Autumn Color Report 2011
Official autumn color reports by japan-guide.com
Guide to Autumn Colors - Schedule of upcoming reports - Post your own report

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2011/11/02 - Mitakesan Report
by schauwecker

Autumn colors are not expected to descend into central Tokyo until the second half of November; however, they do have started to appear in Tokyo's mountains. Today, we visited one of Tokyo's mountains, the nearly 1000 meter high Mount Mitake (御岳山, Mitakesan), whose base can be reached from Shinjuku by train in less than 90 minutes.

Mount Mitake has been a place of mountain worship since ancient days, and a popular shrine, Mitake Shrine, stands on its summit. Along the steep approach to the shrine lies a small town of lodgings, shops and restaurants that has been catering to worshipers for many centuries.

Thanks to its natural beauty and attractive network of hiking trails, Mount Mitake has more recently also become a popular outdoor destination and offers a decent - although not overwhelming - amount of autumn colors. It is a nice, calmer alternative to nearby Mount Takao (Takaosan), although Mount Mitake, too, can become rather busy especially on weekends.

Mount Mitake can easily be visited in a daytrip, but today we opted to overnight on the mountain. We arrived shortly before sunset, spent the night at one of the many pilgrim lodgings near the summit and did some hiking and autumn color reporting on the next day.

The following day, we followed the popular circular hiking course through the forests of Mount Mitake to the "Rock Garden" where a pretty mountain stream is lined by moss covered rocks. The trees around Mount Mitake have started to change colors, but the peak of the season won't be reached for probably another week or two. Most beautiful today were a few maple trees around the town and summit of the mountain, while colors along the hiking trails were mostly green.

See our Mount Mitake page for access details.

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List of Posts:
2011/12/13 - Tokyo Report
2011/12/08 - Kamakura Report
2011/12/05 - Tokyo Report
2011/12/02 - Kyoto Report
2011/12/01 - Nara Report

2011/11/30 - Kyoto Report
2011/11/29 - Kyoto Report
2011/11/28 - Kyoto Report
2011/11/27 - Tokyo Report
2011/11/27 - Kyoto Report
2011/11/23 - Kanazawa Report
2011/11/22 - Tokyo Report
2011/11/22 - Kyoto Report
2011/11/21 - Miyajima Report
2011/11/20 - Kyoto Report
2011/11/18 - Kyoto Report
2011/11/15 - Tokyo Report
2011/11/13 - Kyoto Report
2011/11/12 - Unzen Report
2011/11/09 - Sakurayama Report
2011/11/08 - Fujigoko Report
2011/11/04 - Kurobe Report
2011/11/02 - Mitakesan Report

2011/10/27 - Nikko Report
2011/10/27 - Towadako Report
2011/10/26 - Hakkodasan Report
2011/10/21 - Fukushima Report
2011/10/20 - Zao Report
2011/10/19 - Naruko Report
2011/10/12 - Nikko Report
2011/10/12 - Oze Report
2011/10/07 - Nasu Report
2011/10/03 - Nikko Report

2011/09/27 - Norikura Report
2011/09/14 - Ginsendai Report
2011/09/13 - Asahidake Report