Golden Week: Iwaki san

Hiro's SIL and nieces came to stay for a night. We went on a trip to Iwaki san near Hirosaki in Aomori prefecture, about an hour and a half by car. It's apple blossom season at the moment, and Hirosaki is the capital of apples in all Japan. The day was a little hazy, and we couldn't see as far as Hokkaido, but it was a very pleasant day out.

Mt Iwaki

Shirakami Sanchi World Heritage Area from Iwaki san

Snow on the top

The summit of Iwaki san

We took the gondola. It was the first time for all of us but
Hiro's parents to take the gondola.  The first time I climbed
Iwaki san the wind was so strong I slipped as I grabbed a marking
rope and put a large gash in my head.....  This time was much smoother.

Beech trees on the way up the mountain.

There is a bus from Hiroasaki  via Iwaki Jinja, where I've walked from previously, 
that goes to gondolas at the 8th station

Snow by the gondola. Fuki no tou, a mountain vegetable on the gondola path

Magnificent Iwaki san and apple blossoms

Golden week: Fukushima and Yamagata

Golden week has been and gone. The unseasonably warm weather provided ideal conditions for biking. We left the expressway at Fukushima and travelled through the lesser travelled roads of Fukushima and Yamagata.

Mt Bandai, Fukushima

Ura Bandai

Lake Hibara which is apparently a mesotrophic lake, formed when Bandai san errupted
in the late 1800s.

Lake Hibara

We took the the road around the back of Bandai san  to Yonezawa, Route 2, via Lake Hibara.
The road is a bikers paradise, snaking its way up and around and down Tohachiyama

Bandai National Park

Still snow in the mountains

Lake Hibara

The Bandai area borders Yamagata prefecture, and we rode up towards the flat farmland of 

Yonezawa, and north along route 287 before rejoining the expressway that goes to Futasui.

A late blooming sakura at a michi no eki south of  Ohe machi.

Yamagata farmland. This would have been covered in snow when I was up there in March.