Jaunt to Lake Misuzo
Today we took a morning walk up to Lake Misuzu just outside of Matsumoto. Lake Misuzu is located in the foothill to the northeast of Matsumoto, to reach the road that goes to the lake we wandered around fields for rice and through a vineyard and had an amazing view of Matsumoto before heading into the forest. From this point forward the road lead upward 486.2m upward to be exact.
Map with our GPS tracks (14.5 km) showing the road up to Lake Misuzu from the International Student House (MapSource, 2013).
Matsumoto City from up at the hill before heading into the Mountains
Vertical Profile from the International Student Housing to Lake Misuzu, Nagano Prefecture (MapSource, 2013).
Along the way we passed through a beautiful mixed forest of cedar, pine, Sugi (Cryptomeria japonica), chestnut, oaks and many other species that I could not identify.
Sugi (Cryptomeria japonica) looks a bit like redwood and sequoia but with a cypress like cone.
Sugi Trees
Some kind plantation pine tree it had two needles and small cones like jack pine or lodgepole pine, however the color and stem of the trees was very different
Not exactly sure what type of hardwood this is but it was very pretty.
Though it was hot there was a nice breeze that would greet us as we turned around hairpin turns in the road, refreshing us for the climb. When we arrived at the top of the hill saw a number of Japanese campers or day trippers playing croquet through the woods. This is croquet like none other, they had mettle clubs and there was an established course with tees and said how many hits was par.
Boy on the map playing croquet to show where the course runs.
After passing the croquet course we went downhill for about ½ a kilometer to Lake Misuzu. It is a pretty reservoir with a lodge where you can rent swan shaped paddle boats and go fishing. While there we relaxed in the shade and watched the large jumping fish and hawks circling around as we refreshed ourselves with snacks and water.
Lake Misuzu from the southwest shore looking across towards the dam.
On our way back down the hill we had another great view of the northern portion of Matsumoto with some of the Japanese Alps in the background. Seeing the mountains makes us excited for the research that is about to begin. In addition to a good view of town we also spotted a Japanese Serow (Capricornis crispus) or Nihon kamoshika (ããã³ã«ã¢ã·ã«)in Japanese standing above an erosion control cement slab. The serow watched us as we watched it for about 5 minutes before it decided to wander off, but not before we took many photos of its deer/goat/antelope like figure.
View of northern Matsumoto and the Japanese Alps on our way down the hill.
Japanese Serow eyeing us up before wander off into the woods.
Overall Review:
This was a great and convenient walk/hike to get out of Matsumoto and into the woods.