Typhoon number three is headed straight for us. So today we decided to rearrange our schedule and to hike. We drove an hour and a half from Takayama to Shinhotaka. It is an onsen village (one of the five Okuhida onsen villages) located in the Northern Japanese Alps. The area is famous for its natural hot springs and excellent hiking. We paid 2,900 Yen to take the Shinhotaka Ropeway (cable car) up 2,156 m to the Nishihotakaguchi Station. The station has a large viewing platform with expansive views of the surrounding mountains. The area is situated inside a caldera of a volcano that erupted 65 million years ago. It is one of the few places on earth where you can clearly see millions of years’ worth of strata on the rock face of the mountains themselves.
I actually ran into an older Australian woman, whom I met on a train a week ago. I told her we were going to hike up the rest of the mountain and she said to tell the old Australian man hiking to hurry up. Perhaps we will be seeing them again in Tokyo.
The hike from the station to Nishiho Lodge takes an hour and half officially. We got there in 45 minutes. As we were hiking we passed many Japanese hikers who were all carrying bells… to scare the bears away! There were points where I had flash backs to my ill prepared for hike up St. Helens with my brothers. Let’s just say that we needed snowshoes for that hike and we showed up in tennis shoes.
If you do this hike, make sure to not stop at the lodge. If you continue up another 8 minutes or so, you will reach a point at which you have 360 panoramic views of the mountains. It was breathtaking. From where we stopped there was another 2 km to the top of Mt. Nishihotakadake. We spent about 30 minutes just taking in the fresh air and the golden colors of the leaves changing. On the way down we were in a rush to catch the last cable car, but were tempted to stop and take in the strong aroma of cedar that permeated the entire trail. If you have bad knees, hiking poles may be necessary to maneuver the steep boulder inclines.
The ride down gave us glimpses of the full color spectrum of fall leaves. We had hoped the whole region would have the deep reds and golden yellows of these mountains, but unfortunately the only place we will experience this is here. Everywhere else is just too warm still.
After a successful day of hiking we went to the onsen (Okuhida No Yu, 0578-89-2021) right behind the information center below the cable car station. Before bathing, we enjoyed a local dish of miso paste served on a hot hoba leaf (hoba miso) and watched a Japanese baseball game on TV. It was a smaller onsen, but by far better than the one I went to in Kyoto. There were only a couple people inside and everything was modern and clean. There was a sauna and a hot pool outside. It was so calming to sit alone in the pool and listen to the sound of the water running down the exterior. It is moments like this where you really need to turn off your brain and just be.
Recommendations:
I actually ran into an older Australian woman, whom I met on a train a week ago. I told her we were going to hike up the rest of the mountain and she said to tell the old Australian man hiking to hurry up. Perhaps we will be seeing them again in Tokyo.
The hike from the station to Nishiho Lodge takes an hour and half officially. We got there in 45 minutes. As we were hiking we passed many Japanese hikers who were all carrying bells… to scare the bears away! There were points where I had flash backs to my ill prepared for hike up St. Helens with my brothers. Let’s just say that we needed snowshoes for that hike and we showed up in tennis shoes.
If you do this hike, make sure to not stop at the lodge. If you continue up another 8 minutes or so, you will reach a point at which you have 360 panoramic views of the mountains. It was breathtaking. From where we stopped there was another 2 km to the top of Mt. Nishihotakadake. We spent about 30 minutes just taking in the fresh air and the golden colors of the leaves changing. On the way down we were in a rush to catch the last cable car, but were tempted to stop and take in the strong aroma of cedar that permeated the entire trail. If you have bad knees, hiking poles may be necessary to maneuver the steep boulder inclines.
The ride down gave us glimpses of the full color spectrum of fall leaves. We had hoped the whole region would have the deep reds and golden yellows of these mountains, but unfortunately the only place we will experience this is here. Everywhere else is just too warm still.
After a successful day of hiking we went to the onsen (Okuhida No Yu, 0578-89-2021) right behind the information center below the cable car station. Before bathing, we enjoyed a local dish of miso paste served on a hot hoba leaf (hoba miso) and watched a Japanese baseball game on TV. It was a smaller onsen, but by far better than the one I went to in Kyoto. There were only a couple people inside and everything was modern and clean. There was a sauna and a hot pool outside. It was so calming to sit alone in the pool and listen to the sound of the water running down the exterior. It is moments like this where you really need to turn off your brain and just be.
Recommendations:
- Be aware of the fact that the last cable car back down leaves the station at different times based on the season. During the fall the last one leaves at 4:45pm. If you want to hike, you really need to make a point of getting to the station early.
