Mt Dainichigatake Trekking Report for Mountaineering Beginners

Arrive at the peak of Mt Dainichigatake! We enjoy our lunch here!

We finally arrive at the peak at 11:40! The height here is 1709m. after leaving the trailhead, we used 3 hours to finish climbing including a rest. My feet are so tired, but I feel a tremendous sense of achievement! The prize is this excellent view from the peak.

The statue of Vaircana Buddha on the peak reminds me Mt Dainichigatake is a holy mountain for training. Let me put my hands together and pray.

Seeing the pelorus and matching the mountains we see, Mt Ontakesan, Mt Norikuradake, Mt Yarigatake and Mt Hakusan are all found! The weather today is fine that we can see all the mountains.

We start preparing our lunch here. Other people are also having their lunchboxes or cooking with cookers. Having lunch at an open area on the peak is fun. Cooking lunch at the peak is one of the most joyful things to do! We bring our camp stove and burner to try cooking!

We bring pasta using little water. As you do not need to remove extra water, it is very suitable for mountain lunch. We prepare a warm soup too.

Seeing the mountainous view and having a cup of coffee after lunch is so relaxing!

Climbing down the mountain and enjoying hot spring!

After a one-hour rest at the rest, we start climbing down the mountain at 12:50. You can enjoy the scenery at the very first part of the trail, please be careful when you go down.

As I was too concentrated when I was climbing up, I see many flowers when I go down. Small red rhododendrons are blooming beautifully. Autumn leaves turning red are beautiful too. The steep slope we climbed on the way up is also dangerous when you go down. Please be careful not to fall.

When we are on the way, something comes up and scared me. Is it a bear? Fortunately, it is a deer. It happens in a sudden that I cannot take a photo. What’s a pity!

We return to the trailhead at 15:10! Including a rest time, we used 2 hours and 20 minutes to get down from the peak. Although I am so exhausted, I am cheered up with the beautiful view and refreshing greenery. I am glad that everyone is safe and not get hurt. The difficulties and duration of the course we chose is suitable for beginners. I can feel the sense of achievement too.

As we have sweated a lot, we are going to hot spring to take a bath on our way home. It is a 5 minutes’ drive from Takasu Interchange to “Yunohira-onsen”. Although this hot spring is simple, it has an open-air bath surrounding by greenery. Hot water helps healing my feet and my body.

After the bath, let’s drink a toast with “Nagaragawa Cider”! By the way, Mt Dainichigatake is the origin of Nagaragawa River. This mountaineering day trip makes me feel relaxing and refreshing! We saw lots of fresh greenery this time. But I think it is also very beautiful in autumn seeing all the red leaves. I would really love to come again!