Yamadera sideway

I've planned to travel to Yamadera on October. Anyway, recently, I read Yamadera report by schauwecker, and it sound awesome. So I decide to follow this path. However, I have questions as follow;

- My initial schedule to Yamadera will be Oct. 13. Will the leaf change color yet?

- The report said they got off the train at Omoshiroyama Kogen station, and walk through steep ravine. Is this path possible for someone who know zero Japanese? Is the path safe for travel alone (I'm a guy though)?

- My trip should start at Omoshiroyama Kogen station around 8:06 AM. And I plan to travel back to Tsuruoka, from Yamadera, around 13:57. So I have roughly 6 hours to walk 7 Km. from Omoshiroyama Kogen to Yamadera, hike 1000 steps to the temple. Is this possible?

Many thanks in advance for all the suggestions.
Surin

According to Yamagata Tourism Association official website, the leaves change color as follows:
šat Yamadera: between the middle decade of October and the last decade of October
šat Omoshiroyama: between the first decade of October and the middle decade of October

Since the leaves turn red and yellow faster when the temperature gets low; slower when the temperature gets high, we cannot tell for sure, but at least Oct. 13 is within this changing of the color season.

I have only been to the temple by bus and never been to this path before, so I do not have the answers to the rest of your questions. But I found this report of a Japanese hiker going the path in September 2014.
http://www.yamareco.com/modules/yamareco/detail-521553.html

On the map, the blue squre on the right is Omoshiroyama and two squares on the left side are Yamadera. The path seems downhill, starting from the right to left on the map. As far as I see on the pictures on other websites, the signs are only written in Japanese on wooden plates.

The distance between Omoshiroyama and Yamadera might be a little more than 7 km, but you still have the way to go up to the Yamadera temple located high on the mountain. The Yamadera offcial website says that it takes one hour and a half if you enjoy the whole site of Yamadera. It might depend on how much you hope to see Yamadera temple itself.

Hope these informations might help you judge.

Thanks a bunch to Yagi for these useful information.

The link doesn't work. I plan to visit Yamadera on October 25-28,2015. I'm going to take the Yamadera side way with my friend so I'm looking for the latest posts about this trail.
There are some old posts:
http://www.jetsendai.com/blog/2012/4/9/omoshiroyama-kogen-to-yamadera-... (english)
http://sendaitimes.blogspot.ru/2012/12/omoshiroyama-kogen-yamadera-hiking-trail.html (Russian)
http://babibubebo.com/2006/09/30/omoshiroyama-kogen/

Unfortunately, I couldn't find any posts dated 2013-2015

I'm sorry! The link to the post dated 2014 works
http://www.yamareco.com/modules/yamareco/detail-521553.html

Many thanks to Okedzumi. Those are very useful link.

Wonder why they recommend 'Do not travel alone' though. Anyway, I will definitely be there.

Hello everyone,

do you know if this sideway path is passable during winter?

I'm planning to visit Yamadera from Sendai around January 2/3/4 (not decided yet) and I'd like arrive there walking by this sideway path from Omoshiroyama Kogen.

What about Ice, snow and river water level?