Hakkoda Mountains Hike

Labor Day weekend we set out to duplicate our travels from last year. So happens the weather was feeling festive as well and decided to treat us to the same cloudy rainy Labor Day weekend as the year before. Not deterred, we set off for the Hakkoda mountains for a trip along the ridge lines of the three peaks. Rather than make the hike up this year though, we opted for the Gondola ride. Something Sandy has yet to experience here in Japan.

By contrast, this is the same area in the dead of winter.

Reaching the top we set off to make the best use of the 4 hour window of exploration. Following a narrow path, overgrown with evergreens and other plants, we made our way along a planked trail towards the first peak.

After about an hour of trekking we made it to the top. The next group of pictures is a random spattering of the views we had while walking from peak to peak. In some ways I wish we would have had clear skies, but in others, the low lying clouds crawling along the mountain tops made for interesting pictures. Enjoy.





Our total time on the mountain was cut short though. About half way through the hike we heard what sounded like faint thunder. Not second guessing ourselves, we tucked tail headed back to the Gondola. On our way back it became very obvious that it was, in fact, thunder that we heard from a distance. The last 15 minutes of our return trip was a total downpour with cloud to cloud lightning making it all the more unnerving.

But, we did make it back, we did survive, and these are some of the pictures we have to show for it.

Tomorrow we change gears and hit up a Japanese pro baseball game in Sendai.