Jimbagata Yama (1445m)

Mt. Tsugao hike (273m)

Mt. Tsugao (273m) - Saturday 21st April

Height: 273m

Hiking time: 5 hours

Grade: 0,5 star (easy)

Weather: Cloudy

Description: Inuyama area is really quite nice if you want to get out and do some easy day-hike combined with sightseeings. We took our time to stop and look at all the pretty scenery, visited Inuyama castle and Jakkoin complex temple. It was a very pleasant walking.

Number of hikers: 11

Transportation and cost: Meitetsu express train to Inuyama Sta. at 12:00 (540 yen). From the end of the hike at Zenjino Sta. we made the 5:56 train (650 yen) to Nagoya Sta.

Leader: Sergio

Enjoy the pics. at: http://picasaweb.google.com/sergioinjapan/MtTsugaoHike273m

Mt Nyudogatake (906m)

Mt. Nyudogatake (906m) - Sunday 15th April

Height:	906m
Hiking time:	Just under 5 hours
Grade	1.5 star (intermediate)
Description	Mt. Nyudogatake is in the Suzuka range in Mie. It is a steep, challenging hike with beautiful views. The hikers also saw nice flowers and visited Tsubaki shrine.
Weather	Good
Number of hikers	4
Transportation and cost:	Kintetsu train for Yokkaichi (610 yen each way) at 8.01 arrives 8.34. From Yokkaichi we took a taxi to the start of the hike as the buses are very infrequent.
Leaders	David / Sergio

Sergio's photos

Kamagatake, 1161m

Mountain: Kamagatake, Suzuka range
Prefecture: Mie/shiga
Height: 1161m
Hikers: 12
Weather: A perfect sunny day
Transportation: 7.52 Meitetsu bus to Yunoyama Onsen (1 hour)
Highlights: views, snacks, waterfalls, river, azaleas and tsubaki flowers, chain work going down steep, slippery slopes - great fun.

Pictures here

Hikers - feel free to reply to this blog with your own photo links or comments

Ikeda-yama

The weather forecast predicted 95% precipitation and we expected a bit of a slippery trudge up to the top of Ikeda-yama. Not something you want to think about at you get up at 5.30am….. As it turned out, the weather stayed dry and the 9 of us had a lovely day hiking and enjoying the mild weather. We even saw a few blossoms near the start of the trail. The trail was very quiet – we only saw one other group of hikers all day. I think most people are holding out for when the cherry blossoms are in full bloom in a week or two.

Photos

I can't believe I forgot to mention this - we didn't see any bears (thankfully) but Sergio and Chiho saw a deer!

Mt. Ibuki

I can't believe we did this hike. Most people climb Mt. Ibuki in summer when the snow has gone and the flowers come out. We thought we'd give it a go in winter as it has been unseasonably mild this year. 12 of us from the hiking club started climbing in the sunshine - we could see a little snow on top. As we climbed higher however, the weather turned. We climbed in increasing snow blizzards. I'm not sure how I actually made it to the top - I couldn't really see where I was going. An indoor shrine located at the top gave us some shelter for a while. Inside we met some experienced Japanese climbers who gave us food (biscuits that people save for emergencies) and then lead us to the summit. Here are June's photos. I think we'll save this mountain until summer in future!

Nagiso Mountain, Nagano

Awesome hike today in Nagano – Nagiso Mountain 1677m (about 5500 feet in old money). Great views of the alps. Lots of lovely snow and warm weather! Enjoy the pictures and goofy videos!

Half way up a mountain (video) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-NoYvB0UsUs

360 degree view at the top (video) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JzNS8jSJ-2s

A selection of photographs