Toroko Densha - "Train"

For some reason (and I'm not complaining about this) this semester has been peppered with holidays and long weekends. So, over a four day weekend, Hye Young, Ksenyia and I headed out to Kurobe Gorge for some fall foliage viewing. On Sunday, we left Kanazawa and headed to a little town called Unazuki. We spent the day exploring the town, doing some light hiking and of course, indulging in the public foot baths and our hotel's hot bath. Did I mention that this area is famous for its natural hot springs?

On Monday, after a beautiful and relaxing day, we awoke to...rain!!! C'est la vie! We still took the train into the mountains where we hiked, explored and had a great time.
Pictured Above: Hye Young (left) and Ksenyia (right) are ready to roll! Notice the windows on the train, yup, there are none. The trip was a little chilly and wet but nothing dampered our spirits.
Here's a shot that will hopefully give you an idea of what the train looked like.
The river was a gorgeous emerald green, which was in striking contrast to the red bridge and lovely colors on the mountain side.


Pictured Above: Some of the colors in the mountains.
One of my favorite moments from this weekend was coming across some natural hot springs. We hiked beyond a sign that had warned about construction (as long as we wore construction helmets, we were allowed to go). Besides, there was an onsen (a building where folks build baths and fill 'em with the natural hot springs) that we had wanted to check out. We got to the onsen and just a little ways down the river, steam and smoke billowed into the sky. So we went on over to check it out.
A hot spring flowed into the river. The rocks were marled black and white from the sulfur and other minerals floating around. We dunked our toes, and got blasted alternately by cold and then boiling currents. It was my first time being able to dip my toes in the natural hot springs, so I was happy to have gone.
Another fond memory of this weekend was the onsen that we visited on the way back down from our hike. It was an outdoor tub... beautifully situated beside the mountain. From the tub we had a gorgeous view of the changing colors. Also, being in the hot tub while having the cool rain on our shoulders was a lovely, lovely feeling.
All in all, it was a fun, relaxing and beautiful weekend.