February 16th
Start&Finish: Ogose Station to Musashi Ranzan Station
The weather: High 16, Low 5. Warm and sunny.
Outfit/Equipment: Warm trousers, sport long sleeve undershirt, light long sleeve top, hiking boots
Map: We never found a particularly good map but just had a general map of the area. There were plenty of signs.
Crowds: Very few people on the trail but plenty around the park.
Time: 9:30 to 2:30
Difficulty: 28,000 steps, 146 flights climbed.
It was a lovely warm day and we decided to go an explore Ranzan. I’ve been before but my husband hadn’t so we caught the train to Ogawamachi. It wasn’t obvious which way to go from the station so we started off just using google to head towards Sengenyama, then after about ten minutes of walking we starting seeing signs to the hiking entrance. There are plenty of signs along the trail and for once we didn’t get lost.
We decided to go to Miharashi no Oka park first, which I hadn’t been to before. It also has a nice toilet so a good place to stop off. They have a long roller slide that costs 200 yen and we figured while we were there we might as well have a go. It was good fun, though i think we were the only people queueing without a small child. It would be nice to have a slide like that down the mountain when you’re tired!
Refreshed we made our way back to the main trail and on to Sengenyama. It’s rather an uninspiring peak – just a sign really and no fantastic views. The same can be said for all the peaks along the route; it’s a long walk through nice forest rather than a hard climb with breathtaking views so it made a nice change from recent hikes. The lack of variability makes the walk seem very long but there are castle ruins along the way to break it up a little. I have to say there was nothing that I could see of walls or outlines, but it was nice to think about there being a string of castles along the route that we walked and the people who must have lived and travelled between them.
We came out on to the road and made our way to the hiking car park (another great toilet!) and then on to Mt. Ohira, a quick climb up followed by an extremely long staircase down to the bottom. We could have gone on to the keikoku but we were both tired and ready to head back. It’s a good 40 minute walk through the town to the station and we relied on Google to get us there. There was the odd sign but I don’t think they would have been enough on their own. A long walk on a lovely day where Spring was definitely in the air.
Discover more from Nature Escapes
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.