Tateyama Kurobe Alpine Route

Waking up early the next morning, my overall well-being felt much better. I stumbled into the showers, got my things ready, and headed out into Takaoka's cool morning one last time.

Today, I was traversing the entire Tateyama Kurobe Alpine Route heading all the way to Nagano on the other side. It was going to be quite a journey.

Taking the same train back to Tateyama where I had another bowl of udon for breakfast while waiting for the cable car to Bijoudaira. From Bijoudaira, instead of taking the bus all the way to Murodo, I dropped by the Midagahara Wetlands instead. It was a rainy day, but it was still beautiful, the mist around the orange grass and autumn foliage made it look like something out of a fairytale. There were 2 routes and I opted for the longer course which could be completed in just an hour.

The boardwalks took me around the entire perimeter and I got to see tiny puddles and streams meandering in and around the wetlands. Halfway through, it had started to rain much harder so I quickened my pace and was able to reach the rest house with enough time to catch my breath before the next bus to Murodo arrived.

In Murodo, I was ready to finally make up for yesterday's missed onsen opportunity. I quickly made my way back to Mikurigaike Onsen, taking a peak at the nearby Hell's Valley that I had missed previously. The rain today sent Mikurigaike Pond's waters rippling so there was no reflection shot at all. I'm glad I opted to take the route going through it yesterday.

Finally, being able to dip my tired and weary body into the mineral-rich onsen was absolutely divine. There weren't that many people and there was a time when I had the baths all to myself. After a replenishing bath, I went to grab some lunch, seeing as I still had enough time.

With my tummy full, I made my way back to Murodo but not before dropping by Tamadono Fountain to refill my water bottle with some fresh mountain water. The taste was amazing!

Then comes the series of transportation, first up was the underground trolley bus from Murodo to Daikanbo. Daikanbo has a pretty good viewing point that requires taking some flights of stairs up, other than that, there's not much to do except wait for the Tateyama Ropeway. Unfortunately, I had just missed the ride, but it comes frequently every 20 minutes or so and I soon found myself looking out through the window of the cablecar, down at the sea of fiery autumn trees.

The Tateyama Ropeway dropped me over at Kurobedaira, there's a souvenir shop here but the Zen garden outside easily steals the show. Some interesting rocks, autumn foliage, flowers, and mountain views await. Finally, I rode another cable car from Kurobedaira to Kurobeko, where we would walk the rest of the way to Kurobe Dam.

Kurobe Dam was massive. Being Japan's biggest dam, the scale was almost unsurmountable. I admired the views of Kurobeko Lake on one side, and the giant dam on the other. It was quite silent, so I thought to myself maybe the dam wasn't running at this time of the year. But as I approached the center, I could see them: two giant torrents of water cascading down towards the river below. For such a huge deluge, it was surprisingly not that loud. Perhaps it was the way the dam was constructed. I finished the walk to the other side and went down towards the Rainbow Terrace, where supposedly one could see rainbows but the weather that day wasn't optimal. From there, I went up to the observatory to get the best view of the dam. Worth it.

Successfully scaling the entire dam area, I dropped by the museum but it was all in Japanese. I then proceeded deeper into a tunnel underground where the final ride to Ogizawa was waiting. From Ogizawa, it was another bus to Nagano station where I had dinner at a Saizeriya, then a bullet train back to Tokyo.Weiterlesen