May 16th, 2019
Tsumago -> Kiso-Fukushima
The trail is covered with twigs now. Old signs don’t have new ones to compete with anymore, nor do I with any day-trippers. An offshoot cuts left, marked by a rotting wooden plank with the word "castle" next to an arrow. So I diverge. Climbing, climbing, climbing: over downed trees toppled by the wind, through bamboo hillside amidst dancing dappled light, and up to the top of the lone steep hill. The bamboo gives way, cut back by unseen hands of the past, and I emerge onto a wide green field overlooking Tsumago below. But there is nothing here; the castle burned down a long time ago.
