Caveman conquers Jonendake and surveys the Panorama Ginza

 

. . . about Jonendake

This is one of the 100 Famous Mountains listed by Yuyu Kukada.  Jonendake is on the Panorama Ginza Trail that has spectacular views of the other mountains of the Kita Alps.  Nearby is Mt. Chogatake, which is also on the Panorama Ginza.  Both mountains are served by lodges during the green seasons.  These mountains are fairly accessible year-round unlike the rest of the Kita Alps which are only accessible during non-snowy seasons without a *lot* of walking.

Area:

Jonendake, Alps, Azumino City, Nagano

Location:

Jonendake

Map:  ***The Caveman is giving up on posting links to Yama to Kogen maps.  They go out of date after a year or so and the links die.  If you want a link to their latest map, comment and I'll get you a link to their latest map of the area.

Online printable topo map of Jonendake

Starting and stopping point: 

Mimata Parking Lot

Peaks bagged: 前常念岳(Maejonendake) ~ 常念岳(Jonendake) ~ 蝶槍(Choyari) ~ 蝶ヶ岳(Chogatake) 

(First-time) peaks # 976~978

100 Famous Mountain # 46 Jonendake

Getting there/getting around:  

I drove.  The closest parking is at the 三股駐車場トイレ (Mimata Parking Lot Toilet), about 15 minutes walk from the trailhead.  There are two other parking lots further away down the road if that one is full.  

This is a real-time camera of the parking lot.

If you're coming by public transportation, the nearest train station is Toyoshina (豊科駅)Station on the Oito Line(大糸線).  A taxi will take 40-50 minutes from there.  You can also get there by taxi from Hotaka Station (穂高駅).  The rate schedule is here.  That taxi company does have an English page but the rate schedule is in Japanese.

The road from the Holiday Yu to the Mimata Parking Lot closes at the end of November.  It is possible to hike to these mountains from the Holiday Yu but it is an additional 8 km.  I don't think that would make a day trip feasible at tall.  Taxis are available to the Holiday Yu by the same taxi company linked above.  It's much cheaper to go only to the Holiday Yu.

Helpful Info

Weather Information: 

Japanese forecast for nearby Jonendake

Mountain-forecast.com forecast (English)

Time and distance

Total Time: 11:00  Break time: 1:04  Distance:  16.5 km

Elevation:  Lowest: 1,278 m Highest: 2,857 m Total Ascent: 2,086 m  Total Descent: 2,086 m

Technical considerations/difficulty:  

It's steep.  There aren't too many ropes, chains or ladders but there are a lot of boulders and there are many places where you need both hands and feet to climb.  Much of this hike is above the tree line so it's imperative to have protection from the wind.

It's not easy to make time so be prepared for a long day.  I generally move faster than most people but I still averaged only about one mile per hour on this hike.  It is tiring too, so I rested longer than usual.  

The majority of people come to this area for a two-day trip and stay at one of the local lodges such as Jonen Goya Lodge or the Chogatake Lodge (蝶ヶ岳ヒュッテ) .  If you want to do the whole Panorama Ginza (from Mt. Tsubakuro to Chogatake), it's a 3-4 day trip.

Facilities:  

Toilets at all the parking lots.  Bring water (not for the toilets, for drinking.  😉)

Thoughts/observations/recommendations: 

They say revenge is a dish best served cold.  It is true in this case.  I was thwarted in my first attempt at Jonendake but I was able to get my revenge in the snow.

I am so glad I was able to bang this out on the last weekend the road was open.  I was able to get some great views of the Alps and play a little in the snow before it gets too deep.

I had tried shooting for Jonendake a few months ago but turned back at Maejonen.  I had camped at the Susado Campground the night before and it just poured all night long.  I got a late start in the morning after cleaning up my wet camping gear.  On the hike, the weather went bad again so I turned back.  I realized from that experience that an early start was imperative for this hike.  The funny thing is that this time I started from home and was on the trail 2-3 hours earlier than I was in the summer.  Of course, that meant getting up at 3:30 am.  😔

This is about 6 minutes long.  That's a lifetime in our ADHD world.

Here are some pictures.

So, in the middle of the night, I bent over to look at my foot as I slipped it into my pants leg to see this situation. 

Don't tell Mrs. Caveman.  She'd be scandalized if she knew I still decided to wear these pants for the day.   In the dark, it didn't look this bad.  Also, I was not anticipating seeing more than 5~10 people at most all day, anyway.  And besides, I wear bullet-proof underwear.

Speaking of Mrs. Caveman, she really does have woman's intuition.  She's been asking me for the past few weeks if a new pair of hiking pants wouldn't be a bad Christmas present.  

I had been telling her that I was ok on the hiking pants front.  On this particular morning, I starting thinking I should change my mind.

On top of the draft in the rear, I managed to rip a hole in the knee on the trail that day, too.  

That settles it.  I know what I need to ask Mrs. Claus for Christmas.

Enough about me.  I'm sure you'd rather see some pictures of the mountains.

I was worried about the weather.  The weather forecasts I'd looked at all conflicted.  Even though it was a crisp, clear starry sky at home when I left, I encountered clouds and rain on the way.  Thankfully the mountains had only gotten snow.  

What a pleasant start to the day.

The first peak, Mt. Maejonen.

I think these are from Ptarmigan.  (Thunderbirds)

Looking down on the Jonen Lodge

The top of Jonen

From Jonen to Chogatake, I was almost alone.  There was another hiker close behind me (I hope he wasn't looking at my butt) but nobody had preceded me.  It was nice to walk on fresh snow.

The ridge to Chogatake

Mt. Choyari

Choyari means butterfly-spear

🎵The hills are alive 🎶

The top of Chogatake

Campsite by the Chogatake Lodge.

This was 2 pm.  It was 20 degrees f (about -5 degrees C).  I imagine these people had a long, cold day and night ahead of them since all their hard work was already done for the day.

I finished about 5:30--after sunset.  I got to use my headlamp.

That's all for today.

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If you want to see more of the Kita Alps, check out my hike around Kamikochi and Hotaka.💯💯💯

Caveman Conquers 💯 Famous Mountain fame Nishi Azuma, questions life decisions on the way 😉

 

Greeting Cavekids

This is a report on Mt. Azuma of 100 Famous Mountains Fame

. . .  about Mt. Azuma (Nishiazuma)  吾妻山（西吾妻山）

This is one of the mountains that appears in Kyuya Fukada's book, 100 Mountains of Japan.  It's in the Urabandai area of Fukushima.  Mt. Bandai had a massive eruption in 1888 that killed 477 people, erased several villages from the map and created several new lakes.  To the south of Mt. Bandai is the massive lake, Lake Inawashiro.  The north side, the back or "ura" of the Bandai area, is home to several smaller lakes and marshes.  This was my fourth or fifth trip to the area.  It's quite far, but it's very special.

There are several peaks along the Azuma mountains but the most popular ones are to the east.  Nishi ("West") Azuma is the one listed as part of the 100 Famous Mountains.  I don't understand why.  There is no view from the summit at all and it seems not so exciting.  Then again, I was there on a cloudy day and was robbed of seeing much of anything.  (again)

Area:

Location:

Urabandai area on the border between Fukushima and Yamagata.

Map:  ***The Caveman is giving up on posting links to Yama to Kogen maps.  They go out of date after a year or so and the links die.  If you want a link to their latest map, comment and I'll get you a link to their latest map of the area.  Check this out: Online Interactive Topo map

Starting and stopping point: 　早稲沢登山口 Wasezawa Trailhead

Peaks bagged: Nishi Daiten and Nishi Azuma

(First-time) peaks # 946 and 947

100 Famous Mountain #40, Mt. Nishi Azuma

Getting there/getting around:  

I drove.  The last kilometer or so to the trailhead is quite bumpy.

Helpful Info

Weather Information: Azuma (Nishi Azuma) Weather

Time and distance

Total Time:  7:56 Break time:  :41 Distance:  12.3 km

Elevation:  Lowest: 1,008 m  Highest: 2,035 m Total Ascent: 1,296 m  Total Descent: 1,296 m

Technical considerations/difficulty:  

Do not go on this trail without a working GPS.  The trail is not marked at all and is exceedingly difficult to find.

There are no exposed areas, ropes or chains but several of the wooden bridges crossing the river are old, slimy and very slippery.

There are many fallen trees.

Facilities:  

There is an emergency hut not far from the peak of Mt. Nishi Azuma.  It is a sturdy hut, but there is no restroom.

There is a public restroom at the trailhead but it is out of order.

Thoughts/observations/recommendations:  

Whatever you do, don't do this.  😆  By all means, check out Nishi Azuma, but use a different trail than I did.  I recommend attacking it from the east side.

(Note that this picture is oriented with north to the bottom.)

OK, let's gather around the fire and I'll tell the tale.

So there I was on point going through the elephant grass and the jungle.  I was exhausted mentally and physically.  Physically from the struggle of having to thrash my way through lush vegetation every step of the way; like some kind of explorer of the Amazon.  I almost expected to step into a clearing and hear "Dr. Livingston, I presume."  Mentally I was tired from the strain of concentrating hard to stay on course when I couldn't see more than 1 yard in each direction and from the knowledge that an ambush or a boobytrap could be encountered at any time.

Anyway, that's what I felt like for much of this hike.  I was experiencing a kind of second-hand ptsd I guess.  

We'll get to that later.

First, this is the trailhead.  Note the traffic cone.  That is worthy of talking about later.

The first half hour or so of this hike was along a pleasant stream with lots of falls to photograph.  I liked that.  I'm a big fan of running water.

The flora is pretty cool, too.  There are a variety of mushrooms I encountered.

Just around this part of the hike, I started questioning my choice in hobbies.

For the next several hours, the "trail" was like this.

Actually, those were from the best sections of the trail.  I needed both hands and feet to move so didn't take many pictures.

Usually a trail is, well, a trail.  At a minimum, they are marked with pink ribbons in Japan to help you navigate.  This trail has very few ribbons and, due to the density of the bamboo grass, they aren't visible until you are right on top of them.

This video is of one of the easiest-to-navigate portions of the trail because my hands were free to hold my iphone.

I didn't take many pictures on that part of the journey also because, well, because I wanted to forget it ever happened.  I honestly reflected that if that happened to be my first hiking experience, I would have picked a different hobby!

That bamboo grass is really sturdy.  You can't just break your way through it.  You have to part your way through it.  

The footing situation is quite nerve-wracking and tedious, too.  You have to be very careful to part the bamboo grass so as to see what you're stepping on.  It might be level ground, or it might be a deep hole.

One mile of this trail took me one and a half hours (X2 because I had to go back through it!)  On flat ground, I walk a mile in 19-20 minutes.

OK, let's get to some more pleasant pictures.  Let's go back to the happy place.  The fall leaves are a little late this year, but there were some pretty ones.

Just after finally escaping the bamboo grass, I popped out at the summit of Mt. Nishi Daiten.

From there, the next destination was Mt. Nishi Azuma

This is the type of trail most people hiking around Nishi Azuma spend their time on.  This is a horse of a completely different color.

I skipped the summit of Nishi Azuma to head to the first scenic spot, Tengu Iwa.

Tengu Iwa

Not sure what this is or what it says, but what caught my attention was that it was inscribed in　昭和４３年, the 43rd year of the Emperor Showa.  That happens to be the year I was born.

I never did meet the emperor.  His son, the present emperor was quite an alpinist before he ascended to the throne and had to start his job of emperoring.  I've never met this emperor either, but I do encounter his picture or dedicated monuments at many of the mountains I visit.  

Poor dude isn't allowed to hike anymore.

He is greatly to be pitied.

"This.  THIS is the top of the mountain I struggled to get to???" is what I thought when I got to the top.

Obviously Fukada san didn't pick this mountain as one of the 100 for the views from its summit.

Before long after the summit, it was back into the bamboo grass for the descent.  This was even more nerve-wracking because gravity was conspiring against me trying to make me fall and/or twist an ankle.

I learned in the 'Nam that most bad stuff happens on the way back from missions.

OK, maybe I didn't learn that there, but I know it to be true.

I consoled myself with the pretty leaves, though.

Getting back to the trailhead was when I first noticed the traffic cone.  Even though I was never a boy scout, I decided it was my duty to right it.

After I put the cone up, everything became clear.  That little brown sign (not the dark brown sign--that merely says "Watch out for bears")--that little brown sign says "土砂崩れのために通行できません."--"Closed due to landslides."

No wonder.  

There's a lesson to be learned in this, probably.  I did my internet recon using my hiking apps.  They almost always have updated info on trail closures.  I guess not always!

Anyway, at least I got to bag another of the 100 Famous Mountains and got safely home to Mrs. Caveman.  It was a successful day.

That's all for now.

I have to go and write about the adventure I had on another of the 100 Famous mountains the day after this trip.  While I am gone, why don't you take a look at a write-up on Mt. Bandai?  It's one of my very favorite mountains.  Before you do that, though, make sure to subscribe to this blog.  Leave a comment.  Tell your friends, etc.

Caveman out