Super Rindo Trip

The Super Rindo Road is a winding road leading into the Japanese Alps, between Haku-san City, a lot of other mountains, and then Haku-san itself (Haku-san is one of the three holy peaks of Japan, along with Fuji-san and Tateyama). We'd been meaning to get up there and look around for a while, and an opportunity to do so pretty much fell in our laps, so we took it. The Haku-san we-like-foreigners-and-their-money group set up a trip that any foreigner in Kanazawa could sign up for which cost a measly ten bucks a head, so to the Super Rindo we went.

 Bus full of foreigners

Haku-san City and the Super Rindo are an hour or so away from Kanazawa, so all the foreigners would be busing up together. The tour bus conveniently stopped at several points in Kanazawa and we were able to catch it at a local stop instead of having to go all the way to the train station first thing in the morning.


The plan for the day was to bus to the Hakusan City area, drive most of the Super Rindo, and then do a short hike up one of the minor peaks in the area, Sanpō-iwadake. After climbing down, they'd bus us into town for lunch at an onsen before bringing us home. The bus ride up was about what you'd expect - a whole bus full of foreigners, most of them knowing each other at least through other people - we all swapped plans for the summer and spoke full-speed natural English to each other. The tour group people felt this needed some stirring up, however, and bestowed upon us a tourist guide to the Haku-san area showing basic statistics and various tourist attractions, and then proceeded to quiz us on Haku-san facts. I used the book and guessed the best, winning the grand prize of a 500 yen (five dollar) bookstore gift certificate with seven of ten multiple choice quiz questions correct. Lesser beings won $1 international calling cards (hint to Haku-san people: we use Skype, and it is free) and everyone got to keep the pencils used for the quiz.

 We took a lot of pictures from the bus - the road is along the walls of the gorge

The Super Rindo itself winds across some very dramatic terrain, and both sides of the bus get to see things the other side does not. We snapped a large number of pictures from both sides, most of which we knew were going to be rubbish. We got a couple of keepers though. I just wish they'd washed the bus windows before the tour as that would have improved our yield substantially. I'll let the pictures describe the Super Rindo further. There is one weekend each year when it is closed to motor traffic and people walk along it - we'd certainly be interested to come back for a closer on-foot look.

 We discovered snow (in late June)

When we reached the base of the hiking trail, there was definitely still snow, but it certainly wasn't very cold out. The guides predictably lead the whole group in stretches and warm-ups before permitting us to begin walking. The hike itself was only about 30-40 minutes up, made longer by a few breaks. I don't think most people needed them - we certainly didn't. The view from the summit was pretty nice, and included a clear view of Haku-san itself. We're considering climbing it later in the year.

  Warm-ups and stretches - the Japanese love 'em

Lunch was Japanese-style curry and a salad and as part of a package costing ten bucks I can't complain. The actual onsen cost $5 extra, and since the bus wasn't leaving for hours we all paid up, leading to time spent naked with a lot of strangers, but hey. It was a relaxing end to the trip, followed by busing back to Kanazawa in time for dinner.

 Trail up

 View of Hakusan

At the top

Waterfall next to the Super Rindo

 Lunch - Head over to Flickr to see all the images we've got.