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We booked our tour through the travel and tour office at Yakota Air Force Base a few weeks ago. We got a great deal on what would end up being a VERY LONG day. For $60 each we enjoyed a eight hour round trip bus ride into the mountains, entrance to the park, and some great photos! Bobbie caught up on the early morning departure.
Handy Quick Links to our Blog Highlights
We booked our tour through the travel and tour office at Yakota Air Force Base a few weeks ago. We got a great deal on what would end up being a VERY LONG day. For $60 each we enjoyed a eight hour round trip bus ride into the mountains, entrance to the park, and some great photos! Bobbie caught up on the early morning departure.
The highway was clear as we wound through the mountains and through dozens of tunnels, the longest was a set of two tunnels split by a momentary break in the middle and about eight miles long. We reached the Jigokudani Monkey Park in Nagano around noon. The park is part of the Joshinetsu Kogen Naitonal Park. The name Jigokudani, meaning "Hell's Valley", is due to the steam and boiling water that bubbles out of small crevices in the frozen ground, surrounded by steep cliffs and formidably cold and hostile forest. It was a miles walk from the parking lot to the main gate of the park, then another miles up the snow covered trail to the hot springs.
We passed a pretty formidable vent near the entrance to the main viewing area.
The heavy snowfalls cover the ground for about four months out of the year. The going was great and the crowd was manageable, even if it was a Saturday. Considering the appeal it was relatively uncrowded despite being well-known throughout the world.
The spring was formally upgraded in 1964 to create a tourist venue and is famous for its large population of "wild" Japanese Macaques, more commonly referred to as snow monkeys. They live all over the surrounding mountains and go to the valley during the winter to sit in the warm waters of the hot springs., returning to the security of the forests in the evenings. However, since the monkeys are fed by park attendants, they are in the area of the hot springs all the year round. Learning this took away a bit of the magic, but it was still a "zoo" without cages.
The little guys were oblivious to the people, surrounding them, playing at their feet and being carefully watched by the park attendants. No plastic bags were allowed of any type (the signify food) and no selfie-sticks (weapons) were condoned. I got away with one shot before being chastised.
On the way back down the icy trail we spotted these. Japanese delivery drivers are pretty brave. The drop off the side of the trail was several 100 feet down to the river below. Yikes.
Another four hour bus ride back to the base and a two hour train ride got us home near 10PM. It was a VERY, VERY LONG DAY!!!
The little guys were oblivious to the people, surrounding them, playing at their feet and being carefully watched by the park attendants. No plastic bags were allowed of any type (the signify food) and no selfie-sticks (weapons) were condoned. I got away with one shot before being chastised.
On the way back down the icy trail we spotted these. Japanese delivery drivers are pretty brave. The drop off the side of the trail was several 100 feet down to the river below. Yikes.
Another four hour bus ride back to the base and a two hour train ride got us home near 10PM. It was a VERY, VERY LONG DAY!!!
1 comment:
So great to follow your adventures on the blog and on Facebook! Love the Snow Monkey park descriptions, the videos, the photos (of you and Bobbie as well!) <3. Hope you have a restful day today!
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