Daisetsu Kogen Onsen
by japan-guide.com
This is the official japan-guide.com autumn color blog for 2008 about our reporting trips to various autumn leaf spots across Japan. Check our page on Autumn Leaves for general information.
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2008/09/25 - Daisetsu Kogen Onsen
by schauwecker
Daisetsuzan is a big national park with an area larger than some of Japan's smaller prefectures. As a result, there are numerous bases from which to explore the park. Today, I visited another of them, Daisetsu Kogen Onsen, a one-ryokan hot spring "resort" at the end of a ten kilometer long, unpaved road.
Kogen Onsen's most popular attraction is a circular hiking course through the area's pond dotted highlands. Because bears are often seen along the eight kilometer long course, all visitors are required to pay an initial visit to the "Brown Bear Information Center". In fact, the hiking course starts through the center's back door.
After about a 45 minute ascent through the forest and past some steaming sulfur vents, I reach the first pond. The autumn colors were already quite spectacular in the forest, but the real show was only about to start.
When preparing today's hike, I read somewhere that Kogen Onsen "boasts such unrivaled autumnal tints that the mountain might appear to an observer to be burning". My suspicion that this would be just another tourist guide's dramatization proved false by the time I reached Takimi Pond.
The path continued upwards for about one hour until it reached an altitude where trees would become sparse, and the views over the burning mountains would become even better.
Kogen Onsen has been my best ever koyo (autumn leaf) experience so far, and I am excited to see whether any upcoming trips on this year's autumn leaf report will be able to beat it.
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List of Posts:
2008/12/03 - Kamakura Report 2008/11/26 - Tokyo Report 2008/11/21 - Kyoto Report (4/4) 2008/11/20 - Kyoto Report (3/4) 2008/11/20 - Miyajima 2008/11/19 - Kyoto Report (2/4) 2008/11/18 - Kyoto Report (1/4) 2008/11/18 - Mino Park 2008/11/12 - Fuji Five Lakes 2008/11/05 - Nikko (2) 2008/10/29 - Lake Towada 2008/10/28 - Shirakami Sanchi (2) 2008/10/27 - Shirakami Sanchi 2008/10/21 - Nishizawa Valley 2008/10/16 - Nikko 2008/10/10 - Akagiyama 2008/10/08 - Shiretoko Peninsula 2008/10/07 - Lake Mashu and Kussharo 2008/10/06 - Lake Akan 2008/10/03 - Tateyama Alpen Route 2008/09/26 - Sounkyo Onsen 2008/09/25 - Daisetsu Kogen Onsen 2008/09/24 - Mount Asahidake |
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