~~ NOTE: As always, the pictures below often have captions, so please click on them to enlarge and see my comments. ~~
Back in December, some friends and I decided to go on a challenging hike in the mountains. We decided to travel to Mount Unzen in Nagasaki prefecture. Mount Unzen is actually a group of three volcanoes that are notorious for causing trouble. It was most recently active in 1995 and had a major devastating eruption in 1991. These eruptions actually formed a new peak on the mountain, Heisei-shinzan. The mountain's two highest peeks are Fugen-dake (1,359 meters) and the newly formed Heisei-shinzan (1,486 meters). For reference, that makes Mount Unzen about the same height as the 5th tallest High Peak in the Adirondacks, Whiteface Mountain.
Mount Unzen has always been a very popular hiking destination. But after the 1990's eruptions, the trails were temporarily shut down for repairs. I mean heck, there was a brand new peak on the mountain now! After finishing some major restruction and repairs, they recently reopened the mountain to the public. Lucky for us!
So that leads us to my adventure with some other ALTs from Kyushu. We drove out to Nagasaki on December 12th, bright and early. To get there from Kumamoto, it takes a fairy ride and lots of driving.
Mount Unzen has always been a very popular hiking destination. But after the 1990's eruptions, the trails were temporarily shut down for repairs. I mean heck, there was a brand new peak on the mountain now! After finishing some major restruction and repairs, they recently reopened the mountain to the public. Lucky for us!
So that leads us to my adventure with some other ALTs from Kyushu. We drove out to Nagasaki on December 12th, bright and early. To get there from Kumamoto, it takes a fairy ride and lots of driving.