(浦銀座) Modified Uraginza Route


Found my favorite hike in all of Japan!

Budget: JPY66,000 (~USD440)
  • JPY18,500. Bus, Tokyo to Oritate trailhead
  • JPY12,000. Hut with Dinner. Tarodaira
  • JPY14,000. Hut with Dinner and Bento, Kurobegoro-goya
  • JPY14,000. Hut with Dinner/Bfast. Seiransou. 
  • JPY1,500. Bus, Takase Dam to Shinano Omachi Station
  • JPY6,000. Local trains, Shinano Omachi Station to Tokyo
Hike Date / Difficulty 
  • Hike Date : Oct 11-14, 2024
  • Difficulty: 5 out of 5. 
  • Route below is around 50.1kilometers, with an elevation change of ▲5,247m/ ▽5,317m
  • Map Link 

A clip at my favorite peak : Mt. Suisho
Bus/Shuttle access limited to mid-July to mid-September/October (Oritate)

Special Notes
  • Weather check: English / Japanese. English more detailed, Japanese more accurate. 
  • Trailheads. I'm just putting in what I want to use.
    • Oritate (折立). Direct bus from Tokyo. Not the cheapest, but the most convenient.
    • Takase Dam (高瀬ダム). Access as follows:
      • Bus, Shinjuku Station to Shinano-Omachi Station (信濃大町駅). Bus schedule here, buses run from April to mid-December. JPY5,200, 5 hours one way. Consider bus pass. For 2020, schedules as follows:
        • Shinjuku Bus Terminal to Shinano-Omachi: 6:35am, 7:35am, 9:35am, 3:05pm, 6:15pm, 11:05pm.
        • Shinano-Omachi to Shinjuku Bus Terminal: 7:42am, 9:56am, 2:57pm, 3:57pm, 4:40pm, 5:12pm, 7:57pm. 
      • Shuttle, Shinano-Omachi Station < > Takase-dam (JPY1,500 one way, 45 minutes). Shuttle schedule here.
  • Mountain huts.
    • Day 0. Bus
    • Day 1. Tarodaira Goya (太郎平小屋). Reservations online. JPY13,000 with both dinner and breakdast. 
    • Day 2. Mitsumata Sanso (三俣山荘). Reservations online. 
    • Day 3. Seiransou (晴嵐荘). Reservations via phone call (Japanese) 090-5535-3667
Itinerary
October 10, Wednesday
  • 10:15pm. Bus from Takebashi Station to Oritate.
October 11, Thursday
  • 06:40am.ETA: Oritate trailhead. Start hike. 
  • 01:50pm. ETA: Mt. Yakushi (薬師岳)
  • 04:00pm. ETA: Tarodaira goya. 
October 12, Friday 
  • 05:00am. Start hike. 
  • 10:10am. ETA: Mt. Kurobegoro
  • 02:15pm. ETA: 三俣山荘. Assess if will summit Washiba on the day of. 
  • If will summit :
    • 03:35pm. ETA: Mt Washiba (鷲羽岳) 
    • 04:25pm. ETA: Back at 三俣山荘. Camp for the night. 
October 13, Saturday
  • 03:00am. Start hike. 
  • 05:58am. ETA: Mt. Suisho (水晶岳（黒岳）
  • 05:00pm. ETA : Seiransou. 
October 14, Monday
  • 03:00am. Seiransou to Takase dam.   
  • 04:00pm. ETA: 高瀬ダム. Make sure to have a taxi scheduled for pick up. 
  • 05:00pm. ETA: Shinano-Omachi Station. 

Day 0. Heading to Trailhead.

And so the night bus struggle starts.

Day 1. Yakushi. 

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. 




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. 

Day 2. Kurobegoro. 

Breakfast! Time to start hiking. 

View of Yakushi from the hut. Well, technically you cannot see Yakushi. 

There's actually a marker near the hut. 

Water source for people not staying in the hut. 

Starting the hike. 

The planks were slightly slippery because of the layer of ice covering it. 

Beautiful sunrise. 

Looking back down the hut. and I think I can see Yakushi???

Ok back to the hike. 

Took a side trip to this summit. 

Back to the main hike. 

Sunrise!

Trail is not the most maintained. 

Some frost over the grass. 

The trail covered with a bit of frost. 

Is that Kurobegoro? Nope. 

Can you see the trail? It's in the middle sliding towards the left. 

Pretty flat. 

Another peak. 

Beautiful. I took so many pictures. 

Continuing on. 


Gentle ups and downs. 

Some markers like this. 



Raicho! Thunderbird!

Kurobegoro behind that peak in the middle. 






Kurobegoro is off the main trail. This is where most people leave their things before summiting. 

Heading to the summit. It's behind that peak.

That is the summit. 

Kurobegoro summit!

This is the trial back. Can you see that trail in the middle of the yellow grass?

Still taking pics from the summit. 

Looking back up the summit i think

Heading down. 

I hopped quite a lot of rocks down this trail. 

Looking back up. 

Continuing the descent. 

Super pretty. 

Marker to the hut. Not the one I'm staying at though, just passing through. 

Going inside the dead forest.

Hut below Kurobegoro. 

I took a quick break, then time to head out again. Turned left. 

Ugh, continuing on. 

Trail up. 

Looking back at Kurobegoro. 

Some sandy peak. 

The usual ups and downs. 

Super pretty ridge hike. 

Did I say pretty? All ridge!

Marker on the right. 

Looking back the trail. 

That peak is Washiba. 

Continuing on. 


Washiba!

My place for the night. Mitsumata Hut. 

The hut. There was no water in the hut when I came, so I had to go to the camp area for my drinking water. 

Bed for the night. Don't be misled by the heater, they took it out during the night. 

My bed. 

Dinner!

Day 3. Washiba / Suisho.

Rise and shine! Off to start.

So many people have started before I did. You can see their lights. I regret starting so late. 

Yarigatake. 

Looking behind me. That's the hut in the middle. 

Not yet at the summit, but close. 

Still looking at Yari.

Looking back again. 

And again. 

Summit!

Hello, Washiba. 

Continuing on. Got a long day ahead of me. 

My god. 

So pretty. Washiba + Yari. 

Bye bye, Mitsumata Hut. 

A peak marker. 

This requires a bit of hands. 

Pretty. 

I am happy to go up and down this ridge. 








Rocky trail. All hands. 


Suisho summit!







Heading back down. 

This is where I left my bags before the Suisho summit.

Start of the end. Heading down. 

I did not like this trail. 

Loose soil + steep + big drop = Cecilia doesn't like. 

I was behind this group for a while. 

Pretty view. 

Lots of rock scrambling still. 

Hey Yari. 

Looking back at Suisho. I think the summit is that peak a little bit to the right. 

Why is there an ascent?! I'm going down! Can you see that trail up the ridge? Yes, that's my trail. 

Looking back again at Suisho. 

Yes, I cross all these peaks. You can see the trail snaking to the right. I'll go cross to the left later. 

Finally some flat spots. 

Lots of rock scrambling. 

More rocks. 

and some path past bushes. 

More rock scrambling. Yey. 

Looking back. 

Continuing on. 

Looking back. Bye bye Suisho. 

Continuing my descent. Hello again, Yari. 


A lot bushier. 

Looking back. 

Do you see this sign? It says it's a long way to Seiransou (晴嵐荘), and be careful. It IS a long way. 

Looking back again. 

I took an extra peak coz... i had to do my business. 

I dont think a lot of people take this trail. 

This is SUPER sketchy.  

Bushy. 

Bushy.

Much bushier. 

Finally some less bushy trail. 

The river! I think I'm close. 

That's not the hut. 

Yey!

The awesome onsen at Seiranso. 


Day 4. Heading Home
It started with crossing the river (see below) and a 3 hour walk to the dam.



The crossing we had to go through. 

About three hours of this? The first hour was in the dark though. 

Yey! Done. 

Oops not yet. 

Ok done! But there's an option to take a taxi from here... or walk. I walked. So that's another hour or so. 

I was a bit too early for the shuttle back, so I just stayed here for a while.



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