rkold | Sometimes you want it to rain (Reply)

The whole reason I was visiting Aomori, was as a base to visit Osorezan and Oirase stream. I had thought about trying to go to Hirosaki, but I'm now happy I didn't try since the weather turned to rain. lol Osorezan and Oirase are both places that closed for a decent portion of the year because of snow. Having been to Towadako with

ee970 in April and nearly dying in a blizzard, I can attest to why this is a probably a good idea.

A few other places I'd love to visit that are closed a good portion of the year are the other mountains of the Dewa Sanzan, Kamikochi and of course Fuji-san.

Oirase is a popular stream to visit that flows out of Towadako. (I have lots of lake pictures from when I went with

ee970, but we were on the opposite side of the lake, you can also see the lake from the air a few posts back) It is one of *THE* Fall Foliage spots in Japan. You can either drive along a road that runs not so far from the stream, do a tour bus and get off at a few famous bus stops, or hike 8+kms along the stream. I picked the latter.

Most of the leaves were already finished in the northern part of Towada-Hacimantai National Park. The mountains in the background are infamous for how much snow they get.

The Hakkoda mountains

I think this was the Suyaku Onsen rest stop. They have a 1000 person bath but it's mixed gender ~.~

Ishigedo bus stop, one of the big stops for hiking the Oirase stream

Like you need a warning about these...

The general trail

BTW if you're wondering why you keep seeing me in a sweat shirt, it was because it could be very cold!

Nearly at the lake and the end of the trail, by this point it was raining lol

Towadako in the rain.

This is for

ee970 from the bus trip from Towadako to Hachinohe, the current last stop on the Tohoku Shinkansen. When I first went to Japan, the last stop was Morioka