Ten-en Hiking Course

You would think with a country as populated as Japan, there wouldn't be much room for nature.  When we left San Diego, we thought we were leaving behind beautiful hiking trails, fresh air, and the great outdoors.

We were wrong.

The Trailhead

Japan does have a huge population, but they're all centered around the cities.  In those cities, everything is set up to be very space efficient.  Therefore, there's a surprising amount of space in certain areas, and hidden on ridgelines and in valleys.  The Ten-En Hiking Course is a perfect example.

Located in Kamakura-shi, the entrance to the hiking trail is all but impossible to find.  We were lucky enough to find directions to it on a blog post (much like ours!).  To help out other people looking for this beautiful trail, I'll post the link to the directions:

On the trail

http://en.japantourist.jp/view/kamakura-s-tenen-hiking-trail-do-this-hike-as-if-you-were-a-samurai

The entrance is hidden next to a very normal looking house - although there are signs that direct you to the trailhead, it's very easy to miss.  Even if you enter at the other end of the trail, it's through a large shrine and up a series of stone steps.

View of the hills above Kamakura

Once you're on the trail, however, you feel as if you were immediately miles away from the city.  The foliage is thick and green, and you can usually only see up the next bend in the trail.  In many places, the ground cover overgrew the trail, and you'd have to push your way through leafy ferns and grass.  There's rocks, trees, plants, scenic vistas on the ridges, and everything you could wish for on a 2 hour hike.

 It's not particularly strenuous, though there is some altitude gain, and the path is not paved (thank goodness, it felt good to be hiking on actual dirt).  If you pushed the pace, you could probably finish the route in a little over an hour.  Or, you can take your time, explore side trails (we walked 10-15 min down some forks to see where they led, and didn't see an end), and extend the hike to a couple hours.

It was a wonderful find, and we look forward to discovering other hidden gems in Japan!  Find more pictures located here:

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10100583129071581.1073741826.12004504&type=1&l=09187b1b5d

Keep hiking!