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For the three-day weekend in early November I went on a road trip to Kyushu to hike and camp around Mt. Aso. In addition to hiking, we found ourselves onsening ALL the time. I had attempted to go to Mt. Aso and hike (I have a minor obsession with hiking) when I first got to Japan, yet came to a dead end because it is very hard to reach without a car. Don't worry to those that know me, I have no desire in my entire life to drive in Japan- I hate doing it in America! Since last year I was still trying to find a way to get to Aso. Fortunately my friend Nikki was as eager as I was to get to Aso, and alas, can drive a car- next thing I knew we were planning a road trip to Aso.

Submerged in the waters from Hell

Casey Lary
2007-03-10 16:58:47

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the police station was taking this a little too far- we may have been the only people they have seen all day. Crime is VERY unusual in Japan, and we were in a resort onsen town so it must be even less, these guys must have been bored. In addition, we were a group of foreigners. It was like Christmas for them! They ended up giving us 5 different maps, called the place 3 different times to make sure it was the right place and that we did in fact have a reservation there. To top things off, we had a police escort! Absolutely hysterical, and very Japanese.

The best part of our campsite/bungalow was the name: Aso Fantasy Forest. Sounds like we are going to a Love Hotel! When we pulled up I was a little skeptical of the place and was thinking "what did I get everyone into?" Yet once we moved in, set up the bungalow, and started to check out the little campsite, I started to fall in love with it. I loved being in the mountains and in the woods! It truly is my Heaven! Having spent 2 summers at a summer camp with no electricity and spending my weekends hiking through Yosemite, coming to Aso was like I was returning there. We went to the outdoor sento which was so soothing and warm, which was our "bath" for the whole weekend.

The next day we were up early en route to find Nakedake, one of the five mountains that makes up Mt Aso. Nakedake is the tallest of them, and in the center of the mountains is a huge caldera- the LARGEST IN THE WORLD to be exact! One of the largest problems we ran into the whole trip was lack of information in English. We went in search of a tourist office, but that was unsuccessful. A lot of our trip was guessing where to go next. We ended up following the signs to Aso, and low and behold, soon found ourselves at the base of the caldera. You can actually drive to the caldera, or take an absolutely pointless tram. It is literally 1 km slight slope from the entrance of Aso to the caldera. Trying to get in as much ...