市民の森・Shiminnomori Area

April 12th

The weather was simply perfect today. Warm and sunny with a cool breeze. Rain is forecast tomorrow so yet again we won’t be able to go hiking; I needed to get outside today while the weather was good. I decided to explore the Takasaka area again and it was just perfect. The trees were just coming into fresh, green leaf, the cherry blossom was coming to end, with snow-like petals drifting down as I walked. You can stick to the main paved path if you choose, or venture out into the trails that run through the park but today I wanted to see how far I could get without hitting civilisation. I was hoping there might be a way through to the mountains around Ranzan, but if there is, I couldn’t find it. I could have walked through the city to get there but I wanted to stay in the peace and quiet of the forest.

I started out going to the park around the Peace Museum, a good warm up with lots of steps up and down. Then I went on to Shiminnomori and visited the two vantage points in the park, Miharashi Dai and Miharashi Ga Oka, both of which have lovely views over the surrounding area, and lots more steps to build up stamina for future hikes!

Up until now I’ve stayed within the park so this time I wanted to see what was beyond. I carried on through the park and came to a junction where you can go straight on or turn right to JAXA. I decided to go straight on first and saw a little, unremarkable trail off to the left. It leads down onto a trail that winds along marshy land and eventually to a little stream. The frogs were croaking happily, bees were buzzing, birds singing. It was just lovely. If you follow that trail you eventually pop out at some steps that lead down into the town and, according to the map, a very nice bakery. Something to remember for another trip.

Turning back I followed a different path back to the JAXA crossroads and took the other road down past JAXA. You can actually go and visit; we went once with the kids years ago. It is quite a small place but interesting to stop by. That road had an interesting, and quite spooky shrine near the end, but eventually leads to a busy main road. I walked around the area for a while to see if there was a way past the road and on into the woods the other side but was defeated by lakes and golf courses. It was such a gorgeous day though it was all enjoyable. I turned back and made my way back to JAXA and through the park to the car.