(Day 80) Oirase Stream / Lake Towada

Two days ago (10.19.2015), Ben, Sasha, Kelsey and I took a bus to Ishigedo Station along the Oirase Stream. It took around 2.5 hours to get there, but it was well worth it.

Kōyō (ENG: Autumn Leaves) were changing and so during the bus ride there as well as the moment we got off, I felt overwhelmed by all the brilliant yellows, oranges, and reds. As we rode to Ishigedo, I met a man who was from Seattle and was in Japan for a business trip. There were a surprising amount of English speakers, which included a few folks from the U.S. and a few Chinese people who spoke English well.

From Ishigedo station, we rested for a bit as we were all hungry from the lack of a proper breakfast. We took the 7:50AM bus from Aomori Station and arrived at Ishigedo at around 11AM. So, instead of starting the hike right away, we stopped by a small souvenir / snack shop.

Clockwise starting @ top left: Half & Half, Dark Lager, Weizen, Pilsner

Unfortunately, I had a few impulse buys, but I don't regret any of it. I ended up buying a Tohoku Apple flavored Hi-Chew (5pk), a handkerchief for my Mom (Mom I hope you don't see this), a 4-pocket hanger with 3 hooks on the bottom with an Aomori Prefecture theme, and 2 bottles of Oirase Brewery Beer (Weizen and Dark Lager - The Dark Lager was an Asia Beer 2015 winner). After that we stopped by the vending machines, where I bought a couple more drinks.

The hike itself was about 3 hours long. It would've been shorter, but we stopped like every 5 minutes on the first half of the hike. We came across a older man who spoke tons of English to us and was apparently from a suburb between Nara and Kyoto, a man who was painting the river scene, and a few old obaachan (ENG: Grandmas) whom we spoke with about mushrooms along the trail.

The Oirase Stream a few moments after starting the hike.

A stone stairway with wooden railings covered in moss.

Another beautiful view of the Fall leaves and Oirase Stream.

One of the many waterfalls that we saw on the hike along Oirase Stream. Photo Credit: Ben

Running into the old ladies was actually a fun encounter because after talking about the first set of mushrooms, one of the old ladies shouted back at us, "Hey! Hey! Hey!" Sasha and I looked back at them, and all they wanted to show us was a different kind of mushroom that they wanted to point out.

So, after around 3 hours, we made it to Nenokuchi Station, which is the stop where Oirase Stream meets Lake Towada. Just before the lake, the stream was dammed up, and on the part of the stream that meets the lake, there was crystal clear water, as well as some fishes in the river.

Crystal Clear portion of the Oirase Stream after what I thought was a dam. If you look closely, you should be able to see some small trout swimming about.

The sight of the Lake was beautiful. It sort of reminded me of Lake Tahoe, but the mountains in the background looked completely different. We decided against taking a ferry on the lake since we were pressed for time, and instead had lunch at one of their restaurants, and waited out the rest of downtime at the bus station. I saw a Apple Chocolate Bar (White Chocolate w/ Apple Flavor) and it was actually pretty good.

Photo of Lake Towada, taken at the mouth of the river where Oirase meets Towada.