View of Shiga Kogen from Yokote-yama

Continuing with our “Get the kids trained for some Kauai hiking”, on Monday we all got into the van and drove up to Shiga Kogen, a highland area east of Nagano City that is well-known for its autumn leaves and skiing.  There, we went on a couple of short hikes to enjoy the scenery.

Shiga Kogen is located in the Joshinetsu National Park.  There are lots of high mountain marshes, ponds and tons of forest, with birch, pine and cedars the most noticable.   Driving up the road from the Chikuma River valley, we stopped at a marsh area where a hot spring contantly blasts steam out of the ground.  Nearby, we took the kids for a walk around to see the autumn leaves.  Though it was past the peak time to see the foliage in Shiga (unusually early this year) we were still able to see some pretty colors.

Later, we continued up to a mountain named Yokote-yama.  This peak is a popular ski area, and along the road up it, there are lots of great views to the west, where you can see all the way to the alps in Hakuba.  The view from here is sweeping and absolutely beautiful (see photo above).  As much as we wanted to stick around, we had other plans — we were heading further along the road into the neighboring Gunma Prefecture to see the crater of an active volcano up close.

That volcano, named Shirane-san, is well known for its constant sulfur smell and the lake in its crater which is a pastel blue due to acids, poisons and gases emitted from the volcano.  On arrival we learned that the usual route up to the crater rim was closed due to recent volcanic activity there that made standing close to the crater a bit too risky.  Fortunately we were able to walk up another path and see the carter from a bit farther away.

The girls at Shirane-san

The hike up was steep at times, but it took only about 30 minutes and Sara went up all the way on her own.  Anri did too, of course, but that was to be expected.  We were wondering if Sara could make it.  She did, and was quite a trooper going up.  Noah was in the backpack, of course.

Once at the top, we stayed a short time to enjoy the view before heading back down.  It was a quick descent for Anri, who was desperate to get to the potty as quickly as she could.  Sara, in what seems to be a trend, insisted that Tomomi carry her down.

From Shirane-san, we drove down to a hot spring resort named Kusatsu and finished the day with some shopping at Karuizawa.  We got some hiking shoes for Anri and some clothes for the kids at the LL Bean store there.

For more detailed info on the driving route we took, please see my post on this day at the Go! Nagano weblog.