Mt. Ibuki

This past Saturday a couple of friends and I climbed Mt. Ibuki, the trail head to the mountain is a the shrine seen above. Mt. Ibuki is the tallest mountain in Shiga prefecture, Michigan's sister state in Japan. The nice trail below is about 20 minutes into the hike.Here is a view of the summit from the 5th station.The summit of the mountain can be seen almost directly above the coca cola vending machine at 1377 meter (4518 ft), the 5th station is at 880 m and the hike started at 234 m (767 ft).You can get an idea how steep the path is, it was rare just to have a simple flat walking path. We were able to reach the summit in just over three hours, here is our team photo.Here is another team photo at the top.The statue is a depiction of a legendary guy, the first person to concur Japan. I guess he concurred the west first, then came up to the top of this mountain and noticed there was an east side of Japan. At this point decided to get that half too.The backpack this guy was carrying weighed about 40 pounds and I could not figure out why (I carried it from the 3rd station to the 5th station. Turns out he had a kitchen in there with full function stove and fridge. It all lead to a good lunch, so it was okay.... This is the only way to make these kind of noodles taste like a 5 star restaurant.Behind me is the return path... Here are some grand views from the mountain top. First view is looking west over Lake Biwa, Japans largest fresh water lake. This large lake is also why Michigan is Shiga's sister state.The second view is looking south into the valley. 400 some years ago there was a battle (The Battle of Sekigahara) in this valley with 150000 solders, but it is peaceful today.Third view is looking over the east mountain range.And the last view is looking north to the parking lot that you can drive too and walk 15 minutes to the summit.But that is cheating.... but somehow this cross your mind as a good idea when looking down the other side of the mountain: