Holiday on Hachimantai (or 200 photos of Mt. Iwate)

Monday was a holiday here. I have no idea what holiday it was, but neither Andy nor Catie had school. We woke to crystal clear skies. Empowered by our recent excursion to Akita Komagatake, we decided to take advantage of the fall foliage buses running on holidays and weekends to go explore another mountain. We joined a substantial portion of the population of Iwate in Hachimantai National Park. It was AWESOME!!!

The quintessential photo of Morioka. We were finally on the bridge on a clear day!

The foliage was probably a week or so before peak color, but the views couldn’t be beat! The 2-hour bus ride took us around at least 2 sides of Mt. Iwate, up a geothermally active valley, to Mount Hachimantai. The ride was just spectacular with gorgeous views on both sides of the bus. It’s a little hard to call Hachimantai a mountain. At 1,613 m (5291 ft) it is certainly big enough to be a mountain, but it’s more a series of rolling hills separated by marshes and ponds. Once we climbed up a very long series of rock steps, the walk was interesting as it took us through a series of different environments- alpine balsam forest, bamboo groves, and open grassy marsh. The trails were crowded, but everyone was having such a good time out enjoying nature that it felt like a big party. 
 

Mount Iwate!!!

 

  

Catie got a kick out of ringing the bell at the hikers hut at the 2nd lake we passed.

 

You can get a sense of the crowd here.

Catie resting on the bus stop before heading back down the mountain.

There were lots of active hot springs in the area. Here are 2 undeveloped springs we passed in the bus. You can see a guy bathing in the one on the right! There are also a half dozen onsen resorts nearby.

Catie continues to amaze us with how much she is willing to walk. When we first arrived in Morioka 2 months ago, she demanded to be carried almost everywhere we went. Now she easily walks the 5k to and from downtown, plus all the hiking we’ve been asking her to do. She no longer wants to be carried and views it as something only to be used as a last resort. She was literally falling asleep on her feet walking home from the eki tonight.  She only let Andy pick her up once the road became too narrow to hold both our hands.  

We’re hoping for more good weather next weekend so we can journey to the Dakigaeri Gorge for more walking and leaf peeping!