Ride North of Okutama / Nippara area rides

[mark51268]

Hey all, I did a ride out just north of Okutama, just a few kilometers away from the Nippara Limestone caves. The two roads I went on were both gated but not locked The first link below is to the paved road I went on. I climbed for 5 kilometers and it never stopped going up! I finally turned around as I wanted to make sure I had time to get back to the car and grab my mountain bike for another short ride on a different road. I wonder if anyone has ridden this road and gone any further on it, it’s really hard to tell on Google Maps how much further it goes.
The second road (click on second link) I did on my mountain bike was insanely rocky and eventually had a huge washout that I was able to skirt around on the left side. I stopped and turned around at a bridge just past the washout but it looked like if I was willing to do some hike a biking I might have been able to go further. I had a great time, climbed a little over 920 meters and can’t wait to go back out and try going even further on the two ”roads”.

https://strava.app.link/yirqhN6jWvb
https://strava.app.link/Io9MAbclWvb

 

[Half-Fast Mike]

Yes have done those. The long one goes further, almost to the ridge.



The attraction of that road for me, though, is the waterfall. I completely missed the signs pointing to it on my first trip, so I had to go back.

Google maps is terrible for planning rindō rides. I use Strava route planner in Chrome with the Strava map switcher extension. Other folk enjoy the route planner in RideWithGPS.

 

[GrantT]

@mark51268
I've ridden that first road a couple of times a few years ago.
This Strava segment is for the paved section of the road: https://www.strava.com/segments/5056404?filter=overall
The road carries on unpaved for quite a while based on satellite imagery. It soon became impassable for my CX bike but someone on a MTB may have better luck.

 

[Half-Fast Mike]

Strava Global Heatmap suggests to me that it's navigable as far as the tunnel, but one can only walk through the tunnel and beyond. (Sounds like a challenge!!)

 

[GrantT]

Some seasoned buccaneers accepted the challenge.

Morning Gravel Hike & Bike - David "山ヤギ" R.'s 86.0 km bike ride

　 👏 48.17 new kilometers -- From Wandrer.earth

www.strava.com

 

[Half-Fast Mike]

Some seasoned buccaneers accepted the challenge.

Morning Gravel Hike & Bike - David "山ヤギ" R.'s 86.0 km bike ride

　 👏 48.17 new kilometers -- From Wandrer.earth

www.strava.com

Thank you for finding & sharing that, @GrantT

Tunnel is obviously fine. His GPS glitched at the tunnel which might explain why there's no cyclist data in the Stravr heatmap between the tunnel and the ridge. (There's plenty of data from hikers.)

If you're committed to hitting the ridge then the through ride to Arima is a wonderful next step. I guess it helps if you're in USAF and are basically paid to keep fit. I, in contrast, have to find my own motivation. I'm gonna need another bike ;-)

 

[GrantT]

Putting on my CSI Miami hat and zooming in on their activity, it actually looks like they went through the tunnel, got about 10 meters, went back through the tunnel then climbed up onto the hiking course.

Who can say what they saw that prompted a sudden retreat into Saitama. Probably a fate if not actually then almost certainly analogous to death.

 

[mark51268]

Some seasoned buccaneers accepted the challenge.

Morning Gravel Hike & Bike - David "山ヤギ" R.'s 86.0 km bike ride

　 👏 48.17 new kilometers -- From Wandrer.earth

www.strava.com

Looks like a good time there Couple questions: after the tunnel how much riding versus pushing the bikes did you guys have to do? Had one of you done this before or this was a got to find our way? Did you use actual maps or just apps on your bikes? Thanks so much for sharing! Makes me want to try it again while on Christmas break

 

[mark51268]

Thank you for finding & sharing that, @GrantT

Tunnel is obviously fine. His GPS glitched at the tunnel which might explain why there's no cyclist data in the Stravr heatmap between the tunnel and the ridge. (There's plenty of data from hikers.)

If you're committed to hitting the ridge then the through ride to Arima is a wonderful next step. I guess it helps if you're in USAF and are basically paid to keep fit. I, in contrast, have to find my own motivation. I'm gonna need another bike ;-)

I used to be USAF and get paid to stay in shape, but now, I figure I’d rather “pay” through exercise and diet than pay a doctor (I’m 54). But, if you ever decide to try this out, I’d be game to try it with you It seems that there is enough off-road/trails that I probably shouldn’t try it on my own.

 

[GrantT]

I'm not one of the guys who did it but have done similar routes.
Following the hiking trails around there, looks to be around 2 km from the forest road in Tokyo to the other in Saitama as the crow flies, plus at least 600 m elevation change: Link to Route
In terms of planning, there is an "OSM" view on the RideWithGPS web site that shows most hiking trails and forest roads.
I don't have a Garmin with maps, but usually use an off-line OSM map app on my phone for guidance. Something like GuruMaps Pro. Like a Garmin it uses satellite GPS so works when out of range of signal towers. I guess a Garmin might do, but a phone app is much more flexible.

Probably not a good idea to try this now though. Temps are already freezing up there. One slip and you could be food for bears.