Hakkoda is not one mountain. It is a range of more than a dozen peaks in the middle of Aomori Prefecture, and the ropeway from the base carries you to Tamoyachi-dake in about ten minutes, which is short enough that people treat it as a viewpoint rather than a mountain. From the summit station the ground below is wetland and forest, and on a clear day the view runs to Aomori city, Mutsu Bay, the Tsugaru and Shimokita peninsulas, and Mount Iwaki standing alone to the west.

Colour arrives from late September. The prefecture gives late September through mid-October as the usual season, which is early even for northern Honshu, and the reason is height rather than latitude.

If you want to walk, the route to take is Kenashitai, a traverse of the marsh's central section: about 5.8 kilometres, two and a half to three hours, on boardwalk most of the way, past pools left behind by the peat.

By late October the first snow reports come in, and in some years the leaves and the snow are on the same slope at the same time. It is a genuinely strange sight and not one you can plan for—the mountain does not colour on your schedule, and the weather here is famous for ignoring forecasts. Pick your day in advance, go anyway, and if it closes in, the baths at Sukayu are at the bottom of the road.