Takamizu 「高水山」　MTB circuit (24km, 620m climb, 2hr15)　

Category: Road: 17km, Dirt: 5km, Hike trail: 2km

Route: Ome, Osogi kaido, Fukiage tunnel, Nariki, Takamizu dirt road, Takamizu-san, Ikusabata, Ome

Map:

Profile:

Notes:
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The dirt road starts just after the soba restaurant below Kosawa-toge Tokyo side. The surface is excellent but the last 200m before the toilets is very steep (about 15%).
Onishi-san of KFC triatholon (http://www.gem.hi-ho.ne.jp/kfc-onishi/) used to hold an mtb race up this route to Mt Takamizu starting from the Soba restaurant (the same starting point as the Nariki Hill climb) taking about 30mins for me to the goal.

The hiking trail section (2km descent) is a popular trail for hikers, so do not schedule for a Sat/Sun morning/afternoon unless you get out very early. You should be able to cycle 60% of the trail and will need to carry your bike over some of the sections. See photos to get better idea of trail surface.

The Ome city map I have (Shobunsha 1995) shows the dirt road continuing on past the temple/toilets near Takamizu top, and descending to Shiraiwa near Enoki-toge, but this is a mistake - the dirt road ends at the temple. There is a trail that comes out at Enoki-toge, but it has two very steep sections so is not suitable with a bike, amd you need to descend back down 1.5km of the road up as well. This trail up will be used for the Takamizu trail run 2009 also organized by KFC.
　

Photos:

Takamizu temple

Sunlight through the trees

There are many stone pillars with inscriptions. Most have a few stones piled on the top.

The trail is well signposted. Some of the signs include distances.

A tricky curve to take without stopping!

One of the more difficult sections

Look out for crabs!

Branches are not an issue - the path does not get any narrower than this.

The lower half of the trail follows a stream

The trail is generally good along here but has some rather large stones

Steps down from the dam

The gradient of the first road is about 20% - it has holes as below all the way down (1km)

I love hoshi-gaki!

You don't often see hoshi-daikon!