Camping in Fukushima

For spring break I rented a car and went camping in Fukushima and Ibaraki. One good thing about Fukushima, and all of Tohoku, is the presence of good free campgrounds that don't require reservations. I particularly like free campgrounds with fewer services (e.g., no running water, pit toilets) because it keeps the party crowd away. Then you can hear the birds chirp and chill out in nature.

The first place I stayed is open year-round, but the facilities are locked in the off-season. It was an excellent pine forest campground on the shores of Lake Inawashiro. Another night I stayed at Shibayama Natural Park, which has a large grassy hill and views in all directions. Later I spent several nights at Kodama Dam.

There was some hiking. There was a cave, and then a ginormous waterfall the day after a huge rain storm, which was awesome. There was some reading and relaxing. Eastern Fukushima is not famous for outdoor activities, but it turned out there was plenty of fun stuff to do.