Katie has asked me about different hikes near base that would be good for her to do with her kids on the weekends. I remembered the hike of Mt. Miurafuji and Mt. Takeyama I did last March. We decided to go today because the weather was clear and not too cold. We met at Yokosukachuo Station. It was our lucky day because we were on a yellow train! Usually, the Keikyu Line trains are red. Very rarely there will be a blue, white or yellow train. When this happens, I get very excited and consider it a lucky day!
We started our hike at the Keikyu-Nagasawa station. It was different than where I started last time, but I knew it would be closer to the trail head. We walked past a bunch of farms. They were full of winter vegetables. Cabbage, cauliflower, kale, and daikon (Japanese radish).
As we were walking towards the trail, we passed a couple of older Japanese ladies. They stopped us and asked us if we lived close. Yes, Yokosuka. They asked if we were going to hike Mt. Miurafuji. Hai! They then became very animated gesturing at our sneakers. We said we would be ok and then asked us to please be careful. Hai! Arigatōgozaimas! We continued on our way and found the trail head without trouble. The trail head is marked with a Torii located behind a school.
And then we began our ascent.
But, the view from the top of Mt. Miurafuji was worth it! We were able to see Mt. Fuji!
Our summit selfie.
We continued along the path. We were chatting away and taking our time descending.
I knew to look for a specific fall rock sign from the last time at an intersection. 
Unfortunately, when faced with the choice to go right or left, I choose left. The trail led us back down the mountain. I should have gone right. I thought the trail to the right was only a dead end. It does have a dead end, but it also is the connection to Mt. Takeyama. I knew something wasn’t right when we were back so quickly to the farms and plum blossoms.
When I got home, I looked at the map a little closer and realized the error of my navigation. Here is the map of the area.
We took the path in yellow. We omitted the portion in blue.
It would have added another 30-45 minutes to our hike. It would have been nice to see the other view. However, by the time we walked down and back to the Tsukihama train station, we were both ready for lunch. Another 30-45 minutes might have pushed us over the top! I sent my marked up map to Katie so she can hike it with her kids this weekend. All things considered, it’s better to take a wrong turn and make a hike shorter than a wrong turn that makes a hike longer. I’ll consider my navigation mistake a lucky one!