February Hike in the Tanzawa Range

Saturday, February 20, 2021

The Tanzawa Range in Kanagawa is not as convenient for me to get to as the mountains of Okutama are. Nor is the commute as pleasurable. If I want, I can take my bicycle to Okutama and 99.9% of the trip is through the woods. Going to Kanagawa usually entails train trips with multiple transfers and a longer trip than I would prefer. Even though it's only 31 km (just under 20 miles for my compatriots in America) from my home in a straight line to Mt Tanzawa, there is no direct route.

That said, I like to run down there from time to time because I can see the main mountains in profile from my place. It's an easy way to create a pleasant memory to hike somewhere that I can look back at on an average Tuesday and say, "I've been there." I do that a lot from work. Shhh.

A specific reason for this trip is that on one of my hikes down there I bought some swag that I need to justify. I don't buy a lot of swag, but when I climb one of the mountains on the list of Japan's 100 Famous Mountains, I buy a badge or towel or something. When I climbed Tanzawa, I bought the t-shirt below. The problem is, that there are other mountains on it. Until I climbed every mountain on the shirt, I felt like I was stealing valor. So, to justify my purchase of this t-shirt, I have traveled down to the area 4 or 5 times and plodded something like 50 miles through the wilderness to hit every peak on the shirt.

Well worth every blister and frost-bitten digit. I love this t-shirt.

I never realized it until I took this picture but the caption at the top says "Tanzawa Yuujin." I had to look up yuujin. It means something like "man of leisure" or, even better "playboy." I approve.

I am a Tanzawa Yuujin.

On to the rest of the pictures. This is the path I took. I started at Hadano Station by taking a 45-minute bus ride to Yabitsu Toge (Yabitsu Pass). It was crowded. They sent two buses and I was standing in the back of the second bus.

I'm not going to explain anything about the rest of the pictures. They're pretty self-explanatory. There were too many good views of Fuji. I'm sorry if I've put too many. It is just so beautiful. The only regret of the day was that the sea wasn't too visible. Sagami Bay is only about 20km away and is usually more visible.