2014-10-12 大菩薩嶺

Day hike to Daibosatsurei

I had this trail in mind for more than a year already but suddenly decided to go for it 2 days before.
I tend to always prioritize uphill but I decided to take the bus to Daibosatsu toge tozanguchi bus stop in the morning and by doing so there is slightly more downhill overall.

I woke up at 4:15 and took the train at 5:05 and got to the bus stop at 8:00, from there I passed a handful of hikers and after a short stretch on asphalt I found the trail. At first it was a wide forest road made of dirt, and after a while it became a real trail. It reminded me of the trail leading to Hinokibora from Nishi Tanzawa, with the same kind of ridge. At some point there are rocks and tree roots making it a bit difficult to go with young kids, but this time I was alone so it didn't even slow me down. Map time to the summit is 3:35 but it took me less than half that time to reach there. At the summit there is absolutely no view as it is flat and covered in dense forest, yet a few hundred meters further the landscape becomes interesting. Fuji dominates the horizon as no significant mountain surrounds it, on the West the South Alps and Yatsugatake tower over a sea of clouds. Unfortunately clouds of high altitude occluded most of the skies and the light was relatively poor, on the other hand the absence of such cloud would have made me deeply regret the decision not to leave by night.

At Daibosatsu pass there was such a crowd it was a delicate matter to take even a single picture. The presence of shops made me despise the place, I don't understand why places like this become touristic spots…

From Daibostasu pass there was suddenly significantly less traffic and I passed a couple of groups a few times. A series of ups-and-downs and I reached Yunosawa pass, 9 hours map time from the start in exactly 4h30 so I had hopes at that time to keep the pace to the end and finish in 50% of map time. I wastes a few minutes going to the water point only to realize there was no way to fill be bottle with that little trickle. I checked my water level and deemed I had enough to get to the station.

From there another series of ups-and-downs passing via a summit with fences and doors as a protective measure against … I don't know what around a flower field (no flowers at this time of the year) the fences made the place ugly more than anything.

On the way to here I had seen a few red trees but at one particular summit (Hamaibamaru) there was a concentration of red trees with a view on Mount Fuji. The autumn leaves are so early this year, I wonder if we can conclude that winter will come early too? If so I welcome the prospect of snow hikes from the end of the month.

After a while I got to Oyagamaru and from there followed the trail I had walked in December last year. I ran most of the way and when the trail flattened and ran along a clear stream I wanted to take a break and drink some of its water and take pictures but I just couldn't stop running.

In the end I couldn't make 50% of map time, over such a distance (30 km and 14h50 map time) it is quite a challenge. Overall it took me 7h53 or 53% of 14h50.

More pictures here: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/9ue78v96onzb0bh/AABl6OhoASrTutUsZLaXlK3Na?dl=0

PS: I believe the GPS app was overly optimistic when computing the elevation change, it didn't feel like much more than 2000m.