100 Meizan Akadake and 5 other peaks of the Yatsugatake Range

Location:  Mt. Akadake, Yatsugatake

Starting and stopping point:   Somazoeone Tozanshayo Parking Lot Uminokuchi, Minamimaki, Nagano 384-1302

Peaks bagged: 　横岳:（三叉峰）,（無名峰）,（奥ノ院）〜石尊峰 〜　地蔵ノ頭　〜　赤岳(八ヶ岳）

Getting there/getting around:  You can get to the parking lot by taxi from the Koumi Line.  It's about a 20-minute ride.  There are parking two parking areas near the Somozoe Ridge trail.  When those lots filled, people parked along the street.  There were about 20 cars.  It's a residential area, so be careful not to park in front of any of the brown signs that say 「私有地に付き立ち入り禁止」.  Cars not parked in front of those signs seemed not to bother the locals.

Map:  Yama to Kogen Chizu 33 YATSUGA-TAKE TATESHINA・UTSUKUSHIGAHARA・KIRIGAMINE 八ヶ岳 蓼科・美ヶ原・霧ヶ峰

Weather Information: Akadake Weather (English) Another Report for Akadake (Japanese)

Total Time: 8:02  Break time: 32  Distance:  12.7 km

Elevation:  Lowest:  1,755m Highest: 2,899.4m  Total Ascent:  1,515m Total Descent: 1,515m 

Technical considerations/difficulty:  I recall meeting someone from the Yatsugatake area on Kumotori-san (Tokyo's highest point) once.  Their comment about their stomping grounds was, "If you can do this, you can hike the Yatsugatake mountains."  That said, I'm reminded of a mountain youtuber's video I saw in which he said, "This is the hardest mountain I've ever climbed."  (I'd be lying if I said that didn't boost my ego.)

Everything is relative.

This hike was a bit challenging.  There are lots of steep parts and a lot of chains, ropes and ladders.  I was up and down in less than 8 hours but I do note that afterward my ankles felt like I'd been on a much longer excursion.  

There are several parts where using hands is as necessary as using feet to scramble over boulders but, it is all relative.  I didn't find any part of this trip frightening.

I did note that I encountered no young children or pets on this hike.  There were also far fewer grandmotherly types than usual.

The trail wasn't particularly hard to follow.

Facilities:  

There is a mountain hut below the peak that was open.  There is lodging, pay toilets, etc. there.  No tent area, though.  There's also a hut on top but it was buttoned up tightly.  I don't know if it's still in business.

Thoughts/observations/recommendations:

I'm glad I was there early.  I started just before 5 and my parking lot was already full.  Also, I beat most of the crowds.  I got back to my car around 1 and encountered a lot of people on the last leg. 

I wish it had been a picture-perfect day, but it could have been worse.  As it turns out, I'm glad I got out on this particular day because the rainy season kicked off with a vengeance the very next day.  I live in the area now and plan to hike all of the Yatsugatake mountain range.  There will be great views to be had in the future.

Without further ado, here are some pictures.

Just a few minutes up the trail is a spot called Fujimi Iwa ("Fuji See Boulder").  I call false advertising.  

At least on this particular morning.

I like rocks.  There are a lot of rocks here.  I am happy.

Yokodake Okunoin

石尊峰　Mt. Sekisonho

This pile of rocks looks like hardened lava.

The top of Akadake.

The parking lot at the end of the day was considerably more full than when I started out.

FYI, there are portapotties in this parking lot--and then none more to be seen until the mountain hut.

Today's listening:

 Bible in a Year

Fighting Through From Dunkirk to Hamburg  This podcast is a real labor of love by one Brit about his dad's service in WWII and other un-published WWII histories.  It's really amazing. 

Old Love. A sturdy couple in its golden years. Jiji and Baba Iwa.

Greetings cave crawlers and spelunkers of all ages.  Welcome back for another adventure.  This time our hero-🦸‍♀️ (Mine, too.  I am not much but I'm all I think about.)--like I was saying, our hero ducked over the prefectural lines for a hike in Gunma.  Actually it was up one of Gunma's 100 Famous Mountains--Mt. Mido (御堂山).  Here are the stats and details.

Location:  Gunma Prefecture, Shimonita

Starting and stopping point:  Mt. Mido Trailhead (御堂山登山口)

Peaks bagged: Mt. Mido and Mt. Amemiya 御堂山　雨宮山

Getting there/getting around:  I drove but there is a bus stop here.  You can get more information about the buses at this link.  Shimonita Municipal Bus info  That page is in Japanese but does have a link to automatic translation.

Map:  Yama to Kogen Chizu #21 西上州　妙義山・荒船山

Weather Information: Mt. Arafune's weather (not too far away)

Total Time:  4:18 Break time: 32  Distance:  9.4 km

Elevation:  Lowest: 340m Highest:  879 m Total Ascent: 805   Total Descent: 805 m

Technical considerations/difficulty:  

It's not high but there are a lot of steep parts.  There is quite a bit of climbing up and down through streams.  Slipping and falling are to be avoided like the plague.  Beware of leeches.  I'm glad I had a shaker full of salt with me.  It's a great leech repellant.  

You need to have a good nose for the trail as it isn't always marked so well.  The trail I came down wasn't the greatest.  It is a dotted-line trail (ie, not used much) on the map.  It was slow going because I had to pick my way down the stream.  

Even when the stream ended and the trail joined an "improved" road, the going wasn't any faster as the road has obviously been abandoned for some time and is covered with deadfalls and strewn with rocks.

Facilities:  Nothing.

Thoughts/observations/recommendations:  This was a great hike.  I had planned on doing one of the big boys of Yatsugatake on this day but decided not to because of weather considerations.  Instead, I chose to wait until the afternoon to start and do this shorter hike.  It's a bit out of the way so I didn't meet any other hikers.  That was great.  There weren't wonderful views throughout the hike, but the views there were were spectacular.  Jiji Iwa and Baba Iwa are really great.  I had hoped to get a great view of Mt. Myogi from Mt. Mido but was disappointed to find the view completely blocked by trees.  I was actually surprised to learn that Mido is one of Gunma's 100 Famous Mountains.  I thought the aforementioned rocks (Iwa) were much more interesting than Mt. Mido.  I did get some obstructed views of Mt. Myogi later in the day but none were as clear as I had hoped for.  Mt. Amemiya also had bupkis for views.  I added it on to the day's hike as an afterthought just because I had the time to bag another peak and add a few more miles.

Here are some pictures.

This hike was the day after a typhoon so the streams were high.

This was neat.  There is rope to the right of the falls to climb it.

The rope.

The unfortunate result of walking along and through so much water was leeches.  I am glad I had my trusty shaker full of salt.  I detected the little bloodsuckers early on and only one had attached before I got him to depart by assaulting him with salt. (Her?  How would I know?  I'm not a biologist.)  Even though I got rid of him right away, my ankle was still bleeding 4 hours later when I got home.  Leeches inject you with an anticoagulant and the bleeding will go on for a day or two if you don't keep a bandaid on it.  

Just around the corner from this I encountered the Jiji Iwa and Baba Iwa.  This hike was starting to get cool.

Ta da!

By the way, "Jiji" is a colloquial way of saying "old man" or "granddad."  "Baba" is for "old woman"/Grandma."  "Iwa" means "boulder."

These two are quite a couple, don't you think?

On the way down, more water.

And more water . . .

Almost back to civilization . . .

Thanks for joining me.  This was another great day.  I hope you can have this much fun yourself in your particular cave, whatever it is.

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ps  Almost forgot.  This was my best view of Mt. Myogi all day.

pps Oh, yeah, when I wasn't listening to birds chirping and brooks babbling, this is what I listened to:

Today's listening:  

Bible in a Year  "In The Bible in a Year podcast, Fr. Mike Schmitz walks you through the entire Bible in 365 episodes, providing commentary, reflection, and prayer along the way."   I was listening to stories about Kings David and Solomon.  Very cool. 

Warfare Podcast Episode Last letters of French Resistance Fighters  The Warfare podcast is related to History Hit.  They have a lot of great stuff.  These letters were the farewell letters of resistance fighters before they were executed.

and a ppps...  I saw this from the street on the way home.  It is a cool rock.