Oct 21, 2013 - 1 min read

Mastering Makihata-san

The calm before the storm

By C. Rio

Community writer

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Climbing up th ridgeline (Photo: Matthew Shewchuk)

Fall colors about to change (Photo: Matthew Shewchuk)

Almost at the top (Photo: Matthew Shewchuk)

Looking back towards the saddle (Photo: Matthew Shewchuk)

Quick rest looking down into Niigata (Photo: Matthew Shewchuk)

Clouds rolling in from the south (Photo: Matthew Shewchuk)

Looking back towards Gunma (Photo: Matthew Shewchuk)

Makihata-san has been on my list of hikes for a long time, and what better time to climb then with the incoming fall colors? Taking advantage of good weather and matching days off, me and my hiking buddy decided make the short trip over the border to Niigata. We managed to get up as earl as we could on our day off and arrived at the parking lot at 9AM.(3 hours late by Japan hiking standards) The parking lot was packed but we managed to squeeze into a somewhat dubious spot and got underway on our day's task. 21/2 short hours later we reached the summit draped in early fall colors with typhoon clouds looming in the distance.