. . . about Mt. Yakedake
This mountain is the southernmost peak in Japan's Northern Alps (Kita Alps). It's the only active volcano in the Northern Alps. There are two peaks, north and south. The southern peak is slightly higher than the northern but is off-limits because the trail is in bad shape.
As it is not as high or remote as the rest of the Alps, Yakedake is do-able as a one-day hike. It is a beautiful hike. I think. I didn't see too much because of clouds.
Area:
The Northern Alps, AKA Hida Sanmyaku, are known as the roof of Japan and are home to several of the tallest mountains in the country. Nearby Kamikochi is kind of a Mecca for Japanese hikers.
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.
Starting and stopping point: 焼岳登山者駐車場 Yakedake Tozanmono Chuushajo Parking Lot
Peaks bagged: 焼岳 Yakedake
(First-time) peaks #1,051
100 Famous Mountain peak #53
Getting there/getting around:
I drove. You can get there by public transportation, but it's a 6 or 7 hour trip from Tokyo. If you're taking public transportation, this mountain is slightly more accessible from Kamikochi. Get to Matsumoto on the shinkansen and take the bus to Kamikochi from there. Even that's a 5 or 6 hour trip, though.
Helpful Info
Weather Information:
Time and distance
YAMAP's Estimate Time: 7:24 Distance: 9.5 km
The Caveman did it in Total Time: 5:36 Break time: :40 Distance: 10.6 km
Elevation: Lowest: 1,154 Highest: 2,544 m Total Ascent: 1,327 m Total Descent: 1,327 m
Technical considerations/difficulty:
Nothing too difficult. No chains. Only one or two spots with ropes. The final ascent is a bit of a scramble but nothing too hairy. It is a fair change in elevation so it might be challenging for a beginner, but not crazy.
There are bears in the area and the Yakedake Hut posted information on recent sightings in the immediate area.
Facilities:
Porta-potty at the parking lot. There is a mountain hut selling t-shirts and snacks. Meals are available for the guests. Yakedake Hut's website
Thoughts/observations/recommendations:
Yet once again, the weather report was bad. Thankfully, the weather wasn't as bad as the forecast. It was not clear for most of the day, though. I need to look at the internet for pictures of Yakedake to know what it looks like!
(Along with all the regular stuff such as maps, headlamps, boots, feet, and brains, . . .) don't forget:
Your wits and something to discourage bears. Bear spray is a good idea.
Let's look at some pictures.
Here's a short animation...
And a longer video . . .
Interesting stuff growing on a fallen tree trunk.
"White Water Falls"
The aforementioned falls
"1 km to the volcano"
At the Yakedake Hut
I have seen so many signs warning of bears in my
time here but never anything so specific or so local
to the area I was in.
The Yakedake Hut
The lady here was really nice and made
a point to ask me about my plans.
This is what it's like walking around a volcano.
At some points along this hike, the temperature went up
as I passed something like this.
The top
I'd like to find out what kind of bird this is.
Do any of you know?
Kamikochi is down there.
I was the last one here at around 2:45. I was glad to find that parking wasn't a problem.
This guy wasn't on the mountain. He was down below in the onsen area.
This is the Shinhotaka no Yu Rotenburo
It is a public, co-ed outdoor bath next to the Gamada River.
The Caveman let loose his wrath a bit on an old guy at this outdoor bath. That dude is lucky I didn't have a club with me.
Mrs. Caveman is quite modest and doesn't do the public nudity thing so she's never been to an onsen. She'd like to try an onsen, but we've had to find one where everyone is clothed in order for her to do it.
In researching this area, we found this onsen that is for never-nudes like my wife.
(I suppose Tobias Funke would like it, too.)
Well, when we got to the bath, there were 5 people in it. 2 white women were in there in their bathing suits and 3 middle-aged Japanese guys were there in their birthday suits.
The sign clearly says bathing suits are mandatory (in Japanese as well as English).
Mrs. Caveman decided to give the bath a pass and walked to wait for me by the side of the river while I took a dip. After I'd gotten out and changed, I walked to retrieve my bride. Just about the same time, one of the naked guys also got out of the bath, left the rotenburo area and also started to walk to the river.
Still totally naked.
My wife, basically was hiding behind a rock in mortification at this dude that was walking toward her.
I gave him a piece of my mind. While pointing at his naughty bits I said in fairly rough Japanese, "Could you hide that thing? !?! There are signs here saying that you must be clothed!"
You can imagine he reacted as if he was Chris Rock to my Will Smith.
(That's not saying I wasn't more justified than Will Smith.)
At first, he was almost apologetic. I said a few more things to him and escorted my bride away. He started to mumble and complain behind my back as we left but I felt it best to just ignore him.
It was kind of ironic. These days Japan is really suffering from over-tourism and is stressed that a lot of the foreigners are flouting the rules of Japanese society. In this case, though, it was the foreigner telling the native to follow the rules.
More monkeys. This is an abandoned resort building. It's been taken over by the monkeys.
That's it for now.
If you want to see more of the Northern Alps, check out one of these hikes.
Thank you for your attention to this matter.
Caveman out.
