Many people visit Hakuba village during winter for skiing, however, it is well worth a visit in summer time for trekking. Happo-o-ne (Happo ridge) is one of the famous trekking route.
http://www.happo-one.jp/trekking
http://www.happo-one.jp/english/
Many people visit Hakuba village during winter for skiing, however, it is well worth a visit in summer time for trekking. Happo-o-ne (Happo ridge) is one of the famous trekking route.
http://www.happo-one.jp/trekking
http://www.happo-one.jp/english/
Myoko area, Niigata prefecture in Japan, have been of interest for skiers and snowboarders around the world. The Myoko area is an area surrounding around the Mt. Myoko and have seven snow resorts. The Myoko area is famous for winter sports because of extraordinary heavy snowfall such like 50-70cm in a night. The area places very close to the Japanese sea, and snow contains sea water a lot. Therefore, snow is somehow heavy compared to the other ski resorts that is placed in an inland region.
Mt. Myoko from Imori pond (Imori-ike, いもり池) in April.
The summer time in Myoko area also very exciting place for trekking, hiking, camping and staying. In autumn, a lot of tourists visit here to see the autumn leaves, but there are not so much visitors in the summer so it is very quiet. Comparing to the Hakuba area, which is very famous resort village, Myoko area is a simple, natural, rustic, not so much "resort" village. That's why we love this place.
We went to climb Mt. Hiuchi, which is placed north-west from Mt. Myoko. Mt. Hiuchi is a 2,462m high mountain in Niigata prefecture in Japan.
Mt. Hiuchi https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Hiuchi
Mt/ Myoko https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_My%C5%8Dk%C5%8D
Last year, we climbed up the Mt. Myoko from Akakura-kanko ski resort. Mt. Myoko and Mt. Hiuchi are neighboring mountains each other. There are some routes to climb up the Mt. Hiuchi. We used the route starting from Sasagamine Plateau this time. At the Sasagamine Plateau, there are two large parking lot for the campers and hikers near the Sasagamine camping site.
The trail is well prepared and boardwalk continues at the middle of the trail.
At the forth part of the trail, there are twelve curves (Juuni-magari, 十二曲り) to climb a steep slope.
At the middle of the trail, we could see Mt. Yake, Mt. Kage-hiuchi, and Mt. Hiuchi, from left in the picture. Mt. Yake is an active volcano and strictly exhibited to the entrance.
At 2,100m, there are the muskeg area near the Koyaike Hut.
Fun walking for just 4 hours, we arrived at the top of Mt. Hiuchi, 2,462m!!
Mt. Yake can be seen very closely from the top. It's an active volcano and the surface around the mountain top seems to be covered by the ash. A week after we visited, there was a news that tells Mt. Yake's activity is getting intense and a exhaust port increased to three!
The trail to Mt. Myoko from Mt. Hiuchi.
Myoko http://www.myoko.tv/english/index.html
Mt. Hiuchi https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Hiuchi
Mt/ Myoko https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_My%C5%8Dk%C5%8D
Sasagamine camp site: https://www.tripadvisor.jp/Hotel_Review-g1021352-d7053778-Reviews-Sasagamine_Camp_Site-Myoko_Niigata_Prefecture_Chubu.html
Koya-ike Hut http://www.suginosawa.com/koyaike_yoyaku/
