弁天山 Benten Mountain, Tokyo -- Part 3

Climbing the hiking trails near Akigawa, north west of Tokyo, continues. 

Part 1 is HERE. Part 2 is HERE.

After reaching our summit goal of Benten Mountain, we hiked to another peak -- Mt. Shiroyama.

Signpost: 

It wasn't very far to this mountain from Mt. Benten. I think it took us approximately 30 minutes. The climb followed a narrow trail and climbed up and down. The top of Shiroyama looks like this:

This sign in Japanese, explained the area's topography & history:  

From Mt. Shiroyama, we hiked down a seemingly never-ending set of wood stairs. Once we reached the bottom, everyone in the group exclaimed: "Thank goodness we were coming down instead of going up!!"

The long stairs down:

The guide of our group led us to a park. The hike there was along a road; however, the view was just as lovely:

The park, which houses a visitor's center, specifically for hikers:

Visitor's centre:

At this park, our guide planned to cook udon -- Japanese, thick dough noodles. The other climbers brought toppings to add to the udon soup. I have never cooked udon before, so I observed carefully how the noodles are boiled and what vegetables are added.

Preparing the udon:

My bowl of hot noodles: ^_^

After lunch, our guide told us of an old yet beautiful temple in the area. We would hike there next. Along the way, we found this giggling group of adults:

They were pruning their persimmon tree of the fruit. We stopped to observe them and made a comment that they were very creative, catching the falling fruit via a tarp. These kind neighbors rewarded our group with some persimmon. I got four! ^_^ Japanese hospitality -- so nice!


I'll show photos from the temple next time.


~ Information ~ 

Mt. Benten and Shiroyama are located in Akiruno city, north-west of Tokyo. Travel time: approximately 1 hour by train. Google map is HERE. 

A printable map showing some hiking trails in this area is HERE. The closest train station is: Musashi-Masuko on the JR Itsukaichi line. From the station, it's a 15 minute walk to the trail head. Train cost from Tokyo station: about ¥1,000 one way ($10).