Sefuriyama 脊振山 hiking and camping in Autumn, campfire 2019.11.9&10

Sefuriyama 脊振山 hiking and camping in Autumn, campfire! 2019.11.9&10 

Autumn is one of, if not the most beautiful season to hike in. The trees changing colour and the temperature starting to drop create a wonderful atmosphere in the forest and mountains in Japan. Sefuriyama looks particularly good in Autumn so we headed to Sefuriyama again to camp at the campground and we even made a campfire which we used to cook and for comfort in the cold night. Campfires have had a long an important place in human culture and can act as an important social focal point to talk, eat and sleep around. I love the feeling of being around a campfire and easily get lost in the ethereal beauty of the flames.

We hiked up the regular route starting at the Shiiba bus stop hiking up to the trailhead at the Shiiba mountain pass. This route follows the river often criss-crossing. The water is fantastically clear and the forest floor was carpeted in beautiful leave of a variety of colours.

Once we reached the campground we set up camp and carried on to the top of the mountain to take in the views.  On the way down though disaster struck I fell cover and although I appeared fine at first I had actually damaged my arm which made using it very painful.

Once we got back to the campground we set about building a campfire by first finding a suitable place. There are lots of areas with ash and burn marks from fires so we choose a place and set about collecting large rocks in the forest. We then went foraging for firewood. It had been dry the week before which meant there was plenty of firewood in the forest, some was a little damp and make a lot of smoke at first but soon settled down and warm glowing embers developed.

We sat around the campfire talking and drinking. It became darker and colder but the fire provided a wonderful atmosphere and the warmth we needed.

The sun camp up late at around six thirty. Due to my injury to decided to take the road down into Saga and go to the Sefuri Sazanka Onsen. We found some nice cut throughs and a beautiful shrine on the way as well.

Sefuri shrine 背振神社 can be found along the road side on the Saga side of the mountain. It has a very symmetrical approach and looked great against the autumn trees.

We finally made it to the Higashisefurionsen Sazanka Hot Spring ひがしせふり温泉 山茶花の湯 which did wonders for my arm. We decided to a get a Taxi back to the nearest station which was Yoshinorigarikoen 吉野ケ里公園駅 which cost about two thousand Yen. The injury changed the trip but we still had a great experience camping and got to see a new route.