# @spoonofsesame on Instagram

- **Type:** Image
- **Original URL:** https://www.instagram.com/p/DQ8Pic0kfy5
- **Gondola URL:** https://gondola.cc/posts/65399483-spoonofsesame-instagram
- **Posted:** 2025-11-12T03:27:12.000+00:00
- **Account Owner:** Christin Jely Gilbert (@spoonofsesame) — https://gondola.cc/spoonofsesame

## Caption

The first day out of Takijiri-oji rose almost seven hundred meters straight up⛰️. Twenty-six pounds on my shoulders. The weight felt literal, maybe it wasn’t. Nothing but endless moss-covered stone steps & exposed ancient roots twisting across the trail. There were still fifty-some kilometres ahead.

I once imagined a few plans for this Japan trip. Instead, I started the Kumano Kodo hike with leftover fever from a cold 🤒. Rain & strong wind from Typhoon Nakri’s outer bands blurred the forest & the Kii mountain range 💨. Somewhere between wiping rain off my face, the plan changed shape & the grand plan faded. I found myself surrounded by quiet days & conserving warmth 🌧️

Roots & rocks, slippery up & slippery down, while small red river crabs crossed the trail & giant hornets drifted by, uninterested 🦀. The path wound through dense cedar, camphor & cypress trees. Their resinous scent, faintly medicinal with a trace of sweetness was deeply comforting & clearing my thoughts.

I placed one more pebble on top of the wooden sign, like the other pilgrims. A small act of gratitude that these tired feet had carried me across the Nakahechi. Beyond Koguchi, the sense of distance dissolved into repetition. Twelve hundred meters of ascent yet no summit to conquer, only long stretches of rain-slick stone steps, mud & roots to move through. At Nachi Taisha, my muddy boots were a reminder that devotion can be wordless 🕊️

I wonder how in the end I could feel so weightless yet so awake. Maybe that’s the clearest view there is, the humbling sensation of not being the center & finding peace in that 🍃

#KumanoKodo #NakahechiTrail #Pilgrimage #SlowTravel

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## Tags

slowtravel, pilgrimage, nakahechitrail, kumanokodo

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