Hiking to Haga-jo

For weeks I have wanted to go on a decent hike. Today, a lazy Saturday allowed us the time to take off for a drive, searching for a mountain to climb.
While driving through Haga, we saw the sign for Haga-jo(castle) and since we'd heard how beautiful the views were, thought it should be a great hike.
We parked the car near the bottom of a steep, hilly road and started walking.

After going up the hill, down, and around, we were getting farther and farther away from the castle. So we had to turn around. But on this detour we came across great sounds (melting snow), smells (wood-burning stoves), and sights...
Check this picture below; any guesses what this is?



So we got back in the car and followed some signs we couldn't read. But hey, we had plenty of time to kill! The arrows did lead us to the right road, and Mike put the car in 2nd gear as we headed up an even steeper, hillier road. Problem was, this road kept most of the snow and slush from the night before! We hit a point that we couldn't get up; wheels spinnin, Kcar refusing to move. So Mike threw it into reverse . Dude, Kudos to Mike! Reversing backwards down twisty roads is nervewracking (well, I was scared anyway). When he tried to turn the car around, it was like that infamous scene in Austin Powers when the golf cart was stuck sideways in the hallway. Except we were on a mountain road without a guard rail! To make matters worse, a car came up behind us, as we were totally blocking the road!!!
What can you do? Mike decided to try the hill again; we slipped and swayed, but managed to get up past where we were stuck before. The car behind us wimped out though, cause we didn't seem them when we found a little berm to pull over and park.

We walked the rest of the way up, of course ;) Enough danger for one day, and I really wanted to hike, even if on a road. As we started up, we noticed another guy with the same idea. As he was passing us, we exchanged a "konnichiwa" and I attempted, with my bad Japanese ability, to say our car just wouldn't make it up the hill. He was friendly, so he chatted with us a little on and off as we all walked up. I couldn't understand most of what he said exactly, but I understood some. After a while longer, he got our attention and showed us a little footpath off the road. I asked him if it led to the castle and he assured us it did. So, we followed him through the forest. It was much more fun (and much harder ;) than hiking up the road, so I was happy. Even if it wasn't exactly a trail.
We followed him all the way up to the castle, and WOW! what great views! The guy told us to be careful about the clifside and said goodbye. What a cool guy. I love how kind people are to strangers!
Here's a coulple more pictures of our time at the castle...



have a great day!
-Colleen