Up from our local snack Cobalt, up past Tamaki Shrine into deep forest — now walk for days, camp on ledges that freeze in May, drink from holy melt, crest a peak and there before you: wild ridges of Kii Peninsula extend to horizon, crumpled earth like tin foil, roiling beyond and on, a razorback edge of rock and soil, muted ancient tones of earth, a plainly visible ridgeline of where you’ll soon hike, and, huh, look at that: a denuded hill centerframe, likely stripped of cedar, this being both land of logging and land of gods, hard land for both, logger or god, every step requiring focus but with views like this, heck, worth the effort and chills and near misses to witness rock shoot up like knives at the stratocumulus ceiling, soft baby blue of the atmosphere beyond.