Mt. Nantai and Lake Chuzenji

This weekend, Tetsu and I went up to Lake Chuzenji which is at the top of the Nikko mountains.  It is only a 30 minute trip from us so it makes a nice morning or afternoon trip when we just want to go for a drive.

 

Anyone who has been to Nikko will recognize this bridge.  It has recently been renovated and repainted and it spans a small river than is at the base of the Tosho shrines and temples.  There is a fee to walk over it so I've never been across...

And what is this odd thing?  It is our GPS showing the road up the mountain.  The road is called Irohazaka (sort of like A-B-C slope) because of the many hairpin curves (labled I-Ro-Ha... A-B-C) going up and down the mountain.  A thrill for motorcyclists.  Hard on the car brakes.

 

At the top of the mountain is the beautiful lake, Mt. Nantai and the small resort town of Nikko. 

We went up further to the top of the mountain and looked down on the lake too.  Lots of professional looking photographers out with their fancy cameras on this day....  Next week when the leaves start changing colors it will be difficult to even drive up the mountains!

 

Different shots of the lake at different times of the day.

We stayed until early evening.

And a final parting shot of the torii and Mt. Nantai before we headed back down the mountain.

 

And this is a picture of the same Mt. Nantai, the next morning, from the field near our house.  We may not have Mt. Fuji but we are proud of our own little mountain