Went to Fushimi Inari tonight with my husband. We decided to hike up mt Inari, and I was excited because it was my first time.
We pretty far in and hit a road with a vending machine. Two men are sitting by the vending machine. I didn’t think much of it at the time, but right as we started walking by they gathered their stuff and continued hiking behind us.
We get to the point where there’s a small shrine and “waterfall” down a flight of stairs, so my husband and I turn off the look. The men don’t follow us and I assume they continue hiking.
My husband and I continue walking up the road and then we’re back in the forest when we see the men hiking down. I’ve never been up before, so I assumed they reached the summit and were heading down. As soon as we pass them, they turn around and start hiking back up the mountain.
I hear them behind us again, and I feel a bit uneasy, so I pull my husband to the side and pretend I need to rest. The men hike maybe three meters past us before they stop as well. They’re speaking and looking at us, but I can’t hear what they’re saying. We end up waiting a few minutes until they finally continue hiking. After they get out of view my husband and I turned and hiked back down.
I was sad we didn’t get to the top, and I feel kind of silly for being nervous. At the same time, I had an odd feeling and since it was dark I felt more uneasy. Has anyone experienced anything strange like this before? It really felt like they were following us, but I don’t think someone would be stupid enough to try something along a popular path.
by MarionberryForward20
1 comment
Haven’t had such an experience but seems more likely these men wanted to hike around other people (sort of like a buddy system for safety reasons) versus trying to cause harm to the people they are following.
It is also entirely possible some locals wanted to ‘keep an eye’ on non-locals.
Either way, at least the positive is you are and feel safe now.
Can always hike back up Fushimi Inari again at a later date.
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