Hakone - Blogabond

Visited Hakone today for a dayhike in its rich nature. There is a lot you can do around there without actually doing much more than strolling around, maybe I will do that later.

One point of interest, aside from the obvious hiking trails through forests and up mountains, is the pure variety of means of transport available. You start off "at home" by Shinkansen, reach Hakone Yumoto by local train, switch to the switchback train to Gora, take the cable car (funicular) up Soun-zan and either hike or change to the gondola from there. Also you can do boat-trips on the famous lake of the area or take buses around.

After reaching Gora I continued up to Soun-zan by mentioned funicular.

From there I started my hike up the Owakudani mountain, an 80min affair through a dense forest and of course uphill (it's a mountain climb after all). Pictures:

Warning sign

Hiking up

Gondola station

Reached the top

Reached the crossroads where you can either go further up to a different mountain top or walk another 15min to the gondola station and the tourist spot of Owakudani.

On this mountain a lot of volcanic gas is breaking through the surface or bubbling up from sulphurous ponds.

Owakudani

They sell Kurotamago (back eggs) here, eggs cooked in the "hot springs" --> their outer layer turns black. They became the trademark of the area and there are lots of souvenirs designed after them. Got a pack of them, aside from the color they are pretty normal, maybe a slightly different taste.

Kurotamago - Inside

Kurotamago kitty

The mass of people was kinda uncomfortable after the hike alone (only met a pair of hikers on their way down once) but it is a popular tourist spot after all.

Found another item that will stay in Japan when I return home by the way: My shoes, they suffered quite a bit already. Will fix them for my remaining time here and get rid of them in the end. But hey: More space for souvenirs!

After my visit of the ponds and the kinda apocalyptic volcano landscape I made my way back. The weather grew worse and colder (it was raining a bit on my way up and lots of fog mixed with the volcanic gasses, but inside the forest you really didn't feel it). Took the gondola back to Soun-zan and the funicular to Gora from there the switchback train to Hakone Yumoto.

There is an onsen called Kappa Yukuraku right next to the station: My last stop before returning to Tokyo. Hakone got a lot of onsen with all that volcanic activity going on, they even created some by using excess volcanic gas that would otherwise have posed a danger of explosions). Dipped for a while and relaxed and went back "home".

So long and stay tuned,
JuergenS

written by

JuergenS on August 2, 2010 from Hakone, Japan

from the travel blog: Two month of Japan

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