Lake Aoki [青木湖]
Lake Aoki is a lake in Omachi city and is located about 45 km north of Matsumoto city.
It is about 1.7 km from north to south and 1.4 km from east to west.
The mean water depth is 29 meters and the depth of the deepest point is 58 meters.
The water is very clear, and the clarity of the lake is highly placed on the list of all lakes in Japan.
Honshu Island including Nagano Prefecture of Japan has the great fault line separating eastern and western Japan.
It runs through Nagano Prefecture from north to south.
Lake Aoki has been formed just on the fault line, and there are Lake Nakatsuna and Lake Kizaki to the south and on the same fault line.
So they are valuable from a geomorphological standpoint.
Basically, the eastern ground of the fault line continues pushing the western ground.
So steep Northern Alps, Central Alps and Southern Alps have been formed on the west side along the fault line.
Around the lake, there are some ski areas.
And there are some camp sites on the western lakeside.
It is calm, and has a beautiful views of the mountains of Northern Alps.
How to get here
From Matsumoto yo Yanaba station, by local train of JR Oito Line, about 1 hours 5 to 30 minutes.
Yanaba station is just in front of Lake Nakatsuna, walk for about 900 meters to Lake Aoki.
