My third day in Hakone did not go as planned. There were still some highlights, but I definitely missed some of the things I wanted to do due to services being closed from high winds. Very sad.
The first item for the day was a visit to Owakudani. Owakudani is located on Mount Kami, a sub-peak of the complex volcano Mount Hakone (which has five peaks in total). It is an active volcanic area with sulphur steam vents and hot springs. These hot springs are too hot to bathe in and have a high level of sulphur content, but eggs boiled in these springs turn black. These black eggs, or kurotamago, are said to give you seven more years of life if you eat them.
I checked out of K’s House Hakone and deposited my backpack in a coin locker by the train station so I wouldn’t have to lug it around. I hopped on the train up to the Gora area, and then I ran into my first problems. The high winds meant the Hakone Ropeway – the usual route up to Owakudani – was closed. I determinedly grabbed a taxi – which was not covered by the Hakone transport pass I’d purchased, making most forms of public transport in the Hakone area free for me – to drive me up. Then I sat in the taxi for almost an hour, waiting to wade through the traffic created by everyone else with cars who wanted to see Owakudani. The taxi was expensive and that was sad. But when we finally made it to Owakudani, I could understand why they’d closed the Ropeway. The wind at Owakudani was strong enough to push me around and nearly blow me off my feet! Though it wasn’t strong enough to completely blow away the smell of sulphur.
I spent my first chunk of time hiding inside and enjoying the Hakone Geo Museum. Definitely felt like I spent longer there than the average person. I am a huge geology nerd (with special interest in volcanoes and planetary geology), so I thought this museum was a ton of fun. Wanted to stay longer, but I only had so much time to spare.
After the museum, I bought lunch at one of the handful of cafés at Owakudani. There were a few more standard options (standard for Japan), but they also know how to stick to a theme. I bought black curry bread and black pork bread to enjoy with the black eggs I’d bought from the gift shop.
I ventured back outside to some of the other facilities, and finally I could stall no longer: it was time to go. I was very sad to leave.
The wind was as strong as ever, so the Ropeway was, of course, still closed. But hiking down a mountain isn’t as hard as hiking up. I didn’t even try to look for a taxi. I decided to walk down. My destination was Togendai Station, where I would catch the Hakone Sightseeing Cruise on Lake Ashi. It was 45 minutes away by walking, according to Google Maps; more than doable. (It wound up being more like an hour because I slowed down and stopped a few times too). Along the way, Google took me down a very, very old stone path in the forest. The stones were worn unevenly and hard to walk on, so I couldn’t traverse this section very fast. But I wasn’t too upset by that; there were no other people on this old forest path (aside from two utility workers, who were obviously using the path to access something that needed maintenance, rather than travelers going from point A to point B). The whole experience felt a little magical, and I was in high spirits by the time I made it to Togendai Station. It’s not often you hear positive stories of people led along strange roads by Google, but I am glad that Google somehow knew about this path.
My mood quickly plummeted, however. Because of high winds, the sightseeing cruise on Lake Ashi was closed, too! I hadn’t anticipated that. The sightseeing ships are modeled after pirate ships, but they’re propelled by engines and the sails are always furled. This was at a lesser altitude and the wind wasn’t that bad!! I spent some time staring angrily out the windows of the station at the grounded ship before catching the unsatisfying bus that would take me back to the tourist/hotel area of Hakone. It was a long bus ride.
Once I’d returned to the tourist area, I did one last sweep of the shops. Were there any last souvenirs I wanted to buy or street food to sample? It was only mid-afternoon, but I had four hours on trains to look forward to before getting home. I was exhausted by the time I made it back to Yachimata, and despite the troubles I had on this trip, visiting Hakone was, overall, a positive and fun experience.
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