Hike from Oze to Kaniyu onsen
9 August 2008
Oze is the biggest swamp in Japan and famous for its flowers, especially Mizubasho (Arum) in spring. However, it was already summer and as the trail through the swamp is pretty flat and old people love to see nice little flowers... well, we headed the other way. The other reason for heading the other way was that Mae Rose found a nice onsen on the secret onsen website (Kaniyu). (More portal sites with reccommended onsen: Hot springs Michelin, Free and other Hot Springs of Japan, Hot Springs Viewing Mt.Fuji)
We took the nightbus from Shinjuku to Ooshimizu, on the edge of the Oze swamp. We arrived there at 4 or so, so we had to wait some time until it got bright. Then we headed eastward (and uphill). Most of our climb was in the shade, because of trees and because the sun had not come over the top of the mountain we were climbing yet, so it was a pretty nice climb.
After having climbed the mountain, we came to the smaller swamp area where we still saw quite some flowers (even though the main season was over I guess). Only few other people there, most of who were staying in one of the onsen ryokans around the place we were heading.
[HDR]
We took the nightbus from Shinjuku to Ooshimizu, on the edge of the Oze swamp. We arrived there at 4 or so, so we had to wait some time until it got bright. Then we headed eastward (and uphill). Most of our climb was in the shade, because of trees and because the sun had not come over the top of the mountain we were climbing yet, so it was a pretty nice climb.
After having climbed the mountain, we came to the smaller swamp area where we still saw quite some flowers (even though the main season was over I guess). Only few other people there, most of who were staying in one of the onsen ryokans around the place we were heading.
[HDR]