(薬師岳) Mt. Yakushi Hike

Mt. Yakushi is a long way from Tokyo. I did this as part of my Uraginza hike (log here) but I'll put Yakushi specific information in this post.

Budget: JPY15,533 (~USD148)

• JPY8,533 – Roundtrip bus, Tokyo to Toyama Station allocated using Willer Bus Pass
• JPY7.000 - Roundtrip bus, Toyama Station to Oritate (JPY3,500 one way)

Hike Date / Difficulty (Elevation: 2,926m / 9,600ft)

• Hike Date : October 11, 2024
• Difficulty: 4 out of 5. Nothing technical, just long. 
• Route below is around 20kilometers, with an elevation change of ▲1,865m/ ▽1,865m (backtrail)
• Map Link 

When to Go
Buses only run from mid July to mid October, so check the schedule. 

Special Notes

• Trailhead. Just one.
• Oritate (折立). Access from Tokyo below. Access from Toyama Station here. 
• Train/bus, Tokyo Station to Toyama Station. See this blog post for bus pass. 
• Train, Toyama Station (富山駅) to Arimineguchi (有峰口駅)*. JPY1,040, one hour, one way.  
• Bus, Arimineguchi (有峰口駅) to Oritate (折立)*.  JPY2,500, 55 minutes, one way.As for reference, buses only run from July 17 til October 11 for 2020. 
• There is generally a bus that goes straight from Toyama Station to Oritate, but it was not in operation for 2020. It normally is JPY3,500, 2 hours one way. Below is an old flyer, but I would assume that future time tables would be similar. 

• Mountain huts.
• Paid. 太郎平小屋. In between the summit and the trailhead. Reservations online. 
• Paid. 薬師岳山荘. About an hour from the summit. Reservations at 090-8263-2523.
• Free: None. There technically is an emergency shelter, but it really is not. I doubt a full grown human can fully lie down there. 
• Camping: One at the trailhead (Oritate) and another three hours from the summit. 

Itinerary
This is a Mt. Yakushi only itinerary. My actual one was this.

Friday

• 10:10pm. Bus from Tokyo Station Kajibashi Parking lot to Toyama Station (JPY8,000 ish if you don’t have the Willer Bus Pass)

Saturday

• 06:05am. Arrival at Toyama Station
• 06:30am. Toyama Station to Oritate.
• 08:30am.  ETA: Oritate. Start hike. 

Sunday

• Figure out if will extend the hike or will just return. 

Finally at the trailhead. There's a restroom at the bus stop. 

Starting the hike!

There's a little hut at the entrance with some water. I think I saw one of the logs saying it's questionable if it's potable. 

Some nice autumn foliage in my hike. 

A couple of main stops with benches. 

Hello planks. 

Quite a lot of stairs actually. 

You can see how long the path of planks is. 

My home for the night. 

View of Yakushi from the hut. 

The hut. Much more spacious than what the picture shows.

Starting to head towards Mt. Yakushi. 

Looking down at the camping spot. You see that bald spot in the low middle of this picture? 

After passing the camping spot, the trail got a lot more normal hiking-ish. 

With a stream too. 

Oops. Back to the planks. 

Lots of Yakushi (薬師). To the left is the mountain (岳), right now is the flatlands (平), and to the right is the ridge (峠)

The summit is behind the peak at the right. 

Uhm.. and behind that other peak. 

And behind that too. Though maybe I messed up the sequence of the pictures. 

Ok, behind that peak. 

Yamap surprisingly marks this is a hut. 

It's not. 

NOT the summit. 

Ok, the summit is the little peak behind. The one at the center of the picture. 

This one!

Finally!

View from the summit. 

On the other side of the mountain. I wanted to continue on down here, but I have to turn back to my hut. 

Heading back. 

View. 

You can kinda see the looooooonng trail back. 

The gorgeous autumn grass. 

Back down the rocky trail. 

The camp spot now have way more tents. 

Dinner! I went straight to sleep after. 

Breakfast! Time to start hiking.