Mostly Japanese Mountains: Bucolic spring hike in Nagano. Mt. Mitsumine and Mt. Chausu. Famous mountains galore.

S'up?

Long-time, no-see.

This Caveman has not blogged in a while. I've been hiking, just not anywhere worth telling you about. I've been spending a lot of time hiking places that have been on the blog before.

This past weekend, though, I got to a trail I've had my eye on all winter as I waited for the road to open up.

I hiked the portion of the Mt. Kirigamine/Utsukushigahara Central Divide Trail (霧ヶ峰/美ヶ原中央分水嶺トレイル) between Mt. Mitsumine and Mt. Chausu.

. . . about the Mt. Kirigamine/Utsukushigahara Central Divide Trail (霧ヶ峰/美ヶ原中央分水嶺トレイル)

This trail is 38 km long. I guess it's like North America's Continental Divide because any raindrop that falls on the north side of the trail will drain into the Sea of Japan, and any raindrop that falls to the south will drain into the Pacific.

All of the trail is great! It doesn't have that much change in elevation, so much of the trail is snowshoeable in winter. It has two of Japan's 100 Famous Mountains along it and the trail offers views of Yatsugatake, Mt. Fuji, the Southern, Central and Northern Alps, Mt. Asama, and some of the mountains of Tochigi, Gunma and Saitama.

Area:

Between Nagawacho and Matsumoto City in Nagano Prefecture.

Location:

Map: ***If you want a link to the latest Yama to Kogen map, comment and I'll get you a link. This link is to a printable topo map centered of the Tobira Pass.

Starting and stopping point:

Tobira Pass Parking Lot 扉峠駐車場　　

n.b. The road here is closed from November to April.

Peaks bagged: Mt. Mitsumine (三峰山)* Not sure why it got this name, but it literally means "Three Peak Mountain." ~ Mt. Chausu (茶臼山)* "Chausu" seems to refer to a sort of mill or grinder used for making matcha tea. The mountain's shape resembles one of these. It's a very common mountain name. There are supposedly 200 peaks with this name in Japan.

(First-time) peaks # ---

Getting there/getting around: I parked at the Tobira Pass Parking Lot on the Venus Skyline. This road is not open in winter.

Helpful Info

Weather Information:

Tenkura (Japanese)

Mountain Forecast dot com for nearby Ogato Hotel

Time and distance

YAMAP's Estimate Time: 5:32 Distance: 10.1 km

The Caveman did it in: Total Time: 4:53 Break time: :54 Distance: 11.8 km

Elevation: Lowest: 1,601m Highest: 2,006 m Total Ascent: 1,033 m Total Descent: 1,033 m

Technical considerations/difficulty:

Nothing especially difficult or dangerous. The trail is well-marked. There are no ropes, chains, or ladders. The hike from the parking lot up to Chausu is a bit steep, but not too bad.

Facilities:

The parking lot has portapoddies. The restaurant there is out of business. I snuck behind it to catch the view. (It was 👌 nice.) 😊 Be careful if you go back there, though. I managed to fall into a drain pipe back there. I stepped on its cap and it shattered. It must brittle be because it's so old. If you hike in winter, you can probably understand when I say it was the same sensation as when one foot breaks through the top crust of snow and you sink in up to your crotch. There's a picture below.

Thoughts/observations/recommendations:

I'm glad I did this. These are lovely mountains and the hike allows for some really great views. I have been on both mountains I summited before but this enabled me to connect the dots with past hikes. Now I can trace my footsteps in an unbroken line to the far side of the Utsukushigahara Plateau.

(Along with all the regular stuff such as maps, headlamps, boots, feet, and brains, . . .) don't forget:

to watch your step always.

Let's look at some pictures.

The reason I chose this particular route is that I needed to connect the dots of past hikes. Several months ago, I took this picture after I'd passed Mt. Mitsumine from Mt. Futatsu.

I had been to both mountains, but wanted to walk the trail between them or I would never feel complete in life.

The red circle represents the area between the two mountains.

I had to wait all winter before I could make this hike because the road is closed from November to April.

By the way, the mountains to the north of Chausu are the Utsukushigahara ("Beautiful Plateau"). They really are beautiful.

This is what my map looks like now after the hike.

Now I can sleep at night.

This is what the hike looked like.

I started near the midpoint between the two mountains at the Tobira Pass Parking Lot where this defunct restaurant stands. Even though it is closed, I couldn't help but sneak around the back to take advantage of the viewing point it boasted of.