On Sunday, I got to hiking with a lovely group of people who work in the same industry as me. Being a professional hermit, getting up super early on a day off was painful, but it was worth it! We started around 10 AM at Namaze Station and hiked the scenic route up to Takedao Station in Hyogo Prefecture, which is right next to Osaka. The path there is pretty flat, but it features old railroad tracks and tunnels with no lights inside and lots of fairly big loose rocks. Glad to have bought some good athletic shoes earlier in the year. 🥾

It gets pitch black inside the tunnels, so bringing a flashlight is a must (a phone flashlight would be enough as none of the tunnels were super long). The temperature that day wasn’t too hot or cold, but I did feel slightly warm from all the walking. Once you get close to the tunnels the air is noticeably cooler, so inside each one was nice and chilly. We also saw lots of the beautiful mountainside with its cliffs, waterfalls, and streams. 🍃

Nearing the of the two-hour journey we sat near other hikers, I guess at the main designated rest area, to have lunch. I enjoyed talking to everyone along the way too! They seem to be so passionate about what they do. Maybe I should be more a bit more focused and serious like that. 😗

Tangentially related: Adding another small non-scale victory to the list. I haven’t weighed myself at all this year and don’t care about the scale too much. Unfortunately, I have a health check coming up, so I’ll see a number soon. 🙃 Well, the jeans skirt my family gave me that didn’t fit in spring actually fits now. I went from not being able to even pull it up all the way in Jan to being able to pull it up in the spring to now wearing it buttoned up the other day. 💃 Again, the walking I did earlier in the year and cooking more / snacking a lil less came through. Still have a ways to go, but this makes me feel tres bien.

Which reminded me of this Puma x Monster Hunter collab.

Buying something was tempting, but I’m not really a fan of Puma… I was initially interested though because this came out before the hiking trip and I was thinking of getting some leggings. I feel like the designs were just okay. A bit too juvenile…even though it is a video game collab. 😅