Start&Finish: Oyahana station to Wadokurotani station
The weather: High 29 Low 13
Outfit/Equipment: Light weight trousers and cool tech tshirt, hat, sunglasses, hiking shoes.
Map: I was following this map from Seibu railways.
Crowds: There were plenty of people around at the start, and in the park at the top but not many on the trail itself. Where do they all go?
Time: 10:00 to 12:30
Difficulty: 13,600 steps, 116 flights climbed.
Today was unseasonably warm and sunny so was definitely a day to venture out of doors. Before long there will be too many bugs and it will be far too hot so I need to grab every hiking chance! I was on my own and couldn’t decide where to go, but a friend recommended Minoyama Park so I decided to take a look.
The hike itself is easy. Steep but short and with a park to aim for and enough hikers around to follow if in doubt, especially on such a nice day. The station is tiny; there is nothing there at all, but you head for a shrine first where there is a very handy toilet, before you head up the mountain. The station is a bit odd in that you have to cross over the tracks to get to the suica scanner (if you’re using touch payment), then you have to cross back over again to start this hike. There are two routes up and I took the one most other people seemed to be following. The path was easy with plenty of signs and I got to the edge of the park surprisingly quickly, maybe just forty minutes.
The park itself is lovely. There are lots of viewing platforms scattered about and amazing views to the surrounding mountains. The cherry was scattering it’s blossom and everything looked fresh and green with the new leaves on the trees and flowers unfurling from the undergrowth. Right at the top you can buy a drink; I’d taken and drunk a full flask on the way up and needed to buy another bottle for the way back. These days I think a litre is probably the minimum you should be carrying if there’s no chance to buy on the route.
Once I’d taken my fill of photos I headed back down, and again, found the route very quick and easy. It was a bit mystifying once out of the mountains, but it was easy to get back on to the trail as long as you head for the station. There was a little side trail on the way to look at a monument of a massive coin, symbolic of the Chichibu copper mines, which is worth stopping to have a look at on the way back to the station.
It was a quick and easy hike, perfect for a solo trip and somewhere I’d like to visit again in the winter when the skies are clear. The views must be amazing.
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