Here we are again in Naruko Onsen. The free shuttle service from the Hotel Onikoube dropped us off in front of the train station around 10:00 am and we walked to our hotel and asked them to take care of our luggage until we could check-in at 15:00.
With a lot of time to kill before our 15:00 check-in time we decided to go on a walking adventure to Lake Katanuma.
It's up-hill all the way to Lake Katanuma but the scenery along the way is nice.
We arrived at the lake which is really a volcanic crater full of acidic water. There's so much acid in the water that fish cannot live in the lake.
There's a walking path on the right-side of the picture. On the left-side is some sulfuric land that has pockets of volcanic steam rising from the ground. The steam can be toxic is one lingers to long there.
After we got past the steam zone we goofed around taking pictures of each other.
We were happily surprised to find that the path continued all the way around the lake.
It's a wonderful path covered in green moss.
In the background one can see the area with the toxic gas; in the foreground is a guy on a paddle board. I hope he doesn't fall into the acidic lake water.
At this point we're over 3/4 of the way around the lake.
At this point we were almost all the way around the lake and we decided to follow a road through the countryside and back to Naruko Onsen.
As we walked along the road we passed by a gulf course.
We also passed by a lot of restaurants and coffee shops that were out of business and abandoned. There is also an abandoned snow skiing slope with ski lift in this area. That's the way it is in Japan now.
After awhile we returned to Naruko Onsen and checked into our hotel. After so much walking it was nice to soak in a nice hot-spring bath and enjoy a cold beer afterwards.
Day 2: Another walking adventure.
We wanted to go to Nakayamadaira-Onsen by train and then walk back to town but we found out that the train line was closed for a year because storm damage. However, there was a special bus to we could take to get there so that's what we did.
The bus dropped us off in front of the station.
While the train line is not in operation, the station is open to visitors. Emi made an entry in the visitors log.
If the train line was in operation these train rails would be nice and shinny instead of rusty.
As we walk along the road back to Naruko-Onsen we pass by more abandoned businesses. It's sad to see sites like this.
We've decided to stop at the famous Naruko Gorge for some sight-seeing.
This is another common sight in Japan now. Bears are becoming a bit of a problem. But being the fools that we are we'll press on and do some exploring.
Most people view the gorge from up on this bridge. Not us! We're going to take the trail down to the bottom of the gorge and see what there is to see.
Down the trail we go!
It's not to difficult to go down the trail, just need to watch out for the slippery places.
We're almost at the bottom of the gorge; directly above us is the bridge.
This is the bottom of the gorge and the end of the trail.
It's not exactly what we were expecting. There is no pot of gold at the end of this rainbow.
There's just me!
After looking around for a short period of time it's time to head back up the trail
Heading back up.
One nice thing is that there are lilies blooming all over the place.
Now we're standing on the bridge that most people stand on to see the gorge.
In the distance is a restaurant and souvenir shop. We stopped there for a coffee after we climbed out of the gorge. It was a nice place to take a break.
As we followed the road back to town there was a long tunnel that pedestrians were not allowed to use. We had to cross over the hill that the tunnel ran through. This took more time but the scenery was nice.
Now we're back on the main road that leads to town.
At last we've come to the train crossing that marks the entrance to the town. Now it's time to go back to the hotel for another long soak in the hot-spring bath and some more cold beer!
Day three: It's time to go home.
After breakfast we checked out of the hotel and went to the train station to start our journey home. This train will take us to Sendai city where we'll catch a bullet train back to Tokyo.
It's a smooth ride on this train ride.
It's starting to rain. Emi looks out the window at the green rice fields. She's probably already planning our next trip!
The End
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