Nikko Shirane-yama

Two of my co-workers and I hopped in our boss' car at 8am few days ago and started a 3-hour drive to Nikko National Park. It's a good place for tourism, famous for one of its incredible shrines, among other temples and famous spots there. It has been a center of Shinto and Buddhist mountain worship, and it's an area valued for scenic mountain landscapes - with lakes, waterfalls, hot springs. There are also wild monkeys!

There's Nikko's location in relation to Tokyo. Oayama is probably about a third of the way from Tokyo between the two places, fyi.

Our aim was Shirane-yama (Shirane mountain). We passed several lakes as we entered the region. I've never seen so many lakes so close together! They were so beautiful, I couldn't help but stare as we passed them. I think Lake Chuzenji was the largest, at the foot of Mount Nantai. Minoko lake a little further down the road is famous for fly fishing. Between Chuzenji Lake and an onsen (hot spring) - Yumoto Onsen, I believe - is a place called Senjougahara, which is said to have very good hiking trails. It's a marshland, and it's said that a mythical battle took place there ('senjou' means battlefield).

Senjougahara Marshland

Image from:

http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e3800.html

We ascended Irohazaka road, passing by many waterfalls and a few smaller lakes, all of it stunning. I read that this place is very popular during Autumn season, when the leaves are turning colors, and I believe it!

We reached the base of Shirane-yama and hopped on a cable car for 1800 yen and rode up to the hiking trail starting point. The summit of the mountain is about 2,575 meters (about 8450 ft.) above sea level, the tallest peak in Japan's Kanto region, and the main peak of the Nikko Volcano Group. It's right on the border between Tochigi-ken (prefecture I'm in) and Gumma-ken.

The trail was amazing. Very green, and even kind of boggy near the beginning point. The trees are tall, the soil is very moist, and the air smells so sweet. Much of it is steep, with hikers basically ascending stairs. Near the top the trees thin out, and the dirt is much drier, and sandy, so footing is bad. It makes the last 40 minutes of the hike very difficult.

The hike was worth it. The view up there is incredible! (Have I mentioned how disappointed I was to forget my camera phone?) Looking back down at the forest, with clouds and mist drifting over the trees, was gorgeous! I felt like I could watch that forever.

Not my picture, but that's about how the view was nearer the top of the forest line. The day we went there was more sun, but still a lot of clouds and mist drifting here and there.

Alas, the cable cars stop running at 16:30, and we'd timed the trip so we didn't have much time to spare. However, at the end of our 5-hour hike, we found that at the trail starting point, there is a small pool for soaking one's sore feet. Since they were about to close for the day, they'd started draining the water, but we still got a good 15 minutes to rest there and soak our feet. Heavenly. We didn't get any, but there were 100-yen towels - right from a vending machine, of course.

Then began the long ride home. And on our way back down Irohazaka, we even saw a monkey climbing one of the walls lining the road.

What a day! So worth it!