Alpine Route: Beyond Peak

After Schauwecker's visit to the Tateyama Kurobe Alpine Route two weeks ago, I followed in his footsteps today to see how the autumn colors had progressed in this beautiful pocket of Japan's Alps.

The route makes these alpine landscapes accessible even without hiking. Instead, a fun variety of transport is used; electric bus, cable car, ropeway - the mix of infrastucture with mountain scenery makes for a pretty unique experience - one that I was trying out for the first time!

At the highest point of the route, Murodo, I found the colors were now beyond peak. This trend continued all the way down the mountain until the lower point of Kurobe Dam where the colors were approaching their peak. With many pops of orange already visible around the dam, I expect it to look its best over the next week, with the autumn season along the alpine route winding down after that.

Stepping out of the bus terminal at Murodo, brings you face to face with panoromic views of multiple 3000-meter peaks. It even elicited a gasp from the people in front of me as they walked out and got their first glimpse!

Here, some of the stars of the autumn show are the Nanakamado bushes with their bright red leaves and berries and the Chinguruma plants which form luscious red carpets. On my visit, most had lost their vibrant red and were looking a little dull, but there were still patches of autumn colors to enjoy. Overall, whilst past peak, the colors under a sunny blue sky made for a great autumn day out.

Surprisingly, the colors along the Tateyama Ropeway were not as enjoyable as those at Murodo. While there were still some nice patches of orange and red around the lower ropeway station, as we climbed up the slope, these quickly gave way to brown.

Further down around the Kurobe Dam at 1450 meters, the trees showed a smattering of orange and green. It seems that it won't be long before this area reaches peak, with the colors already thoroughly enjoyable on my visit today.