Mikata Five Lakes

The five lakes - Mikata, Suigetsu, Suga, Kugushi and Hiruga - lie side by side behind the Wakasa coast and are linked by channels, but each has a different mix of fresh and sea water: Mikata is fresh, Hiruga is close to seawater, and the others are graded between, which gives each a different colour and a different fish population. From the ridge above, they are visible in one view, which is what the Rainbow Line toll road and the chairlift to the Baigasedake summit park exist for. The lakes have a second, quieter claim: the bottom sediment of Suigetsu is laid down in annual layers that have accumulated undisturbed for tens of thousands of years, and cores taken from it have been used internationally as a reference for calibrating radiocarbon dating. The Wakasa coast below has sand beaches and the district is known for pufferfish and oysters.

History

The lakes lie in Wakasa Wan Quasi-National Park and were listed as a Ramsar wetland in 2005. Their great contribution to science is the mud of Lake Suigetsu, laid down in yearly layers, or varves: in 2012 these layers were adopted as a global standard for dating geological and historical remains (Wikipedia, Mikata Five Lakes).

Highlights

• Five different colours - lakes graded from fresh to nearly seawater.
• All five at once - the ridge view from the Baigasedake summit park.
• The Suigetsu cores - annually layered sediment used to calibrate radiocarbon dating.
• The Wakasa coast - beaches, oysters and pufferfish below the ridge.

When to go

April to November; clear days for the ridge view. Half a day.

What to expect

The toll road and summit park are each charged and the total adds up. The colour difference is subtle and depends heavily on light. Public transport to the Rainbow Line is minimal. Winter closes the road.

Nearby

Tsuruga is east; the Wakasa coast runs west towards Obama.

Key facts