Autumn Colour Walk Daigo

Hello TWMC Hikers

The hike is on Saturday November 12 2016 around Daigo area enjoying the autumn colours around Eigenji temple and Fukuroda Falls.

The tentative schedule is HitachiDaigo station --> Eigenji Temple --> Fukuroda Falls--> Tsukiore Kannon temple --> Onsen --> Fukuroda Station over a relaxed hike of 5 hours with lunch/snack breaks.

The plan is to start the hike from Hitachi Daigo station and head to Eigenji Temple to view the maple leaves. It is a short 20 minutes walk from the station. After photo stop /snack break we shall walk along the Daigo countryside towards Fukuroda Falls (1 hour). After lunch break around the falls area we shall hike up towards the concrete stairs towards Tsukiore Kannon temple and head back to the Fukuroda Station (onsen on the way to the station).

Eigenji: http://www.ibarakiguide.jp/db-kanko/eigenji.html
Fukuroda Falls: http://www.ibarakiguide.jp/db-kanko/fukuroda_falls.html

The departure time is from Tsukuba centre at 7:10am. (but the timings may vary if the hike plan is car based) . Tentative schedule for train based hike is as given:

Tsukuba Centre ----> Arakawaoki Station 7:15a.m ----> 7:45a.m
(Bus from Tsukuba Centre Stand number 4)

Arakawaoki Station ----> Mito (Joban Line) 8:00a.m ----> 9:00 a.m.

Mito ----> HitachiDaigo (Suigun Line) 9:22a.m ----> 10:37 a.m.

Onsen (http://www.fukuroda-foods.com/hotspring/index.html)

Cost Estimate: 3880 (train return) + 900(bus return) + 300 (club fee) + 700 (onsen ??) + Food
(Cheaper if car based)

To Bring:
Hiking gear + proper warm layers
Lunch box + Snacks
Hot/ Cold drinks
Onsen kit

If you would like to join this hike, please fill in the details here: https://goo.gl/forms/l6Mw8ajK4Dxo9Tqn1

Looking forward to another great TWMC hike.

Participants: 8
Deepa, Andreas, Anja, Anca, Anna, Junhao, Wei, Eiji

Weather: A nice sunny autumn day

Plan: Tsukuba--> HitachiDaigo--> Eigenji Temple --> Fukuroda Car Park --> Tsukiori Kannon Temple --> Namase Waterfalls--> Fukuroda Waterfalls--> Fukuroda Car Park --> Ryujin Suspension Bridge --> Tsukuba

We left Tsukuba at around 7:30 am and headed towards the Hitachi Daigo Station car park. It was a nice break in the weather after the rains last week. As we arrived at the destination the sun was perfectly out. The autumn season and weekend meant there was considerable traffic heading towards Daigo area. This did slow a bit. Finding a parking spot was also a little painful wait mostly throughout the day. We arrived at the car park near the Eigenji Temple at around 10:30 am. The hike towards Eigenji Temple was a short 10 minutes from the car park. It was more of a walk around the temple, but we ended up spending around an hour enjoying the amazing display of autumn colors. The colors were at its best giving a nice view of Daigo area. At 11:30 am we headed towards Fukuroda Car Park, again slowed down by the traffic. We started the hike towards Fukuroda Falls around 12:15pm. Anna decided to take the shortcut to the falls while rest of the team headed towards the Tsukiori Kannon temple for the lunch break. After 2 hours of nice hike along the ridges we were at the Fukuroda Falls at around 14:15pm. Even though we bought the tickets to the tunnel for the viewing platform, we decided to skip it. (There was a sea of people inside the tunnel who had come for the autumn view and almost an hour long wait in the queue to reach the viewing platform).

We decided to head back to Tsukuba at around 15:00pm but after a brief stop at the Ryujin Suspension bridge. (And yet again hounded by slight traffic delay). Junhao, Anna and Wei walked across the bridge while rest of enjoyed snacking from the food stalls around. We headed back to Tsukuba at around 17:00pm and after a dinner stop at Tomobe Service area we were at Tsukuba around 8:00pm.

Overall, it was a nice sunny day out with a short hike and mostly photoshoot trips enjoying the autumn colors. Thanks to Junhao and Eiji San for driving and all the participants for a fun time together.

Cost per person excluding drivers and club fee: 1650 yen.