The summit of Mount Hodatsu has been renovated! The 'Mountain Dragon Palace' has evolved into an unmanned rest area with automatic locking!

I usually share the scenery from the foot of the mountain.

Hello, this is Matsuda from the Manufacturing Department.

The Noto Peninsula in Ishikawa Prefecture has many low mountains, mostly between 300 and 400 meters in altitude.

In Hodatsushimizu Town, Hakui District, where our company is located, there is
Mount Hodatsu, which at 637m is considered the highest peak of the Noto mountain range, and

I have taken the liberty of calling the view from our company the best in the world,
(I mean it's the best among the views of Mount Hodatsu, haha)

and I promote it daily on Instagram as 'Today's Mount Hodatsu'.

It actually looks something like this ↓↓↓

I post images of the mountain seen directly from our office building,
but

today I'd like to change things up and
share the scenery from the summit of Mount Hodatsu with you.

Climbing, climbing, and climbing some more to the 637m summit,

as you get closer to the mountain from the office building,
the foot of the mountain becomes a terraced area of
rice paddies and fields.

*The car was parked when this was taken.

The straight road cutting through the rice paddies
really builds up the feeling of
'I'm about to enter the mountain!'

Climbing up the quintessential mountain road overflowing with greenery on both sides,

climbing,

and still climbing.

The power transmission towers look so huge when seen from the mountainside...

By the way, Mount Hodatsu also straddles the border between Ishikawa and Toyama, so
it is highly likely that these towers are used for transmitting power to Toyama.

And finally,

I can see it!
It's the summit.

The summit rest area, which was reopened after renovations last month on April 23rd

The rest area at the summit of Mount Hodatsu has a rather unusual name;
people call it the 'Mountain Dragon Palace'.

I tried Googling what the 'Dragon Palace' name comes from, but
I couldn't find any likely sources.
I'm sure it was probably from a public contest or something (vague guess).

Actually, the 'Mountain Dragon Palace' rest area
had been unusable for several years
ever since a sinkhole was discovered under the floor
during renovation work in 2019.

It seems there were various challenges, such as not being able to find a contractor willing to take on the job for the renovation budget proposed by the town,
but the town hall staff managed to overcome them,
and it was successfully reopened on April 23rd.

It has become much more impressive compared to the old 'Mountain Dragon Palace'.
Above all, I was first surprised that it is a two-story structure.
(I had imagined a prefab shack—oops, how rude of me)

By the way, the old 'Mountain Dragon Palace' looked like this↓↓↓

The plaque is decorated with gold leaf and has a luxurious feel.
It was apparently made by Hakuza Co., Ltd., a major manufacturer of gold and silver leaf products in Kanazawa.

And surprisingly, it locks automatically at 6:00 PM!
There used to be a caretaker at the old 'Mountain Dragon Palace', but
the new Dragon Palace seems to operate unmanned.

You can sit on the first floor and take your time enjoying the view, or
you can go up the stairs to the second floor to enjoy the view even more.

It had been about two weeks since it opened, but
itscent of cypresswas still lingering.

A view of the observatory at the (real?) summit from the second-floor deck↓↓↓

This is the view toward Kahoku, Tsubata, and Kanazawa.
The weather was very kind on the day I climbed,
and the cool air at the summit combined with the warmth of the sunset was wonderful.

Conversely, here is the view toward Hakui City and Nomi City↓↓↓

The renovated 'Mountain Dragon Palace'
has plenty of rest spaces like benches,
making it a very relaxing place.

When I went, there were families there,
and the children were having a great time.

They were likely locals,
saying to each other, 'It's become so beautiful, hasn't it?'

If there is one inconvenience,
it might be that there are no vending machines.

Mount Hodatsu is a popular training spot
for those who enjoy cycling,
so bringing your own drinks is essential.

Today, I brought you Mount Hodatsu from the summit.
Thank you for watching until the end!

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