The Yuru Camping begins

Hiking to the Yuru Camp movie location (but failing)

We grabbed the bus from Minobusan down to Minobu station to catch the train to Kofu.

I remembered a moment in season 2 and tried my best to replicate the shot.

It turns out that the place that heavily inspired the campsite in the Yuru Camp movie was on the southern outskirts of Kofu, so our plan was to check in and dump our stuff at the hostel, then head back down and hike up to the location.

We got off the train back down the Minobu line at Kajikazawaguchi station (try saying that really fast 5 times in a row), which was a smaller station and unmanned.

Here are some pics of the scenery before we reached the start of the climb:

We passed by a Yuru Camp wrapped bus

A pic taken when we started to go uphill. For future pilgrims, do not go up this way. Take the main road.

It was supposed to be an easy hike, around 6 miles there and back with 300m of ascent to the highest point. But it didn’t quite go to plan. The first evidence of this was when we turned a hairpin and the road turned from asphalt to grass – yes, grass.

And it only got worse.

There were these platforms alongside the road – maybe there used to be buildings here that people used the road for.

There were lots of fallen branches that we had to climb over.

As if those other signs weren’t enough to warn us to turn around, we encountered a couple rockslides that partially blocked the road, but we were able to get over them fine.

That was, until we reached one huge rockslide that blocked our entire path. Climbing over would risk me slipping and sliding a fair distance into a river at the bottom of the small valley. I took the smart decision and decided it was best we turned around. The only other way around was to head right back down the valley – almost back to where we started – and we were already halfway up the hill to Takaori. I think it’s best I left it to someone with a car. Here’s the location on google maps for anyone who’s interested. If you go make sure to stick to the public road, and don’t tresspass onto private land!

Those rockslides were probably the reason that road had been fully abandoned – and on the way back down we noticed some other signs that it had been a long time since the road was in use.

We managed to perfectly time our way down with a bus leaving for Kofu. After almost an hour, we got back to our hotel. We had a 7 eleven dinner and veg’d for a bit before sleeping.

And that was last night. This morning, we grabbed the limited express along the Chuo line straight to Matsumoto. For the trip, Kath got some sushi, and I got myself a small panini, a curry cheese bread, and a white chocolate tea bread from the Vie de France bakery in the station.

We reached our hostel in Matsumoto and met with one of the owners, Chris, a nice American sounding bloke. He owns it – and the café below it – with his wife.

The plan in Matsumoto now is to stay a night, then tomorrow we’ll hike up to a Yuru Camp campsite at the Takabocchi highlands.

After chilling a bit, Kath and I stocked up at the local 7 eleven with food for tomorrow. Then we had a wander around town.

We met a really outgoing and friendly shopkeeper at a camping shop we poked our heads into, and I ended buying a torch lamp thing. I don’t own either a torch or a lamp, so I guess it was needed.

I’ve just eaten and I’m enjoying some live piano and sax music in the cafe below the hostel right now. We’ll leave tomorrow morning for Takabocchi. The hike is something similar to climbing mount Snowdon which I’ve done a few times when I was younger, so it shouldn’t be too tricky. Stay tuned for the next post to find out what happens!

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