Check out an interactive map of the places I visited here. I will update this map as I continue my journey. This post is about day 4 and 5.

We took the ferry back from Sado island to Niigata.The ferry was a bit older this time and had picturesque pastel chairs inside.Near Niigata Harbor, we passed this lighthouse, which at some point perfectly matched the blue and white pattern on the windows of the ferry. That's when I took this picture.

Back in Niigata, we picked up the car and paid our 10€ parking fee for 48 hours. Our next destination: Tsuroka. We booked this accommodation because it's about halfway between Niigata and our northernmost destination: Morioka.

The lodging was an old ryokan (guesthouse) in Tsuruoka. Both dinner and breakfast were delicious teishoku (Japanese set meals) made with local ingredients and prepared with care. I took some pictures of the food, but they don't do it justice, so I'll skip posting them.

In the morning, we got up early and went to the Dewasanzan Shrine which was just around the corner from the Ryokan.After walking down a steep set of stone stairs, we reached this red bridge that led us onto the trail.

We were very lucky that it was still early, as there were not many other people around and we had the opportunity to take some scenic pictures.On the left you can see a 1000 year old cedar tree, which is considered to be the grandfather of the forest, on the right there is a five story pagoda.We were also very lucky with the light, the sun was just shining through the leaves and with the early morning mist the light rays were visible.The five story pagoda in relation to a regular sized human.After the tree and the pagoda, the real hike began: stone stairs upon stone stairs. You couldn't even see the end of them.Luckily, there were always flat sections in between the steep stairs.Sometimes we just had to stop and admire the beauty of the forest.

At the top of the mountain there is a Shinto shrine, a museum, and some other buildings. The beauty of the shrine paled in comparison to the hike through nature that preceded it.On our way to our next destination, we made a quick stop at the Oufukasawa Bridge, which is known for its beautiful fall colors. The further north we got, the more fall colors we saw.