Monday, July 2, 2007

Hiking in Central Japan Alps















Dates
: 30 June to 1 July
Hiking time: 7 hours (day 1); 5 and a half hours (day 2)
Peaks: Hokendake (2931m) and Hinokiodake (2728m), Central Japan Alps
Transportation: By car to Komagane Kogen, bus to Shirabi Daira, cable car to Senjojiki
Grade: 3 star (open to platinum members)
Number of hikers: 5
Leader: Alan
Highlights: scrambling up and down rocks, the views from the ridge when the clouds cleared, the troop of monkeys at the top of Hinokiodake, the lone kamoshika or Japanese serow (wooly goat-antelope animal), blossom and other flowers, visit to one of the town's onsens (hot springs) at the end
Lowlights: thick fog obscured our views on the second day, the hut at Kisodono sanso was not yet open (we stayed at the emergency hut near Hinokiodake instead which was very good), a bit of sunburn
Jo's photos
Sergio's photos
Justin's photos

3 comments:

Sergio said...

Fantastic hike. Thank you David, Justin, Jo and Alan.

Photos:

http://picasaweb.google.com/sergioinjapan/CentralAlpsHike

Jo said...

Nice pictures Sergio! I didn't realize you got so close to the kamoshika! Great rock-scrambling shots too!

Sergio said...

What a nice selection of pics.!

From Justin:

http://picasaweb.google.co.jp/chubu.hiking.international.club/Naganoooyeahhh