Saku City in Nagano holds a hot air balloon festival for 3 days every Golden Week. It's neat! There are races between the balloons. Also, there is the chance for spectators to ride in a balloon.
I got up early to travel the few miles to the venue. I could have just stayed home and let the balloons come to me!
At night, there was a pyrotechnic display. I stayed away from the crowds and watched it from Kokuzoyama, a viewpoint above the Healthy Terrace Michi no Eki.
Starting and stopping points: Bicycle from Saku City to Ogawahara Pass. Hiking started and finished there.
Peaks bagged: Maekake 前掛山 Tateshina 蓼科山 Futago 双子山
Getting there/getting around: I used my bicycle to get to the trailhead via the Tateshina Skyline. That road is still closed to cars due to snow. I think it opens in mid-June. Many people come to Tateshina from the western side where there is a gondola nearby.
Map: Yama to Kogen Chizu 33 YATSUGA-TAKE TATESHINA・UTSUKUSHIGAHARA・KIRIGAMINE 八ヶ岳蓼科・美ヶ原・霧ヶ峰
**Please note that the publisher makes updated maps every year and therefore this link might become obsolete. If you copy and paste the Japanese characters into Shobunsha's Mapple Siteyou should be able to find the latest version.
Technical considerations/difficulty: It's not a terrifically difficult hike. Alltrails says that is moderately challenging. I guess so. The most taxing part of my day was the bike ride to the trailhead. That was 25 km riding uphill. On the hike, there are not many areas with chains or ropes. There is still quite a bit of snow on the trail. I probably should have brought my crampons. I myself am not a fan of walking poles but I saw many people putting theirs to good use descending down the snowy trail. Much of the hike is above the tree line and the ground surface is boulders or rocks. Some of the rocks are loose and you really have to watch your footing.
Facilities: There is parking and a public restroom at the pass but they aren't open for the season yet. There are a few huts (hutte) on the way. You can get a meal or some hiking stuff on the way. There is a campground by the Futago Ponds (双子池).
Thoughts/observations/recommendations: Wow. What a great start to Golden Week for 2023. I really enjoyed this trip.
I think I want to come back here in the winter some year. There is such a great 360 degree panorama. All the Alps are visible, as well as other prominent mountains. I really would like to see that on a crystal clear day.
Here are some pictures:
The bike rides
The hike
I live in Saku City, Nagano. I can see 3 of the 100 Famous Mountains from home; one of them is Mt. Tateshina. For my first assault on Tateshina, I decided to take my bicycle to the trailhead on the Tateshina Skyline. During Golden Week, there is a hot air balloon festival here in Saku and I was treated to views of the balloons from the moment I stepped out of my house.
Very cool!
The Tateshina Skyline is a really beautiful mountain road. I didn't see more than a handful of cars. There are a few farms along the way and many cottages/summer homes.
It is a loooong, unrelenting uphill slope, though. On flat ground, this ride would take me about 90 minutes. This took me nearly four hours.
This was ominous. It says "road closed ahead." I didn't see anything about road closures in my research! I decided to press on and just see what would happen.
The truth is out there.
What is this place, the Japanese Area 51?
No, it's nothing like that. That dish is a deep-space research facility called JAXA. JAXA
The road was open to cars just to there. Beyond that, they haven't opened up the Tateshina Skyline because all the snow hasn't melted yet. (99% of it has. I was fine on the bicycle.)
By the time I reached the deserted parking lot at the Ogawahara Pass, my legs were like rubber. I seriously questioned whether I could hike after that. Actually, the hike was almost less taxing.
There was more snow on the trail than I'd anticipated.
This was my first glimpse of Tateshina from the trail.
This is the Ogawahara Hut (大河原ヒュッテ). Several trails intersect here and the trail from here to the top got a bit crowded. Until this point I had only seen one or two people.
This hut (and the facility at Futago Ike) is linked here.
The top
I live in that valley.
I am a big fan of pictures like this. I just learned that there is a Japanese word, "komorebi" that means "sunlight filtering through lush, thick leaves." I love komorebi.
There are two small ponds side by side which are called 双子池 (Futago Ike)--that means Twin Ponds. There are campsites by the lake and a hut nearby. Futago ike mountain cabin 双子池ヒュッテ
The smaller of the two ponds.
Did I mention that I like komorebi?
I took this shot of Tateshina from Mt. Futago just before descending down to my bicycle.
From there, it was all downhill. Quite literally. According to my app, I burned 931 calories on the bike ride home. I doubt that very much. Gravity did all the work.
