Hiking in Urabandai

For today's hidden beauty, I traveled from Yamagata to Fukushima's Bandai region, a beautiful area filled with fall colors, mountains, scenic driving roads, and hiking trails. My goal was to explore the Goshikinuma area, or the "five colors of ponds" in Urabandai. These ponds' waters cover the entire blue-green spectrum, and are especially beautiful when viewed with bright fall colors!

I was to meet my guides, Mr. Yuuki Koishizawa and his wife, Kaori-san, at the Bandai Visitor's Center parking lot. But when I got there, there were so many people, I couldn't find a parking space! Luckily Yuuki-san directed me to a different lot that was a little less full. There were a lot of people enjoying the day!

The Goshikinuma walk is an easy one that takes about an hour one way through some easy trails and beautiful ponds. We started with the largest pond, Bishamon-numa. Because it's so big, you can rent a boat to see it too.

This pond has one of the best views of the mountain the area is named for, Mt. Bandai:

It also has a fun little game with some of the pond's residents...

The walking trail is easy and provides lots of picture opportunities. It is not only the ponds that are nice, but the trees and vegetation along the trails, too.

It's a bit difficult to get great views of the ponds sometimes, since the vegetation is so lush. But with a little persistence (and some weird body positions) you can see the ponds just fine!

The trees around the Goshikinuma area were still a bit green. I think in a week or two it will be even more spectacular than it was today.

Benten-numa is the second biggest pond of the walk. It's bright waters made for some really nice contrast with the trees and plants around it. It also has some benches for a quick rest before moving on.

As we moved on we came to the small Ao-numa, which had some green growth in the middle of it. I'm not sure what it was, but it was pretty!

Finally, we came to Yagi-numa, the last pond of the day. It had some well-developed reds and oranges, contrasting with the greens and yellows of most of the walk so far. There was no wind, so the reflection in the water was really beautiful!

At the end of the walk is another visitor's center. We stopped and had some gelato for a quick break, then walked back to our cars by the ponds again. There is also a bus you can take, but because we weren't stopping for so many pictures, the walk back went quickly. Then, we went for some ramen special to the area at the Urabandai Michi no Eki about 20 minutes away.

After eating, I said goodbye to my wonderful guides and went back to the Mount Bandai Hotel where I stayed for two nights.

The area around the hotel is mostly past peak color, but the maples, always a little later, are showing their nicest colors right now. In my spacious room, from the lobby, or even in the indoor baths, the colors are the most prominent feature now. But I think no matter the season the hotel has great views of the surrounding area!

After a break, I met with Ms. Ichinose, who runs the hotel, and Mr. Yaginuma and Mr. Hizawa, who are part of the Ryokan Association. We had a fun dinner together!

Mr. Yaginuma even brought his shamisen to play, so I got another shamisen concert!

Thank you to Yuuki-san and Kaori-san, and Ms. Ichinose, Mr. Yaginuma, and Mr. Hizawa for your kindness, hospitality, and gifts!

I'm heading out of the Tohoku Region and into the Kanto Region next!