6:00 am — TSH, day 26

JR Nagoya Station (JR 名古屋駅)

I woke up pretty late, about 6am, went out to discover that the spot with the food ticket vending machine is working, so I’m going to eat a decent breakfast.

11:00 am — Mirokuyama

The view from the top of mt.Miroku is fantastic. I might return here to spend a night on the top during my stay at Nagoya.

At the first photo one can see Iruka lake which is my destination for today. And on the second one high buildings of Nagoya can be seen on the horizon.

And again an elderly couple treated me to onigiri with tea and another guy brought a printed panoramic photo with labeled mountains.

Forested hills rolling down to industrial buildings, with Iruka lake glinting on the distant horizon
View towards Nagoya city with lake
Wide panorama of valley and city
Mountain view through pine branches

1:00 pm — Change of plans

After the mountainous section the trail started to run relatively flat through the woods along nice rivers. My movement speed significantly increased and I reached Iruka lake early. Then, considering a camping stay and cloudy sky, I decided to continue moving to the next spot, Inuyama city. I booked an /expensive/ hotel there to be safe and continued hiking.

Shallow rocky stream with gravel banks winding through dense forest
Clear forest creek flowing over a stony bed between green wooded slopes

5:30 pm — Way to Inuyama

The section from Iruka lake to Inuyama was relatively flat and easy and ran through both industrial areas and nice nature places.

Rice paddies at sunset with village
Still emerald pond mirroring the wooded shore and evening sky

10:30 pm — Wrapping the day

I’ve got to the top of mt.Tsugao after sunset. It has a really nice tenting spot under the roof with a night city view, and if I hadn’t booked an /expensive/ hotel I might even stay there for a night despite having a really small reserve of water.

Yet I had another place to stay for a night and thus I went down the mountain. In the dark I took a wrong turn several times and got to the hotel around 9pm.

Btw, according to gps I walked more than 38km today. Don’t try to do it at home, kids!

Carpet of Nagoya city lights stretching to the horizon, seen from the dark wooded hilltop after sunset
Night view from Mt. Tsugao: a river snaking through illuminated city sprawl under heavy clouds