Three years ago, I had brought my parents to an onsen tour in Nagano and Gunma. On the way, it was planned to pass by Mount Shirane, where there is a lake with an incredible colour… sadly, it was “mission impossible”, the road was completely blocked because of the snow! But today, revenge time has come.
It’s a beautiful autumn day and the perfect moment to enjoy the scenery covered with kōyō. I park the car in front of Sessho Resthouse, from where we take the Shirane-Kazan cable-car which goes through the colourful valleys and should bring us on top of this nice crater.
The way up in the cable-car is a magical moment and we wish we could just go out the window and start rolling between the yellow trees, the small red groves and start a getaway! It just lacks the funny bears to complete this scenery.
When we do get on top, the view is initially slightly different from what we expected : a big parking lot, an old restaurant with common meals (typical of tourist spots in Japan) and… the washrooms. Ah, but we’ve not actually reached the spot yet! Thankfully, when we leave the parking lot area, the setting immediately becomes much more scenic.
From this point, we can choose to visit the Yumiike pond or go up directly to Mount Shirane summit. We decide to keep the hike to the summit for later and to visit this wonderfully looking pond. Here’s the stroll in pictures 🙂
Here we go, did you enjoy this outing? So now we can join the crowd heading to Mount Shirane summit… see you around for the ascent and the pictures of the emerald lake 🙂
Article translated by センチレール ミッチ.
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