As we read about a 80 km hiking trail, we knew that this is going to be our next destination.
Against our typical direction of travelling south, we went slightly north to Madarao to walk the Shinetsu Trail along the boarder between Nagano and Niigata prefecture during 4-6 days. Arriving there, the weather was lousy. The taifun named “Goni” was raging over southern Japan, carrying bad weather to Honshū. After a lovely stay with Yumi in “Tob’s House” the weather settled and we started our trip under blue sky. First we climbed Mt. Madarao-San, to continue along the Sekida mountains in northwest direction. During the following 5 days we were hiking along ski slopes, the mauntain tops, through marshlands and georgeous birch forests. We spotted different animals and Fränzi collected around 20 mosquito bites. On the last campsite we met a friendly contributor of the Shinetsu Trail Club. Therefore one can now find a queer picture of us on facebook (see below).