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We hiked a loop around Yokoyama Mountain, where Iwakuni castle is located.
To make this trail a bit easier, we parked near the Momijidani Park on the northwest side of Kikko park and walked up the road to the trail head. The actual trail head if off 1-chrome 12 Yokoyama, or the narrow road that goes behind the Kintai Bridge (castle side). There are other parking lots closer to the trail head, but we decided to park in between the start and end of our hike.
The trail head is marked and there are several trail markers along the way. The first 30-45 minutes are mostly uphill with multiple rest stops. Once you get to the overlook (300 m above sea level) , the trail gets a lot easier and mostly flat or going downhill.
Eventually, the trail joins in with the paved path, where you can choose to take it down and end up near the parking lot, or to continue towards the castle. We walked around the castle and took another trail down and got done by the Iris garden. The whole hike to us about 2 hours and we walked about 4.5 km, not including the ice cream stop.
I would recommend sunscreen and bug spray as parts of the trail are pretty open. I would also recommend a stop for ice cream, after all you worked hard!
Check your dogs for ticks afterwards. I found one on Luna's paw but was able to remove it before it latched on.
BEWARE: There are snakes in the mountain, so keep an eye on your dogs. We encountered a small black snake on the trail and not at a particularly sunny spot. It just slithered away, but it could have posed a threat if I did not move Luna away from it.
This hike had a nice mix of challenging spots and pleasant strolls. We will definitely return! I hope we will see you there!
Happy trails with tails!
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