A ride up the Wakakusa-yama / Kasuga-yama Primeval Forest trail

Recently I have had the itch to get off road a bit and explore some new territory around Nara.  I had been to Mount Wakakusa by bike before, but only during the night.  Although I only had my road bike with me, the gravel trail up is fairly smooth so I thought I would give it a shot.  The total trail itself is roughly 12.7km long with about 500m total of climbing.  The trail leads through the Kasugayama Primeval Forest which is also a Unesco World Heritage site.  The hill and forest are regarded as sacred and logging and hunting have been prohibited since AD841. 

At the base before the start of the trail

The total trail is roughly 12.7km with the trip to the top only being 2km 

Some nice winding turns along the trail

The amazing view of Nara is definitely worth the climb to the top! 

Hey...its Nara, of course there are "Shika" at the top!

Met several hikers along the way

One of the entrances to Kasuga-taisha along the trail