Oze

This is a very peak season for going to Oze, autumn up there.
https://oze-fnd.or.jp/en/season/

Oze-ga-hara is a beautiful marsh at an altitude of 1,500m, surrounded by mountains. It is beautiful in any season. Walking is mostly flat on wooden paths. Walking map of the area can be seen at
https://oze-fnd.or.jp/en/rg/

Will stay at Akatashiro hut, https://oze-onsengoya.com/ on Sept 27. (It is closer to the waterfalls).
Dinner and breakfast will be provided at the hut.
The total cost of the hut will be 14,300 yen per person (+1,100 yen for lunch takeout for Sunday).

We will leave from Tsukuba at 5:00 AM on Sept 27.

Oze (at 1,500 m) will be colder than here, so be prepared accordingly.
It may rain, so come with rain wear and water resistant shoes with grips (hiking boots preferable).

The hut has a bath/onsen. Bring your own towel kit (do not bring your own soap etc.).
After completing the walk on Sept 28, we will go to onsen Hanasaki no Yu.
https://oze-katashina.info/hanasakunoyu/
(You can choose not to go if car arrangements can be made that way).

Walking map of the area can be seen at https://oze-fnd.or.jp/en/rg/
We will park our cars in Tokura and take a shuttle bus to Hatomachi Toge, walk down to Yamanohana (Visitor Center) and have lunch (brought from home).
From there we will start walking in the marsh, in the direction of Miharashi and then to Akatashiro. We will return the next day, after visiting the waterfalls, enjoying the scenery, with some diversions in the route. Climbing Mt. Shibutsu is a possibility for fit hikers if the weather is fine.

we 12 participants (including a child of 6) went for a walk in Oze National Park on Sept 27-28, all of us enjoyed the hike and came back safely. There was a much wider response to the announcement but many of those could not finally make it.

It was a car based hike; we went in three cars, departing at 5 AM from Tsukuba Center. We took Ken-O expressway from Tsukuba Chuo IC and turned into Tohoku expressway at Kuki-Shirooka junction (to avoid running into heavy traffic further on), and then into Kita Kanto expressway at Iwafune JCT, and finally took the Kan-Etsu expressway at Takasaki JCT, to exit at Numata IC. We had two breaks at Sano SA and at Akagi-Kogen SA.

We arrived at Oze No. 2 parking well in time, and took the shuttle to Hatomachi toge to arrive there by 10 AM, and started walking from there. We relaxed at Yama-no-hana, and ate our lunch. From there we started walking towards Miharashi village.

The first day was very sunny but quite warm for the Oze in this month. The flora was similar to two years earlier in this month - still like late summer instead of autumn of earlier years.

Eleven of us stayed at Akatashiro lodge (night of Sept 27) https://oze-onsengoya.com/english.html , arriving there by 3 PM. (At first I had tried to get a room in Yashiro lodge in Miharashi, but it was unavailable. So I booked this lodge which is closer to the waterfalls). We had a large room for all of us. Dinner and breakfast was provided at the hut. However, the lodge could not arrange for all the requests for dietary restrictions/preferences, but did more than promised. The total cost of the hut was 14,300 yen per person (+1,100 yen for lunch takeout for Sunday). There was a small basic onsen in the lodge, the only real onsen in the Oze area.

One of the participants stayed at the camping site in Miharashi which, I learnt, is free to use, on a first come first serve basis. (Soon after my first announcement of the hike a prospective participant had shown interest in staying at the camping site, but I could not advise him well, so he dropped out.)

Soon after arriving at the lodge a larger group went on (down) to the waterfalls. Others (who did not climb Shibutsu-san the next day) went to the falls in the morning. Most of the participants left the lodge early in the morning at 6 AM to climb Mt. Shibutsu, beyond Yamanohana. It was a fine day for climbing. Others (after the waterfall) took a leisurely walk to Yamanohana and further on to Hatomachitoge. The climbers joined us there from Mt. Shibutsu soon after 1 PM.

We then went to the onsen Hanasaki no Yu
https://oze-katashina.info/hanasakunoyu/ where took a bath, relaxing and conversing in the outdoor rotemburo pools with nice views and then relaxed in the cafe. We then drove back to Tsukuba [stopping briefly at Sano SA for dinner], arriving by 9 PM.

I thank all the participants for joining in and making it fun! I also thank those who wanted to but could not, and hope they can join the next time.

You can see selected pictures at
https://photos.app.goo.gl/1RFkXhFPf7UKSDFb7
contributed by all participants.