By car from Tokyo: Take the Shuto Expressway to the Chuo Expressway and exit at the Suwa I.C. Then follow the signs to the Venus Line roadway and take that from Kirigamine. Take the Kan-Etsu Expressway to the Joshin-Etsu Expressway and exit at the Tobu-Yunomaru I.C. Then follow the signs to Route 81 and Route 152 via Takeshi.
By train from Tokyo: Take the Azusa or Super Azusa Limited-Express train (JR) from Shinjuku Station. Get off at Matsumoto Station and take a bus or a taxi along the Venus Line road via Tobiratoge. (The bus runs only in summer) ** I stole these directions from the museum's web site. I hope they don't mind!
Elevation:Lowest: 1,930m Highest: 2,034m Total Ascent: 547m Total Descent: 544m
Technical considerations/difficulty: Anyone can do this walk. Most of the trails are gravel roads along cow pastures. There are no ropes, chains or anything strenuous. Much of this plateau is actually traversed by buses ferrying people between the main street and hotels on the plateau. I walked over ten miles today and don't feel like I did anything more strenuous than going to 7-11.
Facilities: A large outdoor museum. Utsukushigahara Outdoor Museum The michino eki has a restaurant and gift shops. There are also two lodging facilities which have their own restaurants and gift shops.
Thoughts/observations/recommendations:
"Utsukushigahara" means "Beautiful Field." This area lives up to its name.
What a great place this is. I'll have to go back when it's not cloudy. 😭
Although this plateau is a very easy walk, it has commanding views of each quadrant of the compass. Unfortunately, you don't get to take in those views on cloudy days. I will most definitely be going back here someday when it's nice.
It turns out that I logged my 800th peak on this hike. I think my climbing app stops counting at 1,000. Maybe I'll slow down a bit when I reach that number.
It is kind of neat to look back at where I've been. I can trace my footsteps from Nagano to Tokyo Station, from there to the Izu Peninsula, from there to--and up--Mt. Fuji. I can also trace my path around all of the 5 Lakes of Mt. Fuji. Today, when I was manipulating google earth to take a screenshot, I was a bit surprised to see all these green triangles appear when I took a long view from this area toward the south. Each one of the triangles represents a peak I've been on.
Enough about me. Let me show you some pictures from my day. 😆
The trail goes by, but not through, the open-air museum. That museum looks cool, actually. I don't know art, but I know if I like something. I liked this place. Most outdoor art makes me think, "This 'artist' should get a job." These installations made me think, "Wow. Good job."
There are a LOT of cows up there.
Fun fact, they eat bamboo grass.
This poor cow looks different than all the others. His only friends seem to be humans. I hear they don't even let him join in any bovine games.
Last week, when I was on Kirigamine (AKA Mt. Kuruma), I spotted these antennae and thought they looked cool. I didn't realize at the time that they are atop one of the 100 Meizan.
The Ogato Hotel is right next to the top of Mt. Ogato. (What a coincidence.) They have a restaurant and gift shop. Nice place.
The top of Mt. Ogato (AKA Utsukushigahara)
Ogato (王ヶ頭) translates to "King"~"Head." That word for head often is used to denote a mountaintop. eg, Tokyo's Mt. Mito (三頭山) means "Three-headed mountain."
This is on the top of the next peak, Mt. Ogahana.
Ogahana (王が鼻) means "King"~"nose." Supposedly, if you look up at the plateau from a particular area, the peak of Ogato looks like the crowned head of a king and this peak looks like his nose.
Cool, huh?
This plaque bummed me out. Around the circumference are all the mountains you could see there if it was clear.
Since I drove up here, I easily forgot how high it is. The way these trees have been shaped by the wind reminded me that this must be a rough place in inclement weather. It it the highest point around for quite a ways so it much catch a lot of extreme weather.
