I spent weeks worrying about what the weather would be like today. Would we be spending the day trekking from onsen to onsen getting a real good soaking indoors and outdoors, or would we be granted blue skies and warm temperatures? Happily for us, the weather gods were kind and we were able to head off into the hills. The plan was to do a “lazy” hike which involved a 1300 metre ascent by cable car and a three-hour walk back to Kamikochi. First we had to get to Shin-Hotaka Onsen in the next valley, which is where the cable car begins, an hour away by bus with a connection at Hirayu Onsen.
Raph trying his best to look Japanese at Hirayu Onsen. Note the name of the cafe behind.
After breakfast in the campsite restaurant, we caught the 9.30 a.m. bus from a near deserted bus terminal at Kamikochi. Following the end of the long holiday weekend, the big crowds had thankfully dissipated. Nevertheless, a few coaches were already depositing new arrivals (apparently the Marine Day weekend marks the start of the summer holiday season in Japan). By 11.15 we were in Shin-Hotaka ready for the ascent up to the top station at 2156 metres. Whilst temperatures in the valley were already at 25 degrees, up on the mountain they were a trifling 17 degrees. And though conditions were good, the peaks were shrouded in mist, with the cloud base at around 2500 metres – well, you can’t have everything.
The Shin Hotaka cable car
The two-stage cable car is Japan’s highest. Most people head to the top, admire the view, walk around, have a meal and then set off back down again for the return trip. We planned to climb 200 metres up to the main ridge and stop off at the Nishi Hotaka mountain hut, and then make the steep descent back down into Kamikochi.
The view from the cable car top station to the Nishi Hotaka mountain hut
It was a 45-minute slog up to the hut at 2365 metres (the hiking map indicated a time of 1 hr 30 mins, so we had done well) and we were glad to take our rucksacks off and enjoy a rice-cake and a thirst-quenching drink. Whilst the views are okay from the hut, you really have to climb ten minutes or so onto the ridge to enjoy a 240-degree vista (the clouds on the peaks behind us barred us from the full 360). Kamakochi was a speck down below and in the distance we could see the golden roof of a shrine in Takayama glistening in the sunshine some 40 kilometres away. Let’s say the view would have been better, but you weren’t going to hear me complaining after all the weeks of anxiety about today.
The hard slog up to the hut
The view from the hut
The view from the ridge above the hut
In his element
The tramp down to Kamakochi required our full concentration. It was steep, and because we were below the tree-line, entailed walking a muddy path that negotiated its way around boulders and tree roots at various downward gradients. A slight slip might result in an injury – a good job my new travel insurance policy kicked in at the beginning of the month. If Mount Misen on Miyajima was a knee-jerker, the walk down from Nishi Hotaka was a real ankle-twister. Vistas - the main reason this doesn't rank amongst my all-time walks - are strictly limited because of the tree cover, but it would have been nice to stop occasionally and soak up the view. The map indicated a time factor of 2 and a half hours but we were back at the Kappabashi bridge - safe and sound - in 1 hour and 45 minutes - a descent of 1800 metres. Although, in the end, it was only a 2 and a half hour walk, it was still pretty exhausting, not least because of the concentration levels required.
Down in the valley
Back at base camp
We spent the next hour flat out on our futons. After that our bodies demanded but two things: a full square meal and a hot soak. We got them both. There was an exquisite evening sky when we got back from the onsen, so we spent an hour wandering, gazing at the darkening skyline from the bridge. Of all things, we happened to bump into a scouser on the Kappabashi bridge, who didn’t seem too offended by Raph's United shirt, but then he had spent the last 30 years in Montreal. He was a keen climber and came to Japan more or less every year to trek in the High Alps (they refer to the mountain region here as the ‘Alps’ for some peculiar reason). One curious fact he related was that most climbers in Japan tend to be retired people – the only people in the country with time on their hands. It kind of explained the number of elderly people we’d seen on our trails today.
The view of Yakedake volcano from Kamikoshi at dusk
After the peace of the mountains, it’s back to the big city tomorrow.
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