On the top of Mt. Mitake, we spied this Poe-esque tree with cinderblocks hiding the interior.  Keeping someone in?  Something out?  Who knows.

Mountainous areas are so strange to me—I grew up in a hilly place, but not a mountainous one.  They had such allure even back then.  I remember reading Heidi and wondering what it would be like to frolic in Alpine meadows with goats and lunches of bread and cheese.  I liked that part so much that I always stopped reading once she went to live with Clara.  Instead, I had hills and sheep and forests and creeks and so too, eventually, I got sent to town and I am still working on finding my way back, in a sense. 

But mountains in Japan—there is always some sort of weird half-abandoned shrine and perhaps the last vestiges of some village.  Who carried all the stones and wood, and how?  Who takes care of the shrine?  Half of my wondering is pure logistics.