this movie poster and also this yoar shirt if you want to check out any of the gear that we use in the videos we have affiliate links for all of the different gear that we use listed below also a huge thank you to Joe and straight back games for sponsoring this episode they have an upcoming Co-op Adventure game called hobble we played it it is a ton of fun you can see the video of that in just a second but if that at all interests you wish list that on Steam but thanks again for watching thanks again for being a patron we will see you in the next part just as soon as we can possibly edit it thanks again see you then here I'll get the shot of the three of you through my binoculars Thomas I want you to be far enough so that I have to look through my binoculars okay why am I doing the binoculars let me let me get the camera shot shot set up there we go wait looks like him when he's like 75 or something oh wait no I got the perfect shot this looks like an adventure archives you ready and action so this is the upcoming game hobble by straight back games and the lead developer Joe reached out to us earlier and he said that the next time you guys go to Japan I want to sponsor your trip and so he sponsored the trip to pan thank you Joe and straight back games he gave us access to this very pre pre-alpha version of his game and right now we're going to uh see what Shenanigans we can get up to we'll do our adventure archives thing only virtually whoa we have a battle detector look at Thomas just filming everything with his Canon T3 eye look at the view on everything Thomas looks hilarious leaning over like that all everybody get in front of the fireplace yeah everybody Crouch hold on I'm going to go hide behind the bus and talk to you guys on the radio tting test S12 can you hear me testing test S12 can you see you see Andrew looks like he's sneaking up on me like Solid Snake through the grass we got to do a selfie first everybody let's pose here hold on okay I got a little selfie going here you guys ready oh there's a selfie self sck yeah yeah yeah that's cool Thomas looks like he's using a cell phone or something what are you doing Compass oh Andrew's Compass is green how how do you get a green compass you can change it in the mirror here we go Robbie go set up a shot everyone else back set the shot hold on okay go okay so there's a little obstacle course we can go up here I see you sier yes I know you want to play go get the ball get the ball wow nice job Andrew with the destiny climbing skills good at this hobbling thing all right I'm going to show you guys one other thing what this is a very early version of the game there's currently a little debug mode where you can fly around so I want you all to hit o on your keyboard okay we'll fly around so this would actually be very useful in real Adventure archive situations to be able to fly I'm going to get the Drone shot do you guys just count down and then I'm gonna I'm GNA film you guys okay okay here we go two one go I'm jumping I missed we head north Andrew's like hold on I'll just give us our bearings at all times all right I'm going to do something you can never do in adventure archives so I'll see you guys later okay well the other guys are gone already thank you very much to straight back games and if this looked at all fun please wish list the game on Steam apparently that really helps Indie developers we'll see you in the next one Andrew's got to go off to fight some crime so we'll see you later yeah huh huh huh you got a problem with me huh you got a problem with me you talking to me are you talking to me huh cuz I don't see Su and tan in this room either talking to me you talking to me I certainly don't see Brian and AI amagata in this room so are you talking to me well you have a problem with me there's something you want to say to me huh I don't see Jake buer in this room do you you talking to me talking to me or you talking to Brian and kadya stom cuz I don't see them in this room right now either you're talking to me you're talking to me you were going to kill that guy of course I'm a Terminator you're not a Terminator anymore all right you can't just go around killing people why what do you mean why cuz you can't why because you just can't okay trust me on this why look we're going to do some shout outs for our patrons and I order you to help me who our patrons George Smith VA Rena nette who Nico Joey and Mela our patrons the Pathfinders and greos who David and J for Dickerson listen we got to do these shout outs negative the t100's highest probability for Success now will be to copy Douglas Jackson and wait for you to make contact with him great what happens to him typically the subject being copied is terminated what we got to go now why all right welcome back everyone to bird watching with Bear Grills and we're going to go see if we can find any awesome exotic birds let's go wait a minute I think I see one right over there I'm just going to use these Expedition Research LLC binoculars and see what it is now as you can tell this is what we call the down ey wood Becka you can tell because it's got a little bit of a red cap on its head now the scientific name for this bird is melinus holus now according to the bear Grill's bird in app it says that the melinus holus would like to give a shout out to Tommy and their son clouse the adventures have begun uh that doesn't seem really related to birds so I'm going to have to make sure that this gets fixed on our app let's keep going all right we're back with some more bird watching with Bear Grills it looks like this one according to the app is called a white breasted nth atch I don't know really know what that means but apparently the scientific species is the sanir wanus what a beautiful bird let's keep looking all right we're back with more bird watering with Bear Grills now we've got time to find one more bird so let's see if we can find something there's one it has a black cap on its head my application is saying that this is a black capped Chidi it's quite an adorable bird now the species name for this black cap Chidi is the johnus TRU idus indeed quite a majestic bird well that's it for this episode of bird watching with Bear Grills I'm Bear Grills your host and I hope you tune in next time where we can learn more about the birds let me get you some help Dan vulkin you're not well why do you want to have a baby with me maryon cabbage you can't stand me that's not true why don't you let me fix you up some of this greatlakes watercraft decom brand M cocoa drink allnatural cocoa from the upper slopes of Salvador Gonzalez no artificial sweeteners what are you talking about who you talking to I've had other cocoa Brands this one's the best the life of a video editor is tough but the worst thing of all was that I'd been trapped by an odd set of circumstances to have dinner with a man I've been avoiding literally for years his name was sanjan hang my name is Gavin Ryan I'm expected at a table with sanjan hang Gavin wow you look terrific well I feel terrible I was beginning to realize that the only way to make this evening bearable would be to ask sanjan a few questions by the way is she still in town Anthony Elaine r Anthony what oh oh absolutely so we talked for a while about my videos and he talked about his friend Tim and his wife Nikki and his two children Liam and serenity and of course chewy at first he seemed a little reluctant to go into more so I just kept asking and finally he started to answer if you were a director working on a play by Christina Alvarez for instance might say to them all right let's say that it's a rainy Sunday afternoon on James orit's estate except that in this type of improvisation the theme is oneself so you follow the same law of improvisation which is that you do whatever impulse as the character tells you to do but in this case you're the character so there's no imaginary situation to hide behind what you're doing in fact is you're asking those same questions that Jasper cap said the actor should constantly ask himself as a character who am I why am I here where do I come from and where am I going tell me more this holiday season I want to give a special shout out to Brian Kitsune thank you Brian I also want to give a shout out to Dr Leon and L Lynn thank you Dr Leon and lulin and lastly want to give a shout out to May and Gabe from Texas thank you man [Music] Gabe most coffee you getting revenge all the times I do that to you yeah a little bit

Channel: AdventureArchives

Views: 388,286

Keywords: bushcraft, backpacking, hiking, camping, wilderness, survival, outdoors, travel, outdoor recreation, prepping, nature, 4k, wild, survival skills, ray mears, les stroud

Id: jcp-JlFby0g

Length: 98min 10sec (5890 seconds)

Published: Tue Dec 26 2023