Kamikochi - Yari ga Take - Oku Hotaka Dake Loop - Silver Week (September 19-23)

Since G and I hadn't reserved tickets on the buses, as we weren't sure what time he could get away, when I finally did call, the buses were all full. We thought about the train, but it was just as cheap (or cheaper) to drive, and more convenient. So we headed off, and without thinking, drove down near Tokyo to head over to Nagano. Tokyo long weekend traffic was brutal. We wasted a solid couple of hours stuck in Tokyo. Once we got past, we made good time out to Matsumoto, and then west towards Kamikochi. We found a spot to park, and slept for a few hours.

Up by six-ish, headed up to the bus terminal, sorted out gear, and caught the bus up to Kamikouchi. We managed to start walking by about 8:30, under blue skies and sunshine. The sky was such a deep blue, that I expected a chess game to break out. The main trail meanders up the river for a couple hours, and then heads up the valley under Yari-ga-take. But another trail shoots straight up a ridge, and then across to Yari. Since the weather was so clear, we decided to get out of the shadowed valley, and hit the ridge for the views. And they were well worth the steep (but short) climb.

We headed along the ridge, down or across the occasional ladder, and over to Yari-dake-sanso. When we arrived around 5pm, there were already 40+ people waiting in line to check in. Since we were kind of tired, (and there was a long line going up the peak) we didn't try Yari that evening, but went about 15 minutes down the valley to the hut/campsite below.

Set up camp, and then went to the hut for some hot food (400 yen for 99 yen cup noodles...). Spent a couple hours or so chatting with other hikers, and then crashed for the night. The evening temperature just inside the hut was around 7 Celsius I think, and outside was probably a couple degrees cooler.

Photos on Flickr.