Ayako
Walking through an old trail “Miike Kodo” in early Autumn
I went to Miike Kodo, in Oku Oze area in between Gunma and Fukushima Pref.

I went to the most popular area in Oze in Summer, and found there was a trail in Oku-oze area when I was a looking a map in the lodge, where we stopped by. The map shows there's a road which was not a red, meaning it is not a route for trekking.

After I came back home, I searched for the trail looking at a book about old trails in Japan, and found out there was an old trailed called "Miike Kodo" - The Miike Lake old trail - .

Miike Kodo starts from Nanairi to Miike lodge. It has been used by local people who do mushroom hunting.


Wrong camera setting...

Acorns and nuts on the ground

A national highway breaks trough in the middle of the path.

It was easy to walk on the soft ground.

Felt good to walk through between trees.


Autumnal leaves of some trees were at their best.

Sometimes, there was a moss.




A wooden path showed up at last. Most of the route was flat which was easy to walk, though there was a steep climb at the beginning.



There was a bench located 10mins walk from the Miike Lodge, where we had a last break. The temperature suddenly went down.

Slightly climbed up at last.


It started raining at the very last. Originally we had a plan to go to Numayama Toge by bus from here and to walk on the Numata Old Highway to go back to Nanairi, where we started. However, we decided to go on another bus to go back to the starting point.
We only met one guy on the trail, who was hunting mushrooms. This day, we stayed at the lodge in Hinoemata village, and the owner of the lodge was surprised that we had walked on Miike trail.
The Miike path, truly known by those in the know, was very beautiful in the earily Autumn.