Nishi/Higashi-Tengudake round trip hike (Northern Yatsugatake, Nagano)

My husband and I were looking for hiking opportunities this summer that would suit our skill level and our friend recommend taking a look at Yatsugatake! The Yatsugatake Mountains are near the edge of Nagano and Yamanashi, so the location is decent from Kanagawa and Tokyo (closer than the Northern Alps). There are two sections (northern and southern) of Yatsugatake and many different hiking trails. 

Due to some unforeseen navigation issues, we started at Karasawa Mineral Spring hut with no previous reference for this area or the path, but luckily were able to figure it out with the course maps and signs around. This is essentially the route we ended up following: Karasawa Kosen - NishiTengudake - HigashiTengudake round trip course (with a slight modification by navigating towards the pond vs taking Nakayama Pass). Tengudake is part of the northern Yatsugake group. 

We parked the car along the road near Karasawa Kosen which seems like a large mountain hut with many different amenities if you wanted to stay overnight. They had a pay-to-use toilet in the building, and there was also a pay-to-use portapotty along the road as well. 

We had a basic idea of the route we wanted to follow and determined that we should go in the direction of any signs for Nishi-Tengudake 西天狗岳. Here we go! After all the delays of trying to figure out where we were and what to do, we finally started hiking at around 08:15.

The first parts of the hike have tree coverage with some rocks and other vegetation but the trail is clear. 

At the first exposed lookout point, about 1.5 hours in, we were greeted with...no view! I specifically had planned this hiking trip with the flexibility for us to reschedule if the weather was bad and specifically only wanted to hike if we were going to get a view from the summit, and somehow we ended up doing the entire thing (despite wrong location) anyway! lol. 

On the plus side, the temperature wasn't too bad - not nearly as humid as it has been at home and I think we started at around 27C and likely got cooler as we climbed in elevation. Summer temperatures were especially tolerable with the tree cover. 

Almost to Nishitengudake - we can finally see the summit out ahead in the distance. We reach the 2nd observatory point at around 10:20 (approximately 2 hours after we started) with an anticipated 30+ minute climb ahead to our next landmark.

Rock scrambling time into the foggy clouds! Rocks were large and seemed secure and easy to climb for the most part, especially if you had two free hands. There were trail circle markers to help guide you for the easiest/safest way up.

Nishi-Tengudake summit at 11:03! With a generous amount of breaks along the way, it took us about 3 hours to get from Karasawa Kosen 唐沢鉱泉 (1869m) to Nishitengudake 西天狗岳 (2646m). Of course, as we expected, sadly no view for us at the top, but there are a lot of dragonflies!

Small moment of clouds clearing up

Continuing on, we look towards Higashi-Tengudake as we continue to make our way through the round trip course. Other hikers along the way had warned us that there was impending thunder 雷/storm so we knew we needed to keep up the pace. 

It takes us only a little over 15 minutes to get from the Nishi-Tengudake summit to Higashi-Tengudake summit 東天狗岳 (2640m). We take in the views and rest for a little bit, but soon enough it starts to rain very steadily.

We followed the signs towards Nakayama Pass 中山峠  / Kuroyuridaira 黒百合平, on our way back towards where we started on a new trail. With umbrellas lol. None of us had packed jackets, but luckily we now think of an umbrella as a hiking essential after every single other significant hike being attacked by rain. 

At the branch point about 15min away from the summit, two signs pointed towards Kuroyuridaira 黒百合平, our next intended landmark. We weren't immediately sure which was the better path but made a spontaneous decision to use the route including Suribachiike Pond スリバチ池. 

The majority (if not all) of the course is downhill and there are a lot of larger rocks. With the rain, I felt a bit uncertain about where I was stepping and whether it would be slippery, and I was definitely the slowest in the group for this portion. Thunder was rumbling in the distance and then closer and closer as we kept moving. 

An hour after the branch for Suribachiike Pond (which we kind of saw - it was empty/"dry" despite the pouring rain), we finally got a glimpse of Kuroyuri mountain hut. It was such a relief to finally see shelter and a stopping place in sight. We paused here to regroup, get a drink (no real meals available at this hut as far as we could tell), paid to use the toilet and come up with a plan for getting back in the rain.

A bit more refreshed, we left after about half an hour with our umbrellas up. This section on our way out contained a lot of these little made made "bridges" and parallel paths where you could choose the muddier side with tree roots or the large rocks. 

Thankfully, the rain cleared up not too long after we started back out, and we were able to enjoy the scenery and environment a lot better.

Last branch point - we're almost back after crossing this bridge!

Stopped to check out this little pool (mineral spring?) which is maybe 100m away from the mountain hut. The water was clear and bright but cold!

Hike completed back at the car near Karasawa Kosen at 15:30! The rain seemed to have stopped for us for the last bit, and despite being muddy, were able to change and pack up pretty easily and left feeling hungry but successful.

What went wrong/negatives:

- Google maps didn't take us to the parking for the Sakuradaira trailhead where we were meant to start the Iodake hike. We followed the navigation precisely but didn't realize that despite the pin placement and no indication it was taking you elsewhere, it just considers the end result successful at Karasawa Kosen?? So we did an entirely different hike than I had prepared for.

- Only planned to actually do the hike if the weather was good (no rain). It rained with thunderstorms.

- Only planned to actually do the hike if there would be a view. There was no view. 

- Not part of the hike itself, but there were multiple car accidents on the way home, and it took us an extra 70+ minutes beyond the original 3 hours in nearly standstill traffic to get back wtf. 

What went "right"/positives:

- Despite 0% overlap with our anticipated route, the overall hike was a similar distance and difficulty.

- We didn't run out of water! (There were less mountain huts on this route than the planned one.)

- Had umbrellas despite no other weather gear to protect from rain which helped keep us dry. 

- Lightning didn't hit us lol.

- Fewer other hikers on the route, so we could freely talk and go at our own pace.

- Fun times with friends 🧀

Months ago, our initial hiking plan was to do a 2 day, 1 night hike including Akadake, Yokodake and Iodake (southern Yatsugatake) with a tent stay, but downsized to a day hike for just Iodake. Day of, that spontaneously turned into a day hike for Tengudake (northern Yatsugatake) simply because of where we parked, but honestly, for all the things that went awry, the end result was positive for me. We had a good time with friends + a little bit of a physical challenge which I appreciated. This is just another (the 4th) of those times we went hiking in Japan and it rained, and actually the 5th time we hiked and there was no view lmao. I guess we can't escape it!

Previous hiking in Japan posts:

Mt Fuji July 2017

Mt Fuji July 2022

Hakuba Yari Onsen in Nagano

Karasawa Cirque / Kamikochi in Nagano

Nokogiriyama hike in Chiba