Location: get off the IC at Ishikawa, head west (a right turn) on the 73 and take a right where the sign says Children's park. The next right at the dome thing also works. Head up the hill and you'll run into the parking area for the park. The park is marked on the phone book map as "Forrest of Citizen." Once there, you'll find signs leading to trails.
When driving the IC or the 329 north, you can see a white building on the hillside. From afar, it looks like a small chapel. Who would have guessed it is a sad, graffiti-covered, concrete fake castle, and one of the attractions at Ishikawa citizen's forest park? For those with kids, there are nicer aspects of this park: a small field with a view suitable for picnics, and some ok playground equipment.
We didn't have much time, so we took the main trail up the hill from the castle, to a lookout point. The trail is well maintained, with stairs or tree roots providing easy ascent/descent. The path was not muddy, even though there was torrential rain 2 days ago. And the lookout has a wooden step-ladder that provides views over west and east coasts. Along the trail there are laminated information sheets on the flora/fauna, in Japanese of course. These seem to indicate that wild pigs live in this area. A small section of he trail lined in bamboo. This path was less than a kilometer each way. There were lots of paths forking off from this main one, and the maps also indicate other options.
When driving the IC or the 329 north, you can see a white building on the hillside. From afar, it looks like a small chapel. Who would have guessed it is a sad, graffiti-covered, concrete fake castle, and one of the attractions at Ishikawa citizen's forest park? For those with kids, there are nicer aspects of this park: a small field with a view suitable for picnics, and some ok playground equipment.
We didn't have much time, so we took the main trail up the hill from the castle, to a lookout point. The trail is well maintained, with stairs or tree roots providing easy ascent/descent. The path was not muddy, even though there was torrential rain 2 days ago. And the lookout has a wooden step-ladder that provides views over west and east coasts. Along the trail there are laminated information sheets on the flora/fauna, in Japanese of course. These seem to indicate that wild pigs live in this area. A small section of he trail lined in bamboo. This path was less than a kilometer each way. There were lots of paths forking off from this main one, and the maps also indicate other options.
