Akadake 2899m (赤岳) is a difficult hike in the volcanic Yatsugatake mountain range. The mountain range has lots of huts and multiple peaks to turn this hike into an overnight trip. It has some beautiful views but also often bad weather.
Time: 7:40min
Distance: 16km
Location: Nagano/Yamanashi
Difficulty: Intermediate
Elevation Gain: 1550m
Dayhike
Access
Park your car at Yamanoko lodge or some of the other huts. Word of caution, you have to drive on a very bumpy dirt road. If your car has low clearance you might hit the ground several times and damage it. Also the parking spaces are limited and it gets very busy in summer, we called and made a reservation for parking beforehand and when we arrived at 7am it was full. Cost was 1000¥. They also sell snacks and have toilets. If you're worried about your clearance you can park at the bus stop and walk the hour along the road.
If coming by public transportation take the train to Chino station and from there the bus to Minotoguchi (美濃戶口)
The bus only runs from July 29th to August 27th and only on the weekend/public holidays. Cost is 1500¥ one way. From the busstop it's an extra hour along the dirt road to the last parking lot.
Trail description
Head up the road from the parking lot. After a couple of minutes you'll get to a sign and you have two options here. One continues on the road for a bit and the other one goes into the forest. We went into the forest and then took the other trail back down. It doesn't really matter which one you take, but we wanted to pass Akadake Kosen on the way back down, to use their Onsen.
I normally don't really like the forest trails, as they are all the same and get a bit boring/repetitive, but this one was quite nice. It was very green with lots of moss.
It took us about 1:30 to Gyojagoya. After the hut it will soon get steeper with stairs. The last bit to the peak involves some climbing with chains and your hands. Since we wanted to do a full dayhike we continued on the ridgeline towards Yokodake and Iodake. The ridge is a bit more exposed and there are steep/almost vertical sections with chains/ladders.
After Iodake you'll start going down and eventually pass Akadakekosen, which has an onsen. It's pretty small and very hot. (1000¥ per person; you might have to wait because it gets very busy in the afternoon)
After the hut it's one more hour back to the parking lot.
Yatsugatake is notorious for bad weather and strong wind, so keep an eye on the forecast.
Accomodation
The mountain range has many huts, use yamap to see where they are along the trail. I put them in order of how we passed them.
Gyojagoya: 12.000¥ incl 2 meals. Tent 2000¥ per person. Reservation only for hut.
Akadake Chosho Sanso: 12.000¥ incl 2 meals. Reservation required, no tents.
Akadake Tenboso: 12.500¥ incl 2 meals. Reservation required, no tents.
Iodake Sanso: 13.000¥ incl 2 meals, no tents. Reservation required. (This hut looked really nice inside! We stopped for coffee, they even have showers for 500¥)
Akadake Kosen: 12.000¥ incl 2 meals. Tent 2000¥ per person. Reservation only for hut.
Elevation Profile & Map
Gallery
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