Starting Point: Mitsumineguchi Station
Peaks: Maeshiraiwa, Mt. Shiraiwa, Mt. Kumotori, Ko-Kumotoriyama, Yomoginokashira,
Mt. Nanatsuishi, Senbontsutsuji, Mt. Takamaru, Hikagenaguriyama, Mt. Takanosu, Mizuneyama, Joyama, Masakadobanba, Mt. Mutsuishi, Karikurayama, Sanukido, Juniten, Kinukasa, Haguroyama. (Major peaks highlighted in bold)
Ending Point: Okutama Station
Range: Chichibu~tama National Park
The Oku-tama & Chichibu area is a great place for good day hikes all year round in Japan. The mountains in this range are a perfect intermediate level, there are many rugged hills along the Stone Ridge that are guaranteed a full day's workout, without being too dangerous such as the alps. That being said, preparation here is still very important (and you definitely want to bring crampons during the winter). I had already experienced a few adventures on Mt. Kumotori & Mt. Takanosu before, however, I had never challenged the course from the Saitama side.
For the past year, I had mostly gone on day hikes, and I was looking for a bit of a longer challenge. I had a short window during golden week where the weather was good. However, popular trails can get very crowded during this holiday. So, I decided to plan an alternative route to the summit. I had invited two climbing buddies to come, but neither were free the first day. So the plan was, I would time my climb to meet them at the summit of Mt. Takanosu by 1pm on the second day. Since there was little reception/signal, I would have no way of knowing if they cancelled or not. If one of us arrived early we would just have to wait or not - this was just like meeting friends "back in the old days" before smartphone technology. I carefully packed up all the gear in my trusty big backpack, which since I only use it for big multi-day journeys, it still remains in fairly good condition despite owning for over 12 years. Although I tried my best to cut down on the weight, carrying a tent, sleeping bag, sleeping pad, change of clothes, battery charger, water, food, emergency supplies, etc., it still ended up being fairly cumbersome.
DAY ONE - FROM CHICHIBU TO Mt.KUMOTORI
My journey started at Mitsumineguchi {Me tsu me neigh gucchi} station, the last stop on the old Chichibu Railway. I arrived at 7:30am, and despite a briskly cool morning, the weather quickly warmed up. All the other passengers took one of two buses to take them to a more popular trailhead. I, however, would be walking along the rural mountain roads all the way to the Ochi Fishing Site, a uniquely long river in a highly elevated area. It took roughly two hours of walking up a slightly inclined paved road, which was quite a challenge with my overly heavy backpack. I realized my shirt was already layered in sweat, but I didn't want to swap out of my clothes too early. The climb was supposed to start from here, but upon arrival, I found that the first section of the trail had been damaged, so I was instructed to take an hour long detour along the paved road towards Taiyoji Temple. After another hour of lugging up the paved road, just slightly above the temple, I could finally begin the official trailhead towards mount Kumotori. I had already spent a lot of energy hiking along the winding road, so I took a short 5 minute rest and soon continued upwards.
It was clear that this was very much the road less travelled, it was very steep and at times the trail was hard to make out. Along the way I passed by two emergency medical workers who were climbing down and wished me safe travels. Asides from them, I didn't see anybody else until my "alternate route" finally joined up with the main hiking trail by around 1:30pm.
Now back on the main trail, this was probably the steepest ridge known as the "Mae-Shiraiwa Shoulder". It was nothing too daunting, but since by now I had been climbing for 6 hours, I was moving at a much slower pace than usual. After another hour, I thought I had finally reached the first peak, but I after closer inspection of the sign I realized that it was just the end of that section. After several ups and downs, I finally reached Mt. Shiraiwa by 4:00pm. In terms of altitude, I didn't have much higher to go. However, the summit of Mt. Kumotori and rest area were still quite a ways away. Looking out through the treeline, I could see the summit far off in the distance. To reach the summit before dark, I would have to descend several hundred meters and climb them back up again - I had to pick up the pace.
I slugged my tired legs along the trail for another 90 minutes, passing by several abandoned huts, until I finally reached the Kumotori lodge. I was hoping to purchase some food there, but due to the high number of guests because of the Golden Week holiday, the staff had limited all food service to overnight guests only and would only sell me cup ramen, but told me I had to provide my own hot water despite a kettle being right beside the counter. Thankfully I had plenty of reserve snacks.
There was a water station outside the lodge I met some friendly hikers having dinner and chatted with them for about 20 minutes. They offered me a couple slices of yaki-niku, which was a pleasantly unexpected tasty surprise. After a friendly conversation, I continued along the way to towards the summit. Now I was in a race against the setting sun, but I made it to the top by twilight, which created a really unique atmosphere, as I could see the moon, the setting sun, and the shadow of Fuji slipping behind a blanket of haze in the distance. There was only one other person at the summit, who was slurping a bowl of noodles very, very loudly. I did a little loop around the area and stayed until nightfall, eating a quick dinner by moonlight. As soon as the sun set, a ton of wild animals came out of hiding. I saw several deer, tanuki, and other little critters scurry around the area. Eventually I set up camp, and rested until the next morning.
DAY TWO - THE STONE RIDGE TRAVERSE
At around quarter after 5 in the morning, I met a friendly old hiker just outside the summit shelter hut. He offered me a cup of hot coffee, which gave me a good boost of energy for the long day ahead. The plan was to meet my friends at 1:00pm at the summit of Mt. Takanosu, which was approximately 5 hours away, so I had plenty of time to enjoy a leisure trek. What I hadn't calculated into my plans was the exhaustion of the previous day's journey. So, I knew it was better to start early just to be safe. After taking some photos and videos of the beautiful fiery sunrise, I departed from the summit by 5:50am.
Along the way, I passed by a late blooming cherry blossom tree that still had flowers on it, quite an unexpected delight to see one in May. I also passed by a one of a kind curved tree - a well known landmark of the Kumotori trail.
The air was brisk and cool for the first 90 minutes of the journey, but things started to quickly heat up by the time I reached the first checkpoint, Mt. Nanatsuishi. I made a quick pit-stop at the nearby cabin and filled up my water supplies. Most hikers normally take the trail from this cabin back down to the Kamozawa trailhead, which I had done during my first day hike back in 2020. However, this time I would take the other road and begin traversing along the ishi-oné (E-she-oh-neigh) "the stone ridge". Throughout the morning hike, I had a picturesque clear view of Mt. Fuji.
I had to climb and descend 3 small peaks between the Nanatsuishi cabin before reaching the foot of Mt. Takanosu. After passing over an old wooden bridge, reaching the first peak was fairly simple, and felt more like climbing up a grassy hill rather than a mountain. There were two googly eyes attached to the sign at the top, which I felt was fairly amusing. The path to the second peak was a lot steeper, and would probably be a bit dangerous during the winter seasons. It was also fairly steep to descend, but afterwards it was a fairly flat and steady trail toward the third peak. Just before reaching the shelter hut below Mt. Takanosu, I surprisingly found an area with phone signal. It seems one of my two hiking friends had cancelled, but the other one had informed me she had started the climb from the Okutama Onsen shrine. The trail had taken a lot longer than I had expected, but since I had left so early, I was now about 40 minutes from the top. I estimated she would reach the summit by around noon, so I still had about an hour and 45 minutes to make it. It was a hot day, so I once again filled up my water bottles at a nearby watering hole and took a short break at the picnic tables by the shelter cabin. There, I met a family whose 10 year old son had twisted his ankle very badly. Although he wasn't critically injured, it would be technically difficult to descend without further injury. However, his family assured me they had the situation under control. I had brought some emergency supplies with me, so I gave them to his parents. I also gave him a small mountain badge which seemed to cheer him up a little. As I was climbing the last steep section before the summit, a rescue helicopter flew very close above and started circling the area. Another hiker who passed by confirmed that they had picked up the kid.
I reached the summit just a few minutes before noon, and thought I would have to wait for my climbing friend Makiko - but she was already there waiting for me! (Thankfully she hadn't been waiting too long) Since there was no place for shade, we decided to immediately continue along the stone ridge, strolling up and down the ridge-line for 2 hours until reaching the next notable summit, Mt. Mutsuishi. From here, we made the decision to continue on foot all the way to Oku-tama station, and hit every single minor peak along the way. After passing the Mt. Sanukido peak, the trail began to descend into a wooded forest. At this point my body was getting quite tired, and my feet were becoming very sore (and my socks were too sweaty), but there was nothing I could really do but push forward. We almost took a wrong turn off the trail here and ended up about 10 meters down a steep slope (possibly a logging trail). This goes to show that even on a well travelled route its good to be mindful of navigation signs and road forks.
By quarter after four, we passed by one final hilariously small "peak" called Mt. Kinukasa, which was nothing more than a meter tall hill on the side of the trail surrounded by woods. Truthfully, I'm not sure why this was even decided to be named. Shortly after, we came into one final obstacle - the sketchiest bridge I've ever seen. Because Makiko was much smaller and lighter than me, she braved walking over the rickety wood bridge, but I knew very well there was no way those old rotting logs would support my weight. Thankfully someone else had tired a study rope to the side of the bridge, so I took the low road. We then passed by an old Inari shrine before reaching the larger Haguro Mita Shrine. We arrived at the main road by 6pm. Before stopping at the station, I quickly ran into a local convenience store to buy a pair of fresh socks. All they had were women's dress socks, but I just desperately needed something dry on my feet to avoid any athlete's foot type infection. I'm sure the store owner was a bit confused to see a 6"7 foreign man buy a pair of women's dress socks.
We finally made it back to the station at 6:10pm, where I grabbed a delicious "wasabi egg sandwich" and then we both hopped on the train back home. It was the first time that I was actually concerned for falling asleep on the train and missing my stop, but thankfully I make it back.
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