So I had been planning to have a group trip up to Oze for a while and I managed to get one together for today! I was hoping to see the daylilies, but we had to make arrangements so far in advance, it was only a guess if we’d be able to see them. Due to the warm winter, all the blooming times were off. We took three sets of cars up to Oze, one from Maebashi, one from east Gunma, and one from my area. A-sensei (a new young teacher at my school) drove us from her house. We had arranged to meet at Oze at 9 am at the Oshimizu entrance. Two of the guys from the winter Asama hike were coming too, plus two other people I hadn’t met before, for a total of 10 folks. The last car came at thirty minutes late because they had some troubles. We actually had to park in overflow parking as the main lot was already full. It was just a short walk up the street.

Having Japanese people with was really handy! K found out that there is a shuttle bus up the first part of the road to the first hut! The long, boring gravel road that took Papa and I over 1.5 hours with our heavy packs. We could have skipped it and paid 700 yen for the bus fee, by buying tickets inside the shop, and it would have been a 10 minute ride! The next bus left at 10 am, so we killed some time before boarding. It was much nicer hiking from the actual trail part and without a heavy pack! We were much faster! We took some photos by the lake and decided to have lunch at the next spot, where Papa and I ate breakfast last time. There were some many people this time! According to the visitor center, we came on the peak day for the blooming lilies!

We had lunch overlooking the marsh, spotted with yellow, and the lake. Everything was so green and lush after the rainy season. Completely different than one month earlier. The trail was completely muddy and wet in several spots. The lake was filled with reeds that undulated like the waves in an ocean. Mesmerizing. After lunch, we checked out the lilies before continuing our full circle around the lake. The latter part I hadn’t done before so that was interesting. The trail was much more worn down and followed the lake’s edge closely. One spot was perfect for sitting on a stone beach! I promptly waded into the water and several others joined me. It felt so good! Papa and I could have totally gone swimming here, although it started out shallow.

I felt great during the hike and only at the end started to feel some aches and pains. Progress! It was much flatter than what I’ve been hiking recently, ha. The last bus back left at 4:30 pm which we missed, so we just walked the downhill stretch back to the cars. A total of about 17 km, a rise of 600 m, and 7 hours hiking. It was fun to go with everyone especially because it was their first times!