2013-11-03 大源太山

Daigenta-san in Niigata prefecture.
　
Access:
Take the expressway up to Yuzawa, from there take the road towards the East. The last part is not paved and very narrow, at the end of this road there is a small space serving as a parking lot for up to 10 cars.

We left the car as it was still dark at 5:15. The start of the hike is almost flat up to the river crossing, in the dark it was a bit tricky to find the best spot to cross but the rope helped. At this point it would be delicate to cross without getting wet feet when the water level rises.

From the river crossing to the first summit called Shishigoya no kashira, map time is 2:50, the trail is quite steep in the forest. There are a few slippery spots exposed on one side that require caution. As the sun was still lower than the ridge to the East we ascended in dim light but still noticed the red tints of the trees on the slopes facing us on the other side of the valley.

A short while after the sun started to pour light on a summit to the South we reached Shishigoya exactly 2 hours after departing from the car. From there the the whole ridge up to Daigenta-san and even after came to sight. Daigenta was most impressive from this point, the summit looked so steep we could not be sure to reach it later in the morning.
From there no trees remain and Sasa are omnipresent with a cocktail of bushes. The trail had been maintained recently, a lot of Sasa were freshly cut on the side of the path. As we progressed towards Nanakoya, the highest point of the day, the ridge to Shigenokura came to sight and a bit later Tanigawadake.

From Shishigoya to Nanakoya the trail is very easy with nothing steep and soft dirt on the trail. Contrary to the weather forecast and to our delight there was all but no wind but it was a quite cold. There was still no snow on Tanigawa, something quite unexpected at this time of the year.

From Nanakoya towards Daigenta the trail is quite steep on muddy dirt but the bushes and the few trees present on this part make for good holds. I would think twice before doing this trail on a rainy day as it was already slippery after few days without rain. When we reached the lowest point between the two summits, Daigenta was towering above us but seemed less impressive than 2 hours earlier. It suddently seemed much smaller and very close at hand.
A party of 3 going down the rocky summit slowed us down as we had to let them go when we passed each other at the first chain. In total we didn't meet much more than 10 people and most of them around Daigenta. A few other chains and in no time we reached the summit.

After a short break and an early lunch we kept going to finish our loop. The trail is overall very steep up to the river with a lot of ropes on rocky stretches.
As we were going down we were getting closer to the forest which was colored in autumn tints from yellow to red. The combination of different colors was particularly interesting when the trees were between the sun and the camera.

When we reached the river a series of small waterfalls bordered with trees of various colors gave a final touch to the day.

We found a nice onsen around Yuzawa station, there were other places closer to the trail head in the sky resort but everything was still shut down.

Overall a good hike with more than half of the trail on a ridge with nothing to block the view. A few spots requiring caution and Daigenta being more impressive from far than technical.

More pictures here: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/arxsjvk911j3r62/7vSkS7Vo5i