Nagano (Part 2.) Sunrise hike to Mt.Jonen, “I can do hard things”

We woke up to the sound of rain outside the window. Even though I usually love rainy days and how the low hanging clouds make all panoramas a bit more dramatic, it is not the ideal weather for hiking an already-a-bit-dangerous-to-climb mountain, where you have to walk over a large snow field. Even more so without the right equipment.

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We had to make an executive decision and change our plans. We gave up on hiking Mt. Shirouma. I was honestly quite disappointed, as I have been really looking forward to this hike and have been waiting for a chance to go for a few years, however, I did feel we made the right decision to not take an unnecessary risk. How many times have we heard about people ignoring the weather warnings in the mountains and never making it back? We were not going to be those people. Plus it is another reason to come back to Nagano again!

But what now? We have booked the night at the Shirouma hut, which is right below the top of Mt. Shirouma, so we would need to find a different place to stay. Not wanting to give up on the “staying at a mountain hut” idea, we looked for alternatives. And luckily, Nagano has lots of options, including huts on mountains you can hike even in the rain without worrying about dying. And one of these mountains is Mt. Jonen.

We made a quick phone call to the Jonen hut and asked whether there is any chance we could make a reservation for the night. The lovely lady at the other end of the phone said: "Absolutely! But you know it is raining right?” “..Yes, we have noticed the rain, thank you, but we have good hiking shoes, rainproof jackets and rain covers for the backpacks, we’ll be fine.” She was still a bit worried about the rain getting worse and let us know that if we decided to turn back halfway, we can just call her and there will be no cancellation fee. (Which was very nice, since we did have to pay a cancellation fee for the Shirouma hut)

And just like that, we switched to Plan B, got in the car and took an hour drive through the rainy, moody Nagano scenery to our new trailhead.

The rain was not letting up and there was only one other car in the parking lot as we arrived in the light rain. After repacking our bags and putting on the rain-protection we walked up the road for about 15 minutes before reaching the actual trailhead. As we were walking a taxi passed by us on its way down. (You can reach the trailhead by a taxi if you do not have a car)

We noticed that the the guy taking the taxi was not Japanese and he was.. waving at us? What a weirdo, but maybe he wants to wish us good luck for the rainy hike? It was only later that night we found out it was actually a guy my friend met in a Hiroshima guest house during her Japan travels. What a small world.

At the beginning of the trail, there was a small resting space with public toilets and a large white mailbox. Well, it looked like a mailbox, but it was actually a box to put in your hiking itinerary that can be usued by the rescue folks should you get lost. Next to it was a stack of paper forms where you can write your name, personal information, emergency contacts and what you currently have with you (water, food - for how many days, headlamp, waterproof clothing etc). We filled these in, put them in the box and were on our way.

At the start of the trail we were greeted by a big sign “beware of bears”. Today we would really need to be careful, as the visibility was low and the rain could prevent us from hearing any sounds that would warn us of a bear being around. The rain also completely muted out our small “bear bell”, which I always carry on hikes.

After a few minutes of walking, we came across a beautiful wooden torrii gate and a small shrine next to a large tree. The whole scene looked like it was taken from a Ghibli movie and made me even more excited for the 4 hours of walking ahead.

The hike was actually really nice! The water resistant clothing and hiking shoes were doing their job, the air was fresh, it was not too hot.. maybe I was wrong, maybe this is the ideal hiking weather? Well, that might be saying a bit too much since taking off the rain cover from the backback everytime we needed something was a bit annoying. And some parts of the trail falling apart were also not so cool. The rail was going along a river but in some places, the rain turned the trail itself into a river, which was very “fun” when trying to cross the deeper places.

We did not meet a single soul on our way up. As the “bear danger” started to feel real, we were talking, whistling or clapping our hands occasionally to let any bear know that we are here and don’t want to surprise them. Also a bonus - there was no phone signal for most of the way, which did make us a bit worried, but what could we do.

As we slowly made our way up the mountain, the air got a bit cooler and visibilty lower. It felt like we were walking into a cloud as the mist and fog started to gather around us. We made one last stop to recharge with water and some snacks before starting the steepest part of the treck.

What we did not expect was a challenge in a form of a small snow field. Seems like we will get to use the borrowed crampons after all. There was a thin rope to help us going up, but snow on a rainy day can be quite slippery. We made our way up slowly, careful about each step and (as you might’ve guessed) made it across safely.

The last 400 meters were maybe the worst 400 meters of my life, the path was extremely steep and it felt like we were not moving forward at all, just going up up up. But after hat felt like forever, we were there! We reached the area on the top of the path where the mointain hut was supposed to be.. but where is it?? The fog was so thick, we could barely see anything, so it took us a little while to find it.

As we walked inside, we were welcomed by a gush of warm air, probably thanks to the oil heater placed nearby the entrance. The lovely gentleman at the reception checked us in and send us directly to the “dryer room”. This was a room where travelers could change from their soaked clothes and leave them here to dry while they spend time inside the hut.

Now, in dry clothes, happy and warm, we made our way to the main dinig room and sat down right beside another heater. There was also free warm tea, which we helped ourselves to. Finally resting our legs and our nerves as it was quite a mentally straining hike, we were just happy to be alive and sitting down in a warm room. It was still raining outside, but the weatherman on TV was letting us know that it should clear up tomorrow. Meaning the weather will be good enough to have a nice view from the top of Mt. Jonen, which we were planning to hike to tomorrow. All was good, the worls was perfect and then we noticed.. they have beer! On tap! Don’t mind if we do. This one was well deserved and the perfect reward after the tough day.

We were told there were only two other people staying at the hut besides us today. Not surprising given the weather ant the fact it was still Friday, not the weekend yet. We explored the hut a little bit before going to dinner. There were no showers, but there were sinks to wash hands or brush teeth and also gender-separated bathrooms. Not the flushing kind, of course.

It must be really nice to come here on a sunny day, as there is a lot of benches and tables outside. There was a souvenir shop and you could also buy drinks and food, even if you are not staying the night. The rooms are small and simple, with only futon sets that when set up are right next to each other. Usually, we would have to share the room with 3-4 more people, but we were lucky to have it to ourselves today.

The dinner was delicious and what made it even better was meeting the other two people who were staying here. They were two older gentlemen, very kind and easy to talk to. They did not speak much English and my friend did not speak Japanese so I did simultaneous interpretation about hiking, traveling, work and life in general. After two hours of energetic talk, my brain was fried but I was happy and ready for bed. We were getting up at 3:20 the next day to start our sunrise hike at 3:30.

I did not sleep well that night. I was up every 20-30 minutes and when the alarm rung next to my pillow at 3:20 I just wanted to shut it down and continue sleeping. But this is what we came here for and I was sure I would regret it if I did not push myself to get up, get dressed, splash some water on my face to wake up and head out. We put on our headlamps and stepped outside into the night.

The sky has cleared up completely and yesterday’s rain was just a distant memory. It was cold, but the fresh air was great for waking up the mind and the body. We started the hour long ascent to the mountain top with no time to spare, but to be honest, my condition was not great. Not great at all. The path was quite steep and the lack of sleep the night before and overall exhaustion from the last few weeks was taking its toll. Each step felt as if I had weights on my ankles and my chest started to hurt. I was not enjoying this hike. I asked my friend to go forward on her own pace, as I did not want to hold her back. Now I was alone on this beautiful mountain, thinking whether to continue, turn back or just stay where I was. Well.. it does not feel like I am going to die yet so I decided to start walking again because… “I can do hard things”. I remember when our company’s management team visited our Tokyo office and the Head if APAC gave a speech. The one thing that really resonated with me was a mantra she used to tell herself when things got difficult: “I can do hard things”. Well, I can do hard things too, and this is one of them. One foot in front of the other, step after step. I did not look up too much, as I though it would be better not to know how much I have left. The view of the valley and the city lights glistering in the distance were phenomenal though.

It was now actually quite bright and the sky was starting to turn orange. I have decide to look up and.. I could see the top! Maybe I will make it?? The wind got much stronger so I had to put on a fleece and a wind-proof jacket. While putting on my layers I was hyping myself up for the last spurt when suddenly I look at the horizon and.. the sun started coming up! It was so beautiful that I just stood frozen and stared at it. In that one moment, nothing else mattered in the world, just the fact that I am seeing this amazing sight. Everything that has not been going well recently felt incredibly insignificant. Even the fact that I am not at the top yet. The small orange ball was slowly making its way up from behind the mountains in the distance, turning from a tiny bump to a half-circle to burning circle in the sky.

I took a few pictures, enjoyed the view for a minute and finally made it to the top of the mountain where my friend was already waiting for me. Mt. Jonen is 2,857m and offers breathtaking 365 views of the surrounding Northern Alps. We were both so happy to be there, and to be there together! We were alone at the top for a while and later one more hiker joined. Despite the cold cold wind everyone had wide smiles on our faces. The sunrise in one side was stunning, but the view of the snow covered peaks on the other side, with the magnificent Yarigatake spike in the middle was no less impressive.

I felt amazing. I guess people need to do difficult things from time to time. To remind ourselves that we can. And that we are tough and resilient and awesome and should be proud of ourselves. If you want to feel accomplishment.. climb mountains! Trust me on this one. The views are just a cherry on top.

We had to start making our way down, as breakfast was waiting for us at the hut. We were about halfway down the mountains when we saw two people making their way up - our new friends from last night. They were going to hike to the top of Mt. Jonen, come back to the hut and then continue hiking to a mountain on the opposite side. We we happy to run into them, exchanged contact information and said goodbye. How cool would it be to run into each other hiking again.

The breakfast was delicious and we enjoyed it while sipping warm green tea and looking at the view of the surrounding mountains. We had one more task before starting our hike down - to find accommodation for the night. The only condition we had was that we were looking for a place with a nice onsen. After about 30 minutes, we found and booked one. Here I would like to say that I do not recommend leaving the hotel bookings to last minute. We were very lucky to find nice places, as it was still off-season, but do plan in advance. As a souvenir we bought t-shirts with the Jonen hut logo and a new bear bell - this one would probably be heard even in the rain. We really took our time to get ready and rest a bit more before we had to say goodbye to the hut. Thank you, Jonen hut, it was a lovely stay.

This time we met quite a few people that were making their way up the mountain. Understandably so - it was a lovely Saturday, the sky was blue, temperature perfect, visibility amazing. The hike down was very pleasant, the path almost unrecognizable from yesterday. We made our way down the steep path (much nicer than going up), carefully crossed the snow field, and enjoyed the walk along the river. We struggled a little bit on a part of the trail that got washed away by the rain but it was a nice added adventure element.

As we walked through one of the bridges on the path, a swarm of butterflies has decided to make the atmosphere even more beautiful.

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It felt like the exact opposite of my daily life in Tokyo filled with gray buildings, frowning people in thw overpacked morning trains and constant noise of the city. Can I .. stay here? Well no, I can’t, and before we knew it we were at the end of the trail. Once again we passed the wooden torii and arrived at the rest stop where we left our hiking details just one day prior. We sat down on the warm road for a bit and just enjoyed the sunshine. It was lovely.

As we stopped  by TREKVOGEL to return the crampons, I got to meet the shop owners wife, who was smiling ear to ear when she saw me at the door. “You must be the spikes girl haha”, she said the moment I walked in. Yes, that was I. I thanked them for their kindness and said we had an amazing hike thanks to them. We also stopped for lunch/dinner on the way. There was a soba restaurant next to a Family Mart we stopped by and we decided to go in. I had the mini curry and soba set. Delicious!

After another hour of driving and we have arrived at our final hotel of the trip. It was a Japanese style hotel with tatami-floored spacious rooms and an onsen. I could not believe we found this place just this morning and they had free rooms for a reasonable price. We enjoyed the onsen and headed back to the room, ready to bury ourselves in the futons. Falling asleep in about ten seconds, this time, I slept very well. Or maybe I died for a few hours, who knows :D Once again, I went for a second round of the onsen in the morning, enjoyed the outside bath which I had all to myself and smiled remembering moments from this amazing trip.

Mt. Jonen: https://thejapanalps.com/en/route/mt-jonen/

Jonen hut: https://thejapanalps.com/en/mountain-hut/jonengoya/

Hotel Keisui: https://www.keisui.jp/