(丹沢山) Mt. Tanzawa Winter Hike

 

Land of mountain leeches, which I only realized once I climbed a summit called - Mt. Leech. I'm so glad I accidentally went here in winter. 

Budget: JPY8,080 (~USD78)

• JPY2,000. Train, Tokyo < > Hadano Station (JPY1,000 one way)
• JPY280. Bus, Hadano Station to Yabitsu-touge.
• JPY300. Bus, Okura to Hadano Station. 
• JPY5,500. Stay at the mountain hut at Mt. Tanzawa Summit. 

Hike Date / Difficulty (Elevation: 1,567m / 5,141ft)

• January 5-6, 2019
• Difficulty: 3 out of 5.
• Route below is around 25.1kilometers, with an elevation change of ▲2,558m/ ▽3,028m
• PDF Map Link 

When to Go
Preferably in winter, when there are no leeches. If you don't mind leeches, then anytime during the year. 

Special Notes

• Weather forecast. English / Japanese. English more detailed, Japanese more accurate. 
• Trailheads. 
• Yabitsu-touge (ヤビツ峠) . Google maps pin. A much nicer trailhead than the main one - Okura. Okura was mainly big stairs. Ugh. Access as follows:
• Train, Tokyo to Hadano Station. About 2 hours, JPY1,000 one way.
• Bus, Hadano Station (秦野駅) to Yabitsu-touge (ヤビツ峠). JPY280, 48 minutes one way. Earliest trains are 7:44am, 8:24am and 9:04am. 
• Jan 24, 2021 update: with the snow, buses do not go to Yabitsu and stop at Bodai (source). 
• Bodai (菩提). Haven't tried this trail, but a pretty good option. 
• Train, Tokyo to Hadano Station. About 2 hours, JPY1,000 one way.
• Bus, Hadano Station (秦野駅) to Bodai (菩提). JPY250, 14 minutes one way.
• Okura (大倉). I remember this trail as a trail I didn't like, mainly because of the big steps/stairs haha.  
• Train, Tokyo to Hadano Station. About 2 hours, JPY1,000 one way.
• Bus, Hadano Station (秦野駅) to Okura (大倉). JPY300, 19 minutes one way.
• Mountain huts. 
• Paid. Available right next to the summits.
• Tounodake: 尊仏山荘
• Mt. Tanzawa: みやま山荘
• Mt. Hiru: 蛭ヶ岳山荘
• Free. None. 
• Camping. With some designated sections close to the trailhead, but not allowed at the ridges/peaks. 

Itinerary
Saturday

• 05:30am. Train, Tokyo to Hadano Station.
• 07:23am. Arrived at Hadano Station. 
• 07:44am. Bus, Hadano Station to Yabitsu-touge. 
• 08:32am. Arrived at Yabitsu-touge. Start hike. 
• 12:43pm. Arrived at Tounodake summit, sat in one of the many benches, and ate lunch. It was at this point that we had to decide if we're pushing for Mt. Tanzawa as we might not make it down the mountain on time, and we decided to change our plans and make it an overnight stay. 
• 02:00pm. Arrived at Mt. Tanazawa summit and checked in for an overnight stay. 

Sunday

• 07:00am-ish. Started hike. It was mainly stairs going down from Mt. Tanzawa and going up Mt. Hiru. 
• 08:34am. Arrived at Mt. Hiru. Took pictures and headed back to Mt. Tanzawa, packed up our bags, and continued down to Okura trailhead. 
• .... Arrived at Okura trailhead and took the bus and then the train back to Tokyo. 

See Mt. Fuji? 

What about now?

These planks characterized most of the hike. 

This summit looked like a place of worship given the arrangement of the benches surrounding this summit marker. Basically with the summit marker at the center, there's about 3 layers of circular benches. Did I make sense? Ugh, nevermind. 

Beautiful mountain range. 

Again, these planks are all over. 

Tanzawa! Yey!

Our accommodations for the night - futons! We got the corner spot on the upper deck. 

Sunset. 

We had dinner just looking at the sunset, and enjoying the shapes of the clouds over Fuji. Soon enough though I got too cold. 

The next day! Most of the trail had a nice dusting of snow, and the trees have a layer of ice (frost?)

The mountain of leeches (蛭 = leeches). 

Gorgeous snow covered trees. 

Back at Tounodake summit, but this time with zero visibility. 

Once we were low enough, we were back to the trail that doesn't even show a hint of snow. :( Oh well, we were soon back to Tokyo.