あけぼの子供の森公園・Akebono Children’s Forest

December 1st

Start&Finish:　

The weather:

Outfit/Equipment:

Crowds: Very crowded in the park but only the odd hiker on the trail from the park.

Map: You can find a course map here.

Time: Around 2 hours

It was a beautiful day and I found myself on my own. I wanted somewhere pretty to hike that wouldn’t be too dangerous on my own and I thought of the moomin village. It’s a very pretty park, free entry, and it was peak season to visit with the changing colours. The park was predictably crammed with people and I only just managed to find parking even though the overspill carpark next to the neighbouring park was large. Make sure to get there early at this time of year!

After taking plenty of photos in the park I tried to find the start of the hiking trail. I saw what I thought might be the start but it was roped off and there were no people around so I figured part of the course was out of bounds. I tried to find my way to a later part of the walk, by the next door university and somehow managed to find markers for about mid-way through the map I was following. After that it was a very pleasant walk, through pretty trails along the ridge of the mountain. There was a nice lookout spot and plenty of side trails to explore. I ambled along quite happily until realizing that I was nearing the end of the path I was on and was on the wrong side of the mountain to get back to the park. I had to turn round and walk all the way back until I came to the top of the path to the moomin houses that looked as though it had been roped off at the bottom. With nothing written anywhere I decided to risk it, and although very steep the path was passable and I was able to walk back through to the park. The moral of the story is to take a good look at paths and notices! There was a rope, but the signpost was more along on the lines of ‘you pass here at your own risk’ rather than ‘you shall not pass.’ Had I ventured a little closer to read the notice I wouldn’t have had to make the long hike along a busy road round to the university and skip half the route.

Altogether a very nice place for a stroll, and once past the steep steps up, the route along the ridge of the mountain was very easy. There were people around too which made it a nice place for a solo walk.