Livin' the McDream: Exploring the Hakkoda Mountains

Went for a drive today, if you hadn't noticed the pattern yet that's our usual weekend routine. Today's drive was through the Hakkoda Mountains, they are just a little way west of Misawa. I was hoping to see some great autumn colors, it was a little to early at the lower elevations, but what we found higher up was gorgeous!

This drive was about 176km (109miles) round trip.
Got to the first stop about 10:30am and back to Misawa about 5:30pm

Stop 1 was a scenic little area along the Tsuta River.

Stop 2 was at Tsuta Onsen/Swamp. There is an onsen (hot springs bath) resort and also a trail that goes around 6 swamps (ponds). We hiked the trail, I believe it was 2.9 km.

These flowers were everywhere,
like giant crocuses and didn't show up til October.

This sign explains the vines that were all over the forest.

Black fungi.

This moss looked like mini evergreen trees.

Another type of fungi? Looked like seashells...

Stop 3 was Suirennuma Pond. I had begun to feel like we were too early to see any autumn leaves, but this was the place to see them!

Mountain roads.

Starting to see some colors!

Beautiful!

Stop 4 was the Jogakura Bridge. When it was completed it was the longest arch bridge in Japan, I believe it's now the second longest. It's 360m in length and the views are pretty good.

Here we are at the center of the bridge.

Just seeing how long it took his spit to hit the ground...

Mt Iwaki in the distance, tallest mountain in Aomori Prefecture.

Stop 4 was really more of a "road" than a stop. We found a road that was on our map, but then wondered how it got on the map as it was really more like a trail. Not sure it sees much traffic. Either way we got some awesome views, drove past Shimoyu Dam and ended up in Aomori where we could catch a highway back home.

This was before we turned around on 394, I'm guessing
this town (Kuroishi) is famous/proud of it's kokeshi dolls.

Route 122 on the map...

And it got a little narrower...

Shimoyu Dam

Heading toward home...I've been intrigued by the farming since we got here. Always curious about what the crop is since I don't recognize several of them. A lot of the farming here is still done by hand and with tiny equipment. Part of that is because the fields are so small, but also because it's just the way it's done. Right now it's rice harvest!