Mt. Kaya 可也山 (Kayasan) 2018.5.19

Mt. Kaya 可也山 (Kayasan) Itoshima hike 2018.5.19

Kayasan is located in Itoshima in Fukuoka. This coastal region is home to some of Fukuoka's best beaches and seaside areas. 

A good guide for this hike can be found on the Fukuoka now website, we followed this guide very closely on this day. 
Kaysan Hiking Guide (Fukuoka now)

Access: We drove to the Aeon shopping mall near the base of the mountain. The alternative would have been to take the JR: Subway to Chikuzen-Maebaru station and walk up from there which is what we did on the return journey. 

Gear: Kayasan isn't particularly large as mountains go. We went the day after some heavy rain which meant the descent in particular was pretty slippery and steep. A trekking pole and some hiking boots are recommended if you take the route down. 

It was a Cloudy and dull starting out however Kaysan still looked impressive from a distance with distinctive Mt. Fuji type of shape.

We started out by the car park and bus stop at the mountain base. There are free maps available from a small box.  We walked up through some fruit orchards and past some farms to the entrance of the mountain and forest.

The path is a track but very pleasant to walk

A snail enjoying the wet weather

After a little while we came to what was either a fallen boulder or some trees that had sprouted about a large rock.

A large mean looking beatle

The path moves steadily up through some rustling bamboo

Approach to the summit shrine

The shrine at the summit

The summit is pretty forested which makes getting a good view difficult. The main view is actually a little way past the Summit point.

The views of the surrounding area were very impressive only marred by the poor weather and thick clouds.

View of the sea and coast contrasted nicely with the views inland

We stopped at the viewpoint to each some lunch before continuing on to the descent. Little did we know the real challenge was about to begin.

Roped descent

Very steep!

But a rewarding experience

The climb down was a real test. Lots of long roped sections and the damp slippery earth made the going slow.

After a while of clambering and descending we came out to a farming area. There was a lot of buzzing in the air with a large number of bees. It didn't take long for us to realize that we had stumbled upon a Honey Farm and that the being we being kept in bee hives surrounding the area on either side of the path.

A the base found a large stone Torii which marked the entrance to the sea and the end of the hike.

Now we began the long walk back to the station. On the way the sun came out and we got a fantastic view of Kayasan rising out of the farmland that surrounds it.