Hiking Japan's Deepest Gorge — Kurobe Gorge | Life in Japan Episode 80

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Get ready for an epic adventure down Japan's deepest gorge.
It takes determination to make it there, and it requires perseverance to finish.
Those who accomplish it are rewarded with some of the best views in Japan,
but watch your step because it's a long ways down.
It's time for our biggest Life in Japan adventure to date:
we're hiking Kurobe Gorge.
[Life in Japan Theme Song]
Well, I am off!
Does it look like I'm going for a big expedition, because it sure feels like I am.
From here we're going to go to Shinjuku and catch an overnight bus to our destination.
What is Kurobe most famous for?
Right now the fall foliage.
It's the deepest gorge.
It's the deepest gorge in Japan.
A few months ago my friend Kazu told me about a trip he was planning to do
a hike through Japan's deepest gorge at the height of fall.
I immediately knew I wanted to go along.
Little did I know the true scope of the adventure to come.
OK, we're ready for this thing here.
Looking good. We've got a nice comfy seat here.
Uh huh. A nice privacy curtain.
Kurobe Gorge is located in Toyama Prefecture, a 6 hour overnight drive to the northwest of Tokyo to the other side of Japan.
Oooo going there!
And we are on our 2 hour train ride.
Is this to the trail head or do we still have one more after this?
One more after this.
There's a scenic train. A scenic train.
Oh common, alright.
And now we power hike to the next train!
We are just going to make this.
It's like a miniature train.
Alright!
It takes several hours on trains just to get to the trail head,
but the last train you ride is one especially built to service the interior part of the gorge.
You see some incredible sights along the way,
and the drop offs are enough to take your breath away.
It makes you wonder what else is ahead.
That's a bridge for monkeys.
I don't know how the monkeys made it, but...
It's trying to clear off, John.
Yeah, it's trying. Look, there's a hole!
There's a hole! We can see some blue sky. Common!
We are finally at the end of the line here. We're going to start our hike.
OK, here we go. This is it, right?
It goes up fast! Holy cow.
Last year 5 people died.
Last year 5 people died on this? Thanks for bringing me here, Kazu.
This year only one person.
OK, we're going to keep it that way.
It starts off quite interesting, doesn't it?
I was going to say, boy this starts off with a bang, doesn't it?
It's like a 200 or 300 meter climb straight up.
And then it will be flat. Like 40 minutes of climbing.
So this first part of our train just goes up, up, up and then it will level out
We're getting up there. Look at that.
Lots and lots of stairs. More and more and more.
Oh, there's some color coming out.
That's a cool sign.
Whew, downhill.
When is the most treacherous part of this trail?
Tomorrow.
I'm wearing the official cap today as we are trekking, trekking, trekking.
Hopefully we're going to see some really cool fall colors.
The big part of the climb is done. Now we get to start traversing.
We're going to get over to the gorge.
Hello! Look this amazing view!
And there's Nate.
Alright! We're going to do this thing.
We're starting to get a look at the gorge we're going to be hiking.
There's the trail. It just winds along the side of the gorge.
And goes up up away.
It's just beautiful up here, my goodness.
This is where it becomes dangerous now.
So as if it's not dangerous enough, if the fall won't get you, the power lines right next to you can.
So...
Awesome!
We go around a corner
Awesome!
Every corner
This is incredible that they even could build this here.
If whoever build this is watching, thank you very much.
Please comment and let me know.
But this is incredible. Look!
It just goes down, my goodness!
It's great!
Thank you
Be careful
Ah! My wire's back, yeah!
Wow, we got some thick grass here.
Hello!
Everything good? It's good.
It almost looks like a trail there, but it wouldn't be a trail, huh? No.
Slide. Yeah, slide.
A monkey slide. Leave slide.
We've been going for how long now? An hour and half maybe?
An hour and forty minutes.
And it just keeps getting more and more beautiful.
We'll probably take a breather here in just a little bit.
If Kazu lets us!
I've never ever been on something quite like this.
Look at the colors here, oh my goodness!
We're getting into some good good stuff.
Uncle Tim's going to capture this memory.
Looks like we've got a little cave here.
Lower bridge.
Because me and my backpack aren't getting through otherwise.
I think I just crushed my lunch.
So we're going to camp out on the trail tonight.
Cook our own food. Setup our tents that we brought. Our sleeping bags.
And hopefully there's some nice soft earth, or at least flat earth, that we can put our tents down on.
Well we should be getting close to our marker.
Oooo, getting close to the lunch marker.
Whoa yeah!
Hand rail!
There's probably no way to tell from the video just how far down it goes right there.
Hey everyone, what do you think?
Tomorrow is Japanese only day?
And today too?
English only for Kazu.
Opposite Day.
There's the river way down there.
You can see how the path just cuts, literally, right through the mountain. Look at that.
I have to bend down here because otherwise my pack gets stuck.
Oh, before it looks like the path went around.
Wha?! That's right, they did have it going around.
Lower bridge.
We hear a stream, that's a good sign.
That means our rest/lunch area is nearby.
I got some of my food out. Today I'm having some beef jerky, nuts and a peanut butter and jelly that John inspired me to make.
How much time we looking at to get to the campsite?
Oh man, well we're about 3 hours to go if we can keep a decent pace.
There's the trail we're about to follow.
We can do it.
Here we go.
Light on.
So here's where a tunnel goes in.
We gotta turn on our lights and go in this tunnel.
And it's going to go through this whole ridge of the mountain.
And come out the other side there.
Alright. Here we go.
How did they dig this thing in here? Did they start curving and hope they made it right?
Wait a second. Let me take a picture of you guys.
It looks to be a little steamy in here or foggy.
This is certainly just an absolutely wild trail.
Amazing.
I'm glad I had waterproof shoes though
Because my feet were in the stream, there was no way around it.
You had to duck so low to get through that tunnel so the backpack could pass
And then walk through water at the same time.
It's clearing up over there.
And this right here just drops off like nobody's business.
What a feeling!
Good feeling!
That is quite the place! Holy moly!
Holy moly!
What in the world?!
Hold on tight. Yea hold on tight with both hands.
Oh my goodness. That one moves, that's even freakier!
This is really amazing!
Be careful!
That's the understatement of the day.
Dude, it's true. You shouldn't look down and try to walk at the same time.
Oh man!
That was I guess where the station was. Yea.
From our vantage point here right now you can see where we started this morning.
Way down at — what's the name of the station?
Keyakidaira
It just doesn't let up, it's just awesome all the time.
It's the nature paparazzi team here.
Approaching a waterfall here.
Aw, look at that!
We have deemed this place a place worthy of a break.
Break time!
This trail is amazing, but I'm really glad my family is not here.
Because this is not the type of trail to bring the family on.
Unless they're grown and able to handle it.
Going under the waterfall.
Our break is over. We're going to try to make it to the campsite by 4:30. That's our goal.
And we've got about 2 hours of hiking left.
Whoa!
What a gorge! What a waterfall!
Holy cow!
You get a little bit of everything on this!
Ahhhhhh!
Yea, it's definitely not that waterproof.
Let me take a picture of where we're going to be tonight.
And now we can finally see the campsite.
There's a couple tents. Plenty of space for ours.
An onsen down there!
That was just the motivation I needed right there.
Campsite in sight.
Get some hot food. Get a tent setup.
In my sleeping bag by 6:00 PM.
You think all is good. "I can see the campsite!"
And then they hit you with a huge stair.
Which only makes me assume there's going to be an even bigger one going down.
Is there an escalator up here?
It was like "Yea, we could see it!"
OK, now just go up this huge cliff face and then go back down it.
Oh, there it is. Across the valley there.
(Singing) "Down the valley where the green grass grows"
Whew! Yea!
Ah! We made it!
John, you have quite the tent there, bro.
You like it?
This is a tent.
Wow! Tiny.
Here's our tent for the night. Uncle Tim and I are going to be very friendly.
Well, we're heading down the onsen now.
I don't know how much I'll be able to show because, well, you get in naked!
Girls and guys take turns, so that they're not in at the same time.
But tonight there are no girls here.
So it should be cool to have some onsen time.
We got back from the onsen, and now we're going to have a bite to eat.
And we're going to get to bed early tonight — like 6 or 7
Because we plan on waking up at 3 AM so we can get all ready to go by 4? Is that right?
That gives us 12 hours to do a 9 hour hike so we can make the last cable car out of the gorge.
We've got some pepperochini.
Oh yea, looking good here.
And Kazu?
Tomato and Cheese Risotto
Good!
3 Minutes to gourmet dinner! Gourmet, heh?
It's so dark now you can barely see the sky.
We're going to sleep.
And then get up early at 3:00.
Well, good morning.
It's a little after 3 in the morning.
It was kind of a rough night's sleep. It was pretty cold.
Had to get up in the middle of the night and go to the bathroom. That was really cold.
Then after that we slept pretty well for a couple of hours.
And now we're ready. We've got to hit it early today.
It's 4 o'clock and we're on our way.
Got the heart rate going nice and early.
Oh my shoelace came untied!
Of all the places!
I wonder if I shouldn't tie it real quick.
Just a moment. Nate is tying his boots.
OK? Yep!
Whew! It feels nice in here!
It is warm in here! Holy cow! It's like a sauna.
Our path has brought us right over the dam.
You can barely see it, but boy is that a long ways down and it's just roaring!
All this walking around the dam. You have to look out for these little signs to know which way you're supposed to go.
Well, it keeps on getting lighter and lighter
And now we're heading up to a big bridge which crosses the other side.
Looks like a suspension bridge.
Holy cow!
Oh my word! This is a little bit.. makes me a little bit nervous!
Oh my goodness!
This is kind of crazy!
Oh look! Let's look! Picture!
The trick is here: I am not looking down.
Well it feels safe but man is it a wobbly bridge.
Wow!
Here's the bridge we just crossed.
Have you ever crossed anything like that? Yeah, I have.
You have? Oh, I never have.
It would be very hard to fall through that.
Yeah, I don't think you could.
Oh, that's difficult!
They spent the night on the trail.
It got too dark on them.
That guy was 77 years old, his first time out here!
77!
That's so amazing.
A lot of people come down this trail.
From the dam, and then they walk down.
We're actually going up the trail.
The nice thing is that if you're right handed,
You get to hold on with your right hand the whole way.
Here's the gorge we're walking along.
You see the river down there, beautiful blue rapid water.
And our team!
Well guys, try out your wings!
It's about 7:00 AM right now. We've been hiking for 3 hours.
So we should be about almost a third of the way done with today's hike.
And it's gradually going up along this gorge.
The gorge gets further down, and we go further up.
It's pretty incredible.
Boy the sun is shining way up there. That's awesome.
Hey John, turn around here. Kazu, show your face.
Wow! Look at those cliffs up there! Those are amazing!
To say it's a bit of a drop right here would be an absolute understatement.
Aw, a break! What a novel idea.
We have another suspension bridge here
Which is being photographed.
While we enjoy some coffee.
It's wonderful, isn't it?
Crossing another bridge. Oh my stars alive!
Holy cow!
This river runs into another river cutting through another gorge there.
This is incredible.
So blue.
I'm going to relish right now.
Just scene after beautiful scene after beautiful scene.
Tim, there's a waterfall!
We're going through a waterfall. What in the world!?
You got a little wet there, huh?
Yeah I did. That waterfall kind of got me there.
Yep. Me too.
That was adventure though.
That was adventure.
The peaks basking in the sunlight way up there, and the waterfall coming down.
Getting a drink! And getting a drink!
Absolutely gorgeous.
Well, we've been going down a lot recently. This is about as close as we've gotten to the river.
And so begins our ascent into this tight gorge
It looks like something out of a Wild West movie, doesn't it?
John! This is like Indiana Jones, dude!
Indiana John!
Dude!
Freaky, isn't it?
One step over there and you're in the drink!
Wow, look at these rapids, this water. It's amazing!
It's amazing, Nate! Wow!
This is like Disney Land without the wait times.
This is probably the most legitimate use of my GoPro that I've ever had.
Dude.
It's what we call a two-handed wire part.
Whew, take it up a notch, huh?
Yea, be careful.
That was tricky.
Man - this is like, flat-out rock climbing, huh?
We are getting the full sun on that mountainside.
Looking over to what we're about to do.
We're walking into the first sunshine of the whole trip.
And we just saw a sign that says it's 8 km to the dam.
John figures we've done about-how many kilometers so far?
Maybe about 12. Maybe about 12km.
The sun's shining down. Look at this pass here.
Here we go.
This is a huge up and down.
I tell ya — if you're going to do the gorge, you gotta pay the price.
Ah, hello! Everything good?
Of course, be careful!
The place is not made with foreigners in mind.
It is so bright out here.
Look at this waterfall here.
Water just shooting down.
So we're enjoying some- well I wouldn't even call it lunch, this has been such a long day and it's still 10:30 AM.
We have some of the last push coming up:
A stairway that's supposed to take 40 minutes to climb.
All that way up this dam.
Our next landmark we'll be looking for is a bridge, and from there I believe it's 2 hours.
My legs are sore but they're very strong, they're doing alright.
My feet feel great considering all that we've done so far.
The shoulders are a little tired, the body is definitely tired, but feeling good.
Yesterday at this time we were just getting started.
Maybe we'd only been going about 30 minutes, huh?
We had just gotten to the top of that first hill.
Oh - let's go for a swim real quick?
How's it taste? Good?
These rocks are really tiring to keep walking on.
Because you have to make a decision every time you go to make a step.
John calls it decision fatigue.
Oh! A short break from the never-ending rock fields.
These red markers right here- you see them on the rocks.
Those are key.
Because it can be hard to tell if you're going the right way in the middle of a field of boulders.
It's hard to not take videos of everything that looks just so incredible here. Like this.
I love the fall. The fall is my favorite season.
And what a way to experience fall this year.
Awesome. So blessed.
There you go. Right at the top you can see the top of the dam.
Ah! Our first look at the dam!
It sure is high!
That's a long ways up!
We're going to have to climb all the way up there!
We're conserving our energy here for the last big push.
Yea, we're getting closer and closer to the dam and we're getting some of the spray.
There's moss on the rocks.
I'm giving everyone some raisin power. Do you want some?
Oh sure!
Oh yes, thank you.
Mmmm! Oh my goodness. Raisins never tasted so good!
Not to be outdone by any of the other bridges!
This is incredible!
After crossing that bridge, it signals the last major part of our hike,
Which is a 40 minute climb to the top of the dam.
This is the best stuff right here. Grinding it out! That's right.
This trail is being very kind to us right now. So I hope that kindness holds out until the end.
We are already about the height of the dam which is great.
There's Tateyama. That's where we're going.
It goes up to the train that goes through the mountain and we're going to come out the other side.
And stay in a hotel way up on top of the mountain.
A pretty awesome end to an incredible trip.
Oh!! Hallelujah Gozaimasu!
That was hard fought, wasn't it Kazu?
And here's the dam, bursting with water!
The last two flights of stairs!
We made it to the top!
And we're at the top, we're at the top!
Kazu's already enjoying some victory ice cream!
I got my treat for the top.
Water cider from this area.
This is a very special moment here
After our 25.3 KM hike in 2 days, I'm celebrating with a Pay Day.
Pay Day! He's been so gracious to give us some pieces of it too, so here we go guys!
Let's celebrate!
And with the Cider, it is incredibly good!
It is incredibly good!
Kazu took the celebration to a whole new level!
He's eating gold ice cream it looks like!
Now that's a big celebration!
We did it!
That river right there.
25 KM of hiking along that ridge.
What an epic adventure!
What did we do there, starting with the overnight bus.
Overnight bus, we went to Toyama station.
And then we got a train and we went like this on the train all the way to Keyakidaira.
And then we started hiking yesterday morning and we hiked and hiked and hiked and hiked and hiked
Yesterday and today we got to the Kurobe dam
And now we're right here and we're going to take the cable cars up over here and we're going to go through the mountain.
And we're going to stay in a hotel on the other side of Tateyama.
Here we go. We're going up up up.
There goes the other cable car.
We did the cable car and now the ropeway.
This sure beats taking the stairs.
That's amazing. Those cables there, it's all one span.
You don't see any poles all the way from here to where it comes out. Why don't we hike up, Nate?
Uh. We don't we?
Whew! And after all that... that's Tateyama there.
Way up on Tateyama
There's our lodge where we're going to stay in.
Almost the end of the line.
Oh! Finally! We're almost there!
Hard fought.
End of the line.
Everyone, great job!
Our room!
It's good, isn't it?
Tatami bed. Tatami bed.
Interesting
All ready for dinner. Yes!
Oh! This food looks delicious
There we go.
Good job!
Everyone did great.
So John with the final details of the day's damage.
We climbed 1,000 meters today.
Wow! Really?
Yeah, with all the ups and downs.
So how many steps did we do?
35,000.
So 35,000.
35,000? I'm going to say 40,000.
Oh, 32,000.
32,000.
The next morning
Whoa, it snowed last night, first snow! Look at this!
Oh my goodness, this is good snow for building a snowman.
This is the highest level onsen in Japan. E?!
I'm really glad we didn't have to hike in this yesterday, man!
Take pictures in the snow first!
That's right! Pictures in the snow
We got them first this year.
So we're on the bus now, heading back down.
Shomyo Falls
Daddy! Daddy! Sarah! Hi!
Ah Big J!
Let's come and play Mario Kart!