Nagano (Part 1.) - Kamikochi and hiking a volcano

Last month was extremely busy with work, but I was highly motivated to finish everything early as my childhood friend was visiting Japan and we have planned a 5-day hiking trip in Nagano. It is no secret that Nagano is my favorite prefecture, maybe because the nature reminds me so much of my home country. So where better to go on a hiking trip to than the magnificent Japanese Northern Alps.

Day 1 - Arriving in Nagano and Kamikochi

As always, I started my trip by running to the train station to catch the train. With a large backpack on my back and a smaller one at the front, the morning sprint was a bit more challenging than usual. I have been working quite late the night before and still needed to tie up some loose ends before signing off on my holiday. Arriving at Tokyo station I bought a Shinkansen ticket to Nagano for a train leaving in 5 minutes, which gave me just enough time to buy a drink from the vending machine and head to the platform. No reservation in advance was needed, as it was still Wednesday, so there were quite a few available seats.

I wanted to reward myself for the morning sprint, so I bought a ticket for the Green Car - the ✨fancier✨ part of the train. The seat was spacious, clean, with a table and an electric outlet, which was exactly what I needed.

As the train left Tokyo Station I had about an hour and 20 minutes until we arrive in Nagano station. The views from the train are lovely - the scenery changes from the gray Tokyo buildings skyline to the rice fields and countryside and finally the lush green mountains. Getting of at the Nagano station, the air was crisp and I already felt the excitement for the upcoming adventure building up. Sent off last few emails from Beck’s Coffee at the station, met up with my friend and we were ready to go!

Our first task was to pick up a rental car from the Nippon Rental Car store about 10 minutes from the station. The staff welcomed us and after s brief introduction they showed us to our car. It took us a while to figure out the navigation, but after a afew minutes we were on our way to a place that has been on my bucket list for a very long time - Kamikochi.

Kamikochi (上高地) is a mountain valley tucked away in the Hida mountains. It is most famous for its view of the beautiful river, the red Kappa Bridge crossing over it and the mountain peaks towering in the back, ideally still with some snow covering them. Along the river, there is a walking path connecting a few lakes/ponds (Taisho Pond, Myojin Pond). It is great for a day day trip but also as a staring point for many hikes to the surrounding mountains. The nature in the area is strictly protected, so you can only get there by a bus, which is what we did after leaving our rental car at the designated parking lot. (700 JPY/day).

We arrived at Kamikochi around noon and before starting our walk we bought some small snacks, including a wasabi Croquet (in the picture), which was delicious and not spicy at all. Even though it was a weekday and still not the main tourist season, there were quite a few people around. As there were no free benches, but we wanted to sit down to enjoy our light meal, we asked an older Japanese lady if she would be so kind and let us sit with her. She shared her bench and table with us and we exchanged some small talk. We got to know that she lives in Kyoto, comes to Nagano every year to refresh and always sends postcards from her travels to her friends. It was a lovely chat but soon we needed to be on our way. We actually exchanged addresses and a few weeks later I received a beautiful hand written letter.

We were now on our way to the most famous walking route in Kamikochi - a path that runs along the river between the Kappa bridge and the Myojin pond (About 2.5 hours there and back). I was also breaking in my new hiking shoes, just bought a few days before the trip, so the mostly flat terrain was a great easy start. During this walk you will experience a various terrains - a dirt path, gravel, wooden bridges and an asphalt road. As you walk along, you can enjoy nice views of the surrounding mountain peaks and a crystal clear river separating into a few smaller streams. As most of the path goes through a forested area, it is a nice walk even on a sunny summer day as you are protected from the sun.

We also ran into some monkeys who did not seem to mind at all that a large number of hikers was passing by and taking their picture. They seemed quite used to people but you still need to be careful - don’t get too close and do not make eye contact. At the end of the walk you will find the Myojin pond and Hotaka Shrine. In the same area there are also two cafes where you can stop by for some refreshments before you head back.

After we got back to the Kappa Bridge area, we sat down for a little bit. There seemed to be less people at this time. As I have not seen my friend for a long time, there was a lot to catch up on. Well what would be a better place for the catch up than this wooden bench surrounded by nature, breathing in the fresh air as the sun slowly makes it way down ready to hide behind the mountain tops. We got on the second to last bus from Kamikochi to the parking lot and drove to our hotel for the night - Hotakaso Yamano Hotel.

It was an older hotel tucked away in the Hotakaso Mountain village, offering nice views of the mountains. I wish we had more time to explore the hotel as it had a few interesting features - a large astro-boy statue by the entrance, an indoor footbath, an antique phone booth and probably much more. However the highlight of the hotel was definitely the rotenburo - outdoor hot spring/onsen. To get to the outdoor onsen you had to actually leave the hotel, walk across the road and take a small elevator-cable-car down to the river valley. There were a few outdoor onsen, some of which you could reserve in advance, so even if you want to go in together with a partner or family, or if you have tattoos, it would be no problem. There was also a mixed onsen here, for which they provided us bathing suits when we checked in. This time we opted for the women-only onsen and we were lucky - it was only us in the spacious outdoor bath. Enjoying our time in the hot water, cool air and the image of steam rising from the onsen dimly backlit by the lanterns around the bath, I will quote my friend here: “I could get used to this”. Indeed, I could get used to this too.

Kamikochi: .https://www.kamikochi.org

Hotakaso Yamano Hotel: https://shinhodaka-yamanohotel.jp

Day 2 - Climbing a volcano

I loved the onsen so much that I came back again early next morning to enjoy it again, and once again, I was alone for most of the time. Afterwards, we had a wonderful Japanese breakfast at the hotel restaurant. As it is often the case, it came with rice and many side dishes, some of which we were not sure what they were. But we ate everything as we needed to get as much nutrition as possible. Today, there was quite a challenging hike ahead of us - Mt.Yake. (焼岳) We admired the 2,444m mountain from Kamikochi yesterday as we mentally prepared for the 5-6 hour hike. 

Mt.Yake is actually an active volcano. In fact, the only active volcano in the Northern Alps. Remember the ponds I mentioned in Kamikochi? Well one of them - The Taisho Pond - was actually created by an eruption of Mt. Yake in 1915. So please do be careful when climbing this mountain and always check the latest information.

The first challenge was to get to the trailhead. We found that there were a few places you can start the hike, but the one called “Route 185” seemed like the best option. That was until we came across a “ROAD CLOSED” sign. Luckily, we passed another trailhead on the way and went back a little to park our car and start our adventure. It was cloudy, with only little wind and not too hot - perfect weather for hiking.

The first few minutes of the hike were really nice, we were walking a nice trail in the forest. And then the trail just got steeper and steeper and we were climbing up rocks for the last few hundred meters. The markings of the trail were quite straightforward - a big white [O] for the right way and an [X] for the wrong way. We only met one older couple on our way up, but there were a few more groups of people on the top - a German couple, two American friends, a girl from the Netherlands an three Japanese girls cooking ramen on top with their gas burner.

The views from the top were amazing, especially seeing Kamikochi from a completely different angle than yesterday. It looked like a green oasis in the middle of sharp mountains around it. The only thing that took away from the serenity (or maybe added to the unique atmosphere?) of the place was the strong sulfur smell, which can be expected when climbing an active volcano. There were a few holes in the rocks from which steam was coming out and some even had yellowed around the opening because of the amount of sulfur. The mountain was a bit more active than we expected so we did not stay at the top for too long and after a short break headed down. Actually a few days after we came back from the trip the trail got temporarily closed due to increased volcanic activity.

The way down was much easier than the way up (as it usually is haha), although we had to be very careful as the rocks were a bit loose at some places. What is really nice about walking down hill is that we were not out of breath so we got to talk for the whole time. It’s funny how with some people you don’t talk for years and when you meet again, it’s as if nothing has changed at all…

At the very end of the trail, there is an abandoned rusty car wreck that looks like it has been there for quite some time now. We wondered what was the story behind it - if anybody has an idea, please do let me know.

We had to make one stop on the way to our next accommodation - and outdoor shop to buy headlamps and spikes, as we were planning to hike Mt. Shirouma the next day and heard there was still a lot of snow left. We found a small outdoor store in Azumino city called TREKVOGEL. We walked in and were welcomed by an older gentlemen, who was the owner of the store. Headlamps we found right away, but looking around and not finding spikes, we asked the owner for where we could find them. Unfortunately, he did not have any in the store and I started to get a bit worried, since it was getting a bit late and we might not be able to stop by another outdoor store today. The owner asked about our plans for the next day and then nonchalantly said: “Would you like to use mine?”. At first I refused as I was not sure whether he was just being super polite or really meant it. He explained that he has no time to go hiking anymore since he became a store owner and would not mind lending them to me, so I have taken him up on his offer. He made a quick call to his wife and said he will be back in 15 minutes and left us alone in the store. The amount of kindness, trust and hospitality Japanese people have is truly amazing. He came back with two sizes and picked the right one for me. We paid for the headlamps and promised to come back in two days to return the spikes.

As we reached our hostel for the night, it was already dark. We called in advance to let the owner know that we will be running a bit late, but still felt bad for having them wait up for us. It was a (traditional Japanese wooden building) guesthouse with a co-working space, featuring a large sitting space, a kotatsu and a communal kitchen and dining space. As we were checking i they asked us about our plans for the next day and when we mentioned Mt.Shirouma, the lady stopped and said: “I don’t think you can go there yet.” We were surprised as we were able to book the mountain hut, but it gave us a reason to look into it a bit more. We found out that even though it is not the main season, it is still possible to hike up the mountain, but you need spikes (which we now had) and also an ice axes (which we did not have) to climb up safely. We had to make a decision whether or not we were going to take a risk. And if we decided to change our plans, what would we do instead. We looked up a few options and decided to make the final call in the morning - as they say “The morning is wiser than the evening”.

To be continued…

Mt.Yake: https://thejapanalps.com/en/route/mt-yakedake/

Kominka Hotel Yuwai: https://yuwai-kominka.jp/

GALLERY: