On Saturday morning, we hopped on a bus to Kamikochi. This area was surrounded by mountains and very beautiful. Luckily, the weather was much cooler too. The majority of the hikers were Japanese, and we saw very few foreigners here. We hiked up Mount Yakedake, which is an active volcano. The hike got pretty steep and rocky at some parts, and there were lots of ladders we had to climb. I still don't understand how all the older Japanese people do these hikes.
We didn't have time to hike all the way to the summit since we needed to catch a bus to our ryokan. The other two girls turned back early, but Ang and I decided to hike farther. Towards the end, I just left my backpack in the bushes and we ran up the path. We were able to make it to the lookout point where we got an amazing 360 view of the surrounding mountains and valley below.
We spent the night at Hirayukan Ryokan - this ryokan was huge and very fancy. Before dinner, we went to relax in the onsen, which had both indoor and outdoor baths. We went to dinner in our yukatas and enjoyed all the little dishes - shabu shabu, raw fish, etc. Then it was time for karaoke! They only had one main room with a stage, not private rooms like I've gone to before. We sang our favorite Disney songs of course, while an older, drunk Japanese man danced on the stage. It was pretty amusing...
The next morning, after a quick dip in the onsen and a hearty breakfast, we were off to hike Mount Nishihotakadake. The other two girls left early to get back to Tokyo, so again Ang continued hiking. We weren't able to make it to the summit, but we did reach a lodge where there were tons of hikers resting and camping. It was really cold and foggy up here. The food prices brought back memories of Fuji too - 700 yen for a small bowl of soup.
Unfortunately, no onsen to enjoy after this hike. Just a 7 hour journey back home...
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