(火打山) Mt. Hiuchi Hike

I feel that Mt. Hiuchi should be looped with Mt. Yake, and that will make it a very full hike. Basically Mt. Hiuchi is in the middle of a couple of summits so it can be easily looped with so many other mountains. But it deserves it's own post (as every mountain does) and so here we are. 

Budget: JPY4,600 (~USD43)

• JPY850. Train, Nagano Station to Myokokogen Station.
• JPY1,000. Bus, Myokokogen Station to Sasagamine Bus Stop.
• JPY1,000. Bus, Sasagamine Bus Stop to Myokokogen Station
• JPY850. Train, Myokokogen Station to Nagano Station. 
• JPY6,000. Mountain hut reservation (optional) OR
• JPY900. Camping fee
• +JPY4,820. Two days' worth allocated with Seishun 18 ticket. (if from Tokyo)

Hike Date / Difficulty 

• Not yet done. 
• Difficulty: 4 out of 5, probably. 
• Route below is around 16.6kilometers, with an elevation change of ▲1,435m/ ▽1,435m
• PDF Map Link
• Highly recommended to be done with another hyakumeizan (100 Famous Mountain), Mt. Myoko (妙高山). 

When to Go

Bus only runs from around July to October, so that is a limitation. Further, based on this blog, winter ascent is not recommended due to avalanches. 

Special Notes

• I am putting the start at Nagano Station, as I plan to either take the overnight bus or take the train to Nagano the day before, and spend the night in Nagano. 
• It MAY be doable as a day hike, but if you start at 8:30am (earliest bus), the map says you should be done by 5:10pm with no breaks. The last bus is at 4pm. So if you are pushing for a dayhike, you better have your own car. Or trail run. 
• Trailhead: Sasagamine (笹ヶ峰) Bus Stop. Close to Mt. Hiuchi. To get here, you have to take a bus from Myokokogen Station. The schedule for 2020 is here, but they create a new pdf every year, so just google search "妙高高原駅 笹ヶ峰 バス" and the first one that pops up is probably it. 
• Train, Nagano Station to Myokokogen Station (妙高高原駅), JPY850, 44 minutes. 
• Bus, Myokokogen to Sasagamine Bus Stop. JPY1,000, 50mins. Here's the bus schedule:

• Mountain huts. You are not really spoiled for choice here, and they also sell out fast. 
• Paid mountain huts. There are two, and both of them have camping spots too. 
• Koya-ike Hut (高谷池ヒュッテ). There's an English version, so just click the Koya Pond English Page. Take a look at the Japanese page though, as the vacancy status is shown there. If you see the green "個室満室", it means it's full.
• It's JPY6,000 a night with no meals for a stay, or JPY900 if you're camping. 
• Reservations are not needed if you are camping, but necessary otherwise. As of July 2020, I could only see one more day that's open for the next three months. 
• Kurosawa-ike Hut (黒沢池ヒュッテ(. No websites really, but I found information here, where it says they are closed for 2020 due to covid19. 
• Free mountain huts (emergency hut). One near Mt. Yake, which is about 3 hours away from Mt. Hiuchi, so it doesn't really count. Plus, it is not the best. Here's the picture I found off the internet (the blue, sad looking hut).

Itinerary

Saturday

• 06:23am. Train, Nagano Station to Myokokogen Station. 
• 07:07am. ETA: Myokokogen Station.
• 07:20am. Bus, Myokokogen Station to Sasagamine Bus Stop.
• 08:10am. ETA: Sasagamine Bus Stop. Start hike. 
• 01:15pm. ETA: Mt. Hiuchi (火打山)
• 02:30pm. ETA: Koya-ike Hut. Rest for the night. 

Sunday

• 07:00am. Start hike.
• 10:20am. ETA: Sasagamine Bus Stop. 
• 11:30am. Bus, Sasagamine Bus Stop to Myokokogen Station.