Hinata-yama Day Hike (03Jun2017)

Hiking

I originally planned to hike two mountains in a day, but changed it to hike one mountain plus pleasures. This kind of change may be unavoidable for hike with family…

Ice cream

“Next weekend, I want to plan Hinata-yama hike and Kayagatake hike. I mean, we hike Hinata-yama first, then moving to Kayagatake where is about 1 hour away from the first mountain.”
“It’s too hard.”
“Those are far form hour home. Just one hike is not efficient.”
“Oh really? But…, it’s too hard.”
“Well, how about a hike puls onsen and factory tours. At the ice cream factory, we can try ice cream. You may eat as much as you like.”
“Agree.”

We arrived past six in the mourning at Yadateishi parking space. When we were about to start hike, my daughter said “There is a deer”. When you look up, a Japanese serow (designated as a special natural treasure) was eating leaves of trees. This was a beginning of our lucky day.

Japanese serow was eating leaves of trees at a parking space.

moujntain path to Hinata-yama — Almost all the path to Hinata-yama is among trees. It was very comfortable.

the path is in good condition — The path was in good condition. I think it is easy to walk even for younger children.

There were signs that shows, for example, ’10-5′ and ’10-9′. The sign show us the location where we were on the path.

the sign ''10-9' — There was a sign on the path.

The path was covered with sandy soil. It looked like a path to a beach. Could we smell of the salt?

After passing through the trees among the sandy path, hikers can see a dramatic change in landscape. Hikers break out of the forest into the open. We can see great views of Yatsugatake Mountains and Kai-Komagatake.

the peak of Hinata-yama — The peak of Hinata-yama

Yatsugatake Mountains; view from the peak of Hinata-yama

Mt. Kai-Komagatake; view from the peak of Hinata-yama

According to the source we checked before planning, we could see Mt. Fuji from mountaintop area. It was a sunny day. We could not go down the mountain without check and see Mt. Fuji, we thought. We decided to move to ‘Gangawara’.

NOTE: I do not recommend to traverse the mountain for less skilled hikers and people having uneasiness feeling. Difficulty is depends on the condition (e.g. weather) as well as mental and skills. There were mountain disasters in the past.

traversed steep face of the mountain — traversing steep face of the mountain – there was a slippy part but not difficult to pass even for our daughter

Mt. Kai-Komagatake and Mt. Houo; view from Gangawara

Mt. Houo and Mt. Fuji; view from Gangawara

a close-up picture of Mt. Fuji; view from Gangawara

What about my daughter?
She enjoyed the great view and took lots of photos.

my daughter is taking photos — Taking photos is one of my daughter’s enjoyment of a hike.

After the hike, we stopped by an onsen, then visited ice cream factory and mineral water factory, as planned.
After we came home, I asked my daughter “What was the best thing about doing today?”
She replied immediately “Ice cream”.

It was OK for me, as long as she hikes mountains with me…
In any case, it was a successful hike that we could see beautiful mountains such as Mt. Fuji, Mt. Kai-Komagatake and Yatsugatake Mountains. In addition, we enjoyed onsen, and ice cream at ice cream factory.

Route & Time

Hike date: June 3, 2017
Members: Family (farther, mother and 9-year-old daughter)
Course time:
6:26 trailhead (Yadateishi) – 7:57 Hinata-yama (and Gangawara) 8:38 – 9:26 Yadateishi [3 hours]