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For my last mountain on my swing through Tohoku, I climbed Mt. Hayachine. It was the 6th excursion in about 10 days, the 4th excursion in as many days. What a great trip. What a great mountain.

I am going for another trek this afternoon, so this post will be abbreviated.😃

. . . about Mt. Hayachine

At 1,917 m it is the second highest mountain in Iwate and the highest in this range. It's on the list of 100 Famous Mountains. It lies on the boundaries of Tono, Hanamaki and Miyako Cities in Iwate.

It's home to 200 species of mountain flowers.

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 of this area.

Starting and stopping point:

Kawaharanobo Parking Lot 河原の坊駐車場

Beward of Bears

Bear Information kumamap

Peaks bagged:

(First-time) peaks # 1,139~1,140

100 Famous Mountain #65

Getting there/getting around:

I drove. There is parking at the Kawaranobo Parking Lot. The only trailhead open now is the Odagoe so you must walk uphill 2 km before actually starting the hike.

There are restrictions on the road between June and August 2. During the restricted time, there is a shuttle bus. See Hanamaki City's page for more information.

Helpful Info

Weather Information:

Tenkura (Japanese)

Mountain Forecast.com (English)

Time and distance

YAMAP's Estimate Time: 6:08 Distance: 11 km

The Caveman did it in: Total Time: 4:50 Break time: :26 Distance: 11.2 km

Elevation: Lowest: 1,040 m Highest: 1,917 m Total Ascent: 969 m Total Descent: 969 m

Technical considerations/difficulty:

Steep. Some chains and ladders. A lot of this is above the treeline.

Facilities:

They really want you to carry a portable toilet.

There is an emergency hut at the top.

There are portapotties at the trailhead.

There are no commercial enterprises nearby. Get food and water well in advance of getting to the mountain.

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

Bandaids, disinfectant, etc. I have almost never needed anything from my first aid kit, but I'm glad I have it. I used a lot of cotton swabs on the hole in my head to staunch the bleeding. If I didn't have them, I would have had to ruin a t-shirt or something.

Pictures

This was taken from the road.

Unfortunately, I didn't get many chances to take a clear shot of the whole mountain.

Things were really pleasant . . .

. . . until I slammed my forehead into a low branch.

Who knew there was so much blood in the forehead? It was just pouring out, and I needed to wash my shirt and bandage my cranium before I could move on.

The wound is actually at my hairline, where I part my hair. It had just bled down to my eyebrow.

Truth in advertising, it hurt you more to look at this than it hurt me to experience it. It was just enough of a cut to bleed. I didn't even bump my head.

My brother commented on this pic, "Is that the face of someone you'd want to teach your child?"

Wisea#!

Someone else said I looked like Ryu from Streetfighter. I don't know who that is, but I'm sure he's a badass handsome devil.

Thoughts/observations/recommendations:

Do pay attention to your compatriots on the trail. It's most common for people to watch out for each other on the trails here. When we meet people in the mountains here, we usually ask each other about where we started and where we're going. I didn't realize it at first, but this isn't idle small talk. We're really interrogating each other in case something goes wrong and someone disappears. We gather that information with an eye to each other's safety if the information is ever needed.

When I was bleeding on the trail the other day, two young boys blew by me oblivious to the life-giving bodily fluid rapidly spurting out of my body. They gave me a super cheerful greeting and went right on. It really torqued me off. I am sure they didn't mean to be so callous. They were just clueless because of immaturity.

A few minutes later, I caught up with them and they tried to make conversation and asked me to take selfies with them. I don't think they had any idea why I gave them the cold shoulder.

Later on, I met someone on the trail and as we were chatting, I told him about the cut. He immediately offered some disinfectant and a bandaid. (I refused both because I'd already applied both on my own.) This is more of what I've come to expect and appreciate in the mountains here.

The top

Emergency Hut

Shuttle bus schedule in the hut

So many flowers

When people saw my bleeding noggin, they assumed I fell off this ladder.

I was tempted to let them keep believing that.

I took the spur over to Mt. Kengamine from here.

It was tedious. I like adding peaks to my count, so I was ok with it. I'd skip it if you

don't care about your peak count.

On the return from this trip, I didn't need an onsen because this river was handy.

Man, it was cold, though!

And there were horseflies.

I bought this rather expensive treat at a convenience store in the middle of nowhere on my way back. Man, everything there was expensive. I don't know how the locals get by.

I bought this because it is called oyaki. Oyaki is a local delicacy of our corner of Nagano.

This was different, though. It was ok. This is like anpan.

That's it for today.

If you are interested in Iwate, why not check out my report on Mt. Iwate?

Before I say goodbye . . .

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100 Famous Mountain, Mt. Hayachine in Iwate