(巻機山) Mt. Makihata Hike

A mountain with one option - one trailhead, one mountain hut, one bus access. Makes life so simple.

Budget: JPY6,500 (~USD63)

• JPY4,500. My share with the car expenses. 
• JPY2,000. Train, Tokyo < > meeting place 

Hike Date / Difficulty (Elevation: 1,967m / 6,453ft)

• October 24-25, 2021
• Difficulty: 4 out of 5
• Route below is around 10.6 kilometers, with an elevation change of ▲1,476m/ ▽1,476m (8h40m)
• Map Link

When to Go
Based on the hiking logs, it is doable from end of March to late December, though the bus seems to run from April.

Here's the log of someone who hiked on March 19, 2020.

Special Notes

• Weather forecast: Japanese
  
• The marker for this mountain is in the fake summit. The real summit is about ten minutes away to the right. 
• Trailheads. From the sole trailhead, the trails split into two - one which is mainly river crossing (left), and one which is, well, normal (right). If you are up for dangerous hikes, take the left one. But do not underestimate the danger.
• Shimizu (清水). (Just one). Access as follows:
• For those with car, there's a parking lot a bit higher than Shimizu - Sakurazaka (google maps pin). Parking fee is JPY500. There is a guy that will be there collecting the fee in the afternoon. There are a couple of parking lots, but we figured the best one was the one close to the parking lot. 
• For those without a car:
• Train, Tokyo Station to Muikamachi Station (六日町駅)
• Bullet train from Tokyo Station. JPY7,320, 135 minutes one way. Earliest you can get there is 8:23am, in which case you'll miss the first bus, so just try to be there before the 1:40pm bus.
• Local train from Tokyo Station. JPY3,740*, 262 minutes one way. Earliest you can get there is 09:23am, just try to be there before the 1:40pm bus. *Seishun 18 ticket can be used.
• Bus, Muikamachi Station (六日町駅) to Shimizu Station (清水). Google maps pin here.
• Bus website here. Look for "・六日町 ～ 沢口 ～ 清水　線"
• The days when the buses are running are not written, which makes it possible that buses are running throughout the year. But make sure to check the link above to be safe, or this link on your specific calendar days.
• If the buses are not running for winter, an option is to stop at Sawaguchi (沢口), which is four stops before Shimizu (清水), and then walk the additional 5.4kms to Shimizu. Google maps pin here. The bus runs throughout the year, except for New Year's.00

• Mountain huts. Just a free one, though with a fee for toilet use (probably JPY100)
• Paid: None.
• Free: 巻機山避難小屋. It looks amazing, it's two stories, and cleaned every Sunday (according to the guy cleaning the hut when I went there). Here are the pictures.
• Camping: At the trailhead, none at the summit.

Itinerary

**via car, with the starting point at Sakurazaka parking lot**

Itinerary for using public transportation is in the comments. 

Saturday

• 12:30pm. Meet at the station and start driving to the parking lot. 
• 05:00pm. Arrive at the parking lot, eat dinner and camp for the night. 

Sunday

• 6:00am. Start hike.
• 03:00pm ish ETA: back at the parking lot and done for the hike.

Starting to pack all my crap. Yes, it was a big mess. 

And I'm done!

On our way, we got to see Mt. Tsukuba. 

The 10 km tunnel. 

The huge, clean toilet at the parking lot. This is one of the best toilets that I've seen in Japan I think. 

Flushable toilet!

My home for the night. 

Starting our hike. This 休憩所 is closed at night, but open during the day. 

It looks great and would have had been a great place to stay the night at, but they lock it. 

The entrance is in the road in the middle left. 

We took the course to the right. 

The rather muddy way up. 

Pretty, but muddy throughout. 

The sad looking 4th station marker. 

Continuing on. 

Seeing some snow on the trail.

A peek of the gorgeous autumn foliage. 

The snow is getting a bit thicker. 

A little bit more. Haha. 

And a tad more. Around here we put on our spikes. 

Across the ridge. Unfortunately, zero visibility. 

The 9th station. From here on, we descend to the mountain hut, then go up to summit. 

The free mountain hut.

Inside the hut. We couldn't come in because people were cleaning it. 

Continuing the hike, saw this pond that was semi-frozen. I stuck my trekking pole and it was all slushy. 

From the fake summit (with the nice marker), we continued on to the real summit. 

The real summit has no markers, just this pile of rocks. 

Going back down. 

The summit marker at the fake summit. 

It cleared up when we were going down. This is a nice juxtaposition of the snow and the autumn foliage. 

The 8th station. 

Gorgeous view down. 

Slushy snow. I took off my spikes. 

Back down the same trail. But it felt much much longer. 

Back at the parking lot!

They have a spot for people to wash their shoes. Which, given how muddy the trail is, is definitely appreciated. 

Silk clouds! Apparently only seen in autumn.