Walked a level path through extensive marshland surrounded by mountains in Nikko National Park. After yesterday’s tough trail, I went easy on myself today.
Category: Honshu
Mount Toyama
Hiked a gnarly trail: extensive tree roots, scree, erosion, fallen trees, 2,300 feet gain in two hours, no switchbacks. Walking down was even harder than the climb. A guy, older than me, was doing this with camping gear. Mount Toyama (7,230 feet), Nikko National Park.
Nikko
Walked for hours around an area of temples, shrines, and woodland paths on a hillside near Nikko, two hours north of Tokyo.
A Somber Place
Rode a Sendai city bus past fields where homes had once stood, to an elementary school that is now a museum. The 2011 tsunami crashed through the second floor of the school, but the children had been sent to the top floors and roof where they were safe.
Michinoku Coastal Trail
Hiked for two days along part of the 700 km Michinoku (Pacific) Coastal Trail in Sanriku Fukko (reconstruction) National Park. People stay away because of the destructive 2011 earthquake and tsunami, and the disabled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.
Undersea Bullet Train
Rode this beauty through the 33.5-mile Seikan undersea tunnel from Hokkaido to Honshu.
Snapshots: A Night in a Bicycle Hotel
This week I spent a night in Hotel Cycle, in a converted warehouse in the port city of Onomichi, Japan. I used it as a base to cycle part of the Shimanami Kaido trail across the Seto Inland Sea. Had I arrived on a bicycle, I could’ve cycled into the building and up to the front… Continue reading Snapshots: A Night in a Bicycle Hotel
Nakasendo Section
Hiked a section of the Nakasendo in Nagano Prefecture. The Nakasendo follows the route of an ancient mail road that ran from Kyoto to Tokyo.
A Night in a Bicycle Hotel
Posted A Night in a Bicycle Hotel.
Cycling the Seto Inland Sea
Cycled above the Seto Inland Sea across bridges and islands.