Owakudani Hot Springs

We took the above picture at Owakudani Hot Springs. We stopped here on our way back to Tokyo from Hakone to do some sightseeing. This is bar none my favorite picture of the entire trip. Usually Dean would take our group pictures which meant he was often left out of them. In this instance we were able to get a passerby to take it, which means all fourteen of us are in it, and I must say that we LOOK GOOD! The weather gods were even smiling on us that day, blessing us with clear blue skies and not a cloud in sight! All this meant for picture perfect views of Mount Fuji in the distance. I'm told that there are people in Japan who have never seen Mount Fuji this clearly because of the normally cloudy weather. Being able to see snow on the top of Mount Fuji is also a rarity that we were lucky to experience as well.

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Time to backtrack a little. In order to get to Owakudani to take that awesome picture above, we needed to first ride the Ropeway. These cable cars were awesome, and seemed to be made almost entirely of clear glass. This allowed for a spectacular 360 degree view of the surrounding area as we quickly ascended the mountainside. The thing I remember most about the ride up was how quiet it was. Because the cable cars were literally pulled up by cable as opposed to a gas motor, there was virtually no sound but the wind as we rose higher and higher. It was actually kind of scary now that I think about it.

After reaching the top you exit the Ropeway and walk down a flight of stairs to a lower area. As you can see from the above picture, the Ropeway is not the only way to reach Owakudani. Tour buses and a few private cars can be seen in the background as we stopped to take this picture. Nadine and I decided not to venture any further than this and stayed near the Ropeway station since Nadine was still feeling a little under the weather. The rest of the travelers pressed onward to see all of what Owakudani Hot Springs had to offer.

Now because Nadine and I stayed back at the Ropeway station, I technically did not see much of Owkudani Hot Springs. As far as I could tell, Owakudani Hot Spings is basically a lot of white toxic smoke wisping out from the hillside and filling the air with the the smell of rotten eggs. Oh, and there was also the pool of white chalky water that had white toxic smoke wisping out and filling the air with the smell of rotten eggs. But all that didn't matter, because the views of Mount Fuji and and the surrounding area made the visit entirely worthwhile. Here's a picture of Brad and Mary with the aforementioned white smoke wisping in the background.