Kamikochi - Yari ga Take - Oku Hotaka Dake Loop - Silver Week (September 19-23) (Day 3)

9/22

We woke up around 5:00, peeked outside the tent to see rain, heavy fog, and people in line to hike up the trail. So we went back to sleep for another 30 minutes or so. Checked again - no change - and didn't seem likely to gain anything by waiting, so we got out, packed up and joined the line. Which actually moved fairly quickly once we got past the ladders leading up from the hut area. We did have to occasionally wait behind slower hikers, but most of them would stop occasionally to let people pass. About an hour after we left, we reached the top of Oku-Hotaka-Dake - the 3rd highest peak in Japan! (Lonely Planet mentions the rumour that the peak was built up with extra stones to take 3rd place by 1 metre over another peak) Took a couple pics (in the rain and fog) and headed down the other side.

The rest of the trip was pretty anti-climactic; a few slippery chains and ladders, some knee-jarring switchbacks, and we made it down to Kamikochi about 5 hours after the peak. Waited a bit for a bus back to the parking lot, and then stopped at the first onsen we saw. Which was good for my knees...

We drove back to Matsumoto in fairly heavy traffic - because it was a 5-day weekend for most of Japan, there were a lot of people out hiking. We saw several campsites that had well over 50 tents, plus lodges with bedspace for several hundred each, plus people camping out in any available floorspace. Much of the driving we did was through the countryside, and everywhere we looked, the rice was being or had been harvested and hung out to dry.

We checked into the youth hostel in Matsumoto, and considered borrowing their bicycles, but my knees were screaming after hiking down 1500 m of elevation and then driving, so we took the car into town, and had some basashi at a nice little place near the station. Some of you will be horrified by the concept of eating basashi, but it's actually really delicious...!

After eating, we wandered over to Matsumoto-jo (Matsumoto Castle) which was lit up nicely at night. Took a few pictures, and then headed back for a well-deserved sleep.

Photos are here and here.