December 21st
Start&Finish: Ome station to Futamatao station (Alternatively park in Nagayama parking lot, though it’s a bit of a narrow, hair-raising drive up. There are also plenty of pay and display places).
The weather: Lovely and sunny and not too cold.
Outfit/Equipment: warm trousers, tshirt, long sleeve top, hiking shoes.
Map: This is a good overview map of the area.
Crowds: several walking groups as well as individual hikers. Noticeably a Tokyo course with plenty of well maintained signposts.
Time: 10am to 1pm.
Difficulty: 20,500 steps.
I was on my own and wanted to go for a long walk so a colleague at work recommended Ome Hills. It was a popular spot with plenty of other hikers, and hiking groups, especially for the first hour or so of the course. It’s a steep start but then you follow a paved path along the ridge of the hills which makes for very easy walking. There are little huts along the way where you can stop off if you feel like it (I just kept walking) and there are plenty of side routes that take you back to the train line so you can adjust the route to suit your mood and energy levels. For a solo hike it was a good choice. No toilets though!
I was originally following a blog that finished at Miyanohira station but when I got to the turning off the main path I felt like I wanted to go on a little further. There was a noticable drop in people after this turning so I guess that’s where a lot of people turn off. You can keep going all the way to Ikusabata station (I would guess about a five hour hike in total?) but that was a little much, especially as my knee was starting to ache again, so I decided to split the difference and took a very steep path down to Futamatao station instead.
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