Caveman hikes Mt. Utsukushigahara--the Beautiful Fields. 100 Meizan, Mt. Ogato

Greetings cave dwellers.

Today I took Mrs. Caveman for a traditional Sunday drive.  My plan was not to go hiking at all.  

Honest.

The plan was to take her for a lovely lunch at a Michi No Eki near the Utsukishigahara Highlands which has a nice view.

After laboring uphill for a long time, just 100 meters of so before the pass from the south side of the Utsugushigahara to the north side--where that Michi no Eki is-- we encountered a locked gate across the road pronouncing it closed for the winter.

Happily, right next to that gate was the parking lot for the Yamamotogoya (mountain hotel)

That hotel is adjacent to the trail up to the Ogato Hotel on Mt. Ogato (王ヶ頭--"King" "Head").  

We parked there and initially planned just to walk as far as the first hotel and check it out.  The going was easy and we kept on going.  We eventually got to the highest point in the area.  Despite there being a few feet of snow on the ground and being at an elevation of over 6,000 feet we were able to do the "hike" in regular street clothes.  Everyone else was wearing snowshoes but they had packed the snow down enough in places that we could walk without sinking in.  

I truly love where we live.  The license plates on the cars in the parking lot were from places far away.  People had to spend a lot of time and money to get to someplace we're able to get to on a whim.  I'm really grateful.

It was a nice surprise of a day.  The weather was beautiful and the views were great.  Mt. Fuji even made appearances.  Not bad, considering that is about 110km away.

Take a look at the pictures below.  Maybe Mrs. Caveman will make a cameo on the blog.

Location: 

Mt. Ogato, Nagano

Starting and stopping point:  

Utsukushigahara Chohei Parking Lot

Peaks bagged: 

Mt. Ogato (王ヶ頭)

(First-time) peaks　XX

Getting there/getting around:  

I drove.  There are buses to the inns there.

Map:  

Yama to Kogen Chizu 33 YATSUGA-TAKE TATESHINA・UTSUKUSHIGAHARA・KIRIGAMINE 八ヶ岳蓼科・美ヶ原・霧ヶ峰 (If that link has died by the time you read this, try searching by copying and pasting Yama to Kogen Chizu 33 YATSUGA-TAKE TATESHINA・UTSUKUSHIGAHARA・KIRIGAMINE 八ヶ岳蓼科・美ヶ原・霧ヶ峰Mapple's website into Mapple's website.

Weather Information: 

Weather for Ogato

Total Time: 3:31  Break time:  :52 

Distance:  6.84km

Elevation:  

Lowest: 1,927 Highest: 2,034 Total Ascent: 166m  Total Descent: 166m

Technical considerations/difficulty:  

This is a pleasant walk.

Facilities:  

There are a few inns up there.  Plenty of pay toilets.  Restaurants, etc.

Thoughts/observations/recommendations:  

This is a really nice place.  It's a plateau with great panoramic vistas.  Since it's a plateau, you don't have to climb at all.  Today we just walked a few miles.  I made a longer trip here last August.  That post is here: August hike around Utsukushigahara.

Fuji

The top.

There are a lot of antennae up there.  It makes this place easy to spot from other mountains.

We had lunch at the Ogato Hotel.  The Caveman usually doesn't do store-bought food.  This was a special treat, though.

Considering lunch was at a restaurant on a mountain, the prices weren't bad.  Unlike other mountains huts, they obviously don't get their supply by helicopter.  The beef stew was ¥1,200.  ¥500 for a coffee was a bit dear, though.

That hotel actually has a shuttle bus service.  I also noticed they had a lot of snowshoes and boots for their guests to borrow.  My guess is you could go there "tebura" (Japanese for "empty-handed") and do the hiking thing.

Ogato Hotel

The range to the front and left of center is Yatsugatake.  Mt. Fuji is just to its right.  I couldn't

stop taking pictures of it.  It was so beautiful.

Yatsugatake again

This is the road closure.

On the way up the hill, long before we got to the road closure, we encountered this sign.

Basically, it says "Don't even think of going further if you don't have chains on your tires."

That gave me pause for thought--for about 10 seconds.

Thankfully, we didn't really need chains.  In bad weather, I think they might be necessary.

Well, cave cats and cave chicks.  That's all.

Check this out if you want to see a hike of this area in the green season.  There are cows and giant artworks!

Check out Kobushigatake if you want to see another of the 100 Famous Mountains.

This one where the caveman makes a snowball at the end of July is cool, too.

Until tomorrow.

Caveman out.

Caveman Hikes Mt. Naeba. 苗場山。百名山で裸で泳いだらいかがでしょうか？ Skinnydipping on yet another of the 100 Famous Mountains.

 

S'up, Cavedwellers?

Welcome back for another tour of my cave.

This time I'll show you around a bit of a famous ski resort area in Niigata Prefecture.

Mt. Naeba.  (苗場山)

Naeba, which means something like "seedling place", has several ski areas and is host to a rock festival in the summer.

Location:  

Yuzawa, Niigata

Starting and stopping point:  

Haraigawa Trailhead Parking Lot 祓川登山口駐車場

Peaks bagged: 

神楽ヶ峰 (Kaguragamine)  ~~  苗場山 (Naeba)

First-time peaks 

#825, #826

Getting there/getting around: 　

I drove.  This spot would be difficult to get to by public transportation.

Map: 

Yama to Kogen #16 Tanigawa Naeba Hotaka 谷川　苗場　武尊  If that link goes dead, try searching for "Yama to Kogen Tanigawa Naeba Hotaka 谷川　苗場　武尊" at Mapple's website.

Weather Information:

Mt. Naeba (English Site)  Mt. Naeba Weather (Japanese site)

Time 

Total Time: 5:53  Break time: :31  Distance:  13.7km

Elevation  

Lowest:  1,220 m Highest: 2,145 m Total Ascent: 1,229 m  Total Descent: 1,229 m

Technical considerations/difficulty:  

It's fairly straightforward.  It would be hard to get lost.  There are some steep spots but nothing that necessitates chains or ladders.

Facilities:  

There is water at the Wada Hut 和田小屋 and at a point on the trail by the name of　雷清水.  There is a lodge at the top that also has some food, a pay toilet and some stuff for sale.  I bought a pin badge there.

Thoughts/observations/recommendations:  

I'll have to go back on a clear day.  It was so cloudy all day that I have no idea what this place looks like!  

Today's listening:

Bible in a Year  I had several episodes to catch up on and it was great.  I started with the Messianic checkpoint overview podcast.  That's an introduction to Matthew.  That was cool.  Ever wonder what the deal is with all those begats?  Listen to that episode to get a clue.  That was posted around September 14, 2023.  Episode 259 is worth listening to also.  It's about the Sermon on the Mount.

Great Detectives of Old Time Radio  Before Dragnet, the TV series, Jack Webb appeared in Dragnet the radio series.  Even before that, he acted in the radio in a few roles as various hard-boiled characters trying to scrape by on the mean streets.  On this trip I listened to one of his performances as Jeff Regan, a private investigator show.  I love the hokiness of these old programs and the dialogue is really funny.  Think Phil Hartmann or Leslie Nielsen talking very seriously.  One of my favorite lines from yesterday was something like this; "She was pushing fifty and it showed.  She looked tired."

This is what the lay of the land was.

As I glance out the window at a beautiful blue sky while writing this blogpost, I can't help but reflect, "Why wasn't it this nice yesterday?"

The other thing on my mind is, "Why are you such an idiot?  Why did you trust googlemaps again?"

Why is it that I forgot so quickly that google's motto no longer is "Don't Be Evil."

I really should know better, but this is the second time that I trusted googlemaps to get me to the mountains and it took me somewhere I didn't want to go.  I would have been better off just committing the route to memory; I would probably have gotten there.  Instead, I unthinkingly turned on googlemaps and followed its directions.  It wasn't until the gas light turned on that I realized something was amiss.  "Gaslight?  I should have had more than enough gas.  Wait a minute, where am I? . . ." Anyway, I had been shooting for a mountain in Gunma but changed plans when I realized I'd blown by it and ended up in Niigata.  

Thank God for the car's gaslight.  It made me aware how google was gaslighting me.

At least google didn't send me into a lake so I guess they're not that  evil.

Usually on these rants, I merely digress.  Today I'm afraid that I've digressed from digression into dissing. It is 'dissing', right?  I really wish it was 'dission.'  That would sound more clever.

Anyway, here are some pictures from yesterday.  I'm sorry to say that I really don't have many good pictures because of the weather.  It was still nice to be in the woods, but it just wasn't as visually beautiful as usual.

This parking lot is about 5 km up a very narrow road from Route 17.  Small~medium cars are 1,000 yen/day.

I wonder why I took a picture of the restroom instead of the parking lot.  

Well, it was the end of a long ride.

Owada Koya/Kagura Ski Area Lift

In the morning (only) the lift operates from here, (I think.)  You can take this part of the way up the mountain and cut an hour off your hike.  It doesn't go all the way to the top and you must walk down.

Like I said, I think this is where the lift is.  There are several chair lifts and gondolas around but I wasn't interested so I didn't look that closely into it.

Much of the trail is like this.  It would be hard to get lost.

Lots of bamboo grass on these mountains.  Bear and deer both like this stuff.

I kept coming upon these scenic overlooks and was left to wonder what I was missing.

The (木のトレイル) wooden trail is long.  Much of the flora is wetland and they are protection.

This is Kaguragamine, Mt. Kagura.  If the marker wasn't there on the side of the trail, I wouldn't have thought it is a mountaintop.

Behind that marker on the side of the trail denoting Mt. Kaguragamine is a narrow path through the thick bamboo grass leading a few meters up to the top of a ridge.  It seemed like the likely spot for the actual mountain top and I wanted to take a peek and see if there was a nice view, or another marker.  

All I encountered was what I stepped in under the bamboo grass.

There are no dogs around here.  I think all I found was Yogi Bear's walkway to his restroom.

The final push up to the top is a steep slope with a climb of a few hundred meters.  It is rewarded by this view of this plateau wetland as you pop out of the trail.

Naeba Hut.

Lodging, food, pay toilets.

Note the net wrapped around the blue sheet.  It makes me nostalgic for my days doing helicopter slingload operations in the army.

I got off the mountain about 3 pm and piled myself into the car.  

You have no idea how happy I was to encounter this river on the road.  This type of swimming hole is much more to my liking than an onsen.  

This swimming hole is bellybutton deep.

Ice cold.

Perfect.

Oh yeah, that's the ticket.

And no, I will not take a picture of anything above my knees.  This is a family blog.

As a bit of a coda/epilogue, here's something I encountered on the road somewhere in Gunma.  I have no idea what it is or why it's there but it does seem fitting for the caveman's blog, doesn't it?

Well, cavedwellers, that's it for today.  Subscribe, tell your friends about me, send me wads of cash, etc.  See you later.

Caveman out.

ps  A commenter wanted a picture of the badge I bought on top of Naeba.  I'm posting here a pic of my banner listing the 100 Famous Mountains.  I pin on a badge each time I cross one of them off.  I've climbed 27 of them by now.  I'd love to do them all, but I'm not made of money and a lot of them are too far for day trips.

Still waiting for those barrels of cash for being an influencer.  How do the Kardashians do it?

Want to check out some more stuff?  How about Fuji or Kobushigatake