April 27th Start&Finish: Yokoze station to Urayamaguchi station The weather: High 24 Low 6 Outfit/Equipment: light hiking trousers, tshirt, sunglasses, sunscreen, hiking shoes. Map: We went on the second hike on this page. Crowds: A fair number of people, especially on the first half up Bukousan from the carpark. Time: 9:15 to 2:45 Difficulty: 30,100 […]
March 28th This is my first spring in a very long time where I haven’t had a child to prepare for a new school year and I feel like it’s snuck up on me somehow. One minute it’s winter and the next we’re well into spring. It doesn’t help that temperatures here yoyo from the […]
March 15th Start&Finish: Ogose Machi Chuo Kouminkan Car Park. The weather: High 11 Low 5. Hazy with cloud thickening through the day and the first spots of rain as I reached the car. Outfit/Equipment: warm trousers, sport inner, hoody, down vest, hiking shoes (and hat and gloves later on). Map: I had no particular plan […]
March 9th, 2025 Start&Finish: Higashi Agano station to Agano station. The weather: High 13 Low 1 (but we had sleet and a high of about 6 the day before so the air was cold) Outfit/Equipment: Warm hiking trousers, long sleeve undershirt, hoody, down vest, hat, gloves, hiking shoes. Map: We started off on this map, […]
March2nd Start&Finish: Shinrinkoen Station The weather: High 21 Low 4. Intermitent sunshine Outfit/Equipment: Jeans and a long sleeve t-shirt. Map: Here’s the link to the park’s homepage Crowds: Busy in popular areas but quiet on the side trails Time: 9:30 to 2 Difficulty: 25,430 steps After checking on the park’s website and seeing that the […]
February 23rd, 2025 Start&Finish: Higashi Agano Station to Koma Station The weather: High 9 Low -5. Sunny but chilly in the shade. Outfit/Equipment: warm trousers, long sleeve sport undershirt, hoody, down vest, hat, gloves, hiking boots. Map: We stuck two maps together so we started on this route to Ebigazaka, took a trail from there […]
February 9th Start&Finish: Nogami station to Nagatoro Station The weather: High 10 Low -3 Sunny but with a cold wind. Outfit/Equipment: sport tights, warm trousers, sport long sleeve top, hoody, down vest, hat, gloves, hiking shoes. Map: We followed the red course on this map Crowds: Loads of people walking the same trail but the […]
January 3rd. Start&Finish: Koma station to Musashi Yokote station The weather: Overcast and cold. Outfit/Equipment: warm trousers, long sleeve heat tech, long sleeve top, light down vest, hat, hiking shoes. Map: We followed this hiking course in reverse. Crowds: Hiwada-san in particular is a popular mountain but it was quiet after that. Time: 9am to […]
December 25th Start&Finish: Shinrinkoen south entrance (there is 300 yen parking just outside the park) The weather: Cold and sunny. Outfit/Equipment: Jeans, jumper, light shoes Map: Here’s a link to the park’s own website Crowds: Very quiet Time: 10am-12pm Difficulty: 16,404 steps.
December 8th Start&Finish: The weather: Outfit/Equipment: Crowds: Map: Time: 5 hours hiking, from Start&Finish: Nishiagano station to Agano station. The route we were following led to a bus stop but we decided to walk rather than wait for the infrequent buses. The weather: Cold and sunny. Outfit/Equipment: warm hiking trousers, tshirt, long sleeve top, vest, […]