Day hike to Mt. Tonodake
There are lot of day hikes around Tokyo, some for beginners where children can hike, like Mt. Takao (599 m). It has multiple ways to get to the summit which include a gondola, a chair lift and several trails to hike up. There are also more advanced hikes like Mt. Kentoku (2031 m) which takes around 3 hours to get to the trail head from Shinjuku; a strenuous incline and right before you reach the summit there is a steep rock ledge wall with chains you have to traverse. I personally haven’t hiked Mt. Kentoku yet but it is on my bucket list. I prefer a more intermediate hike, far enough to get away from the crowd and hard enough to make me sore for the next few days, so Mt. Tonodake it is!
There are a couple of ways you can tackle the peak. According to this amazing site with updated bus timetables there are two options. One of the ways is called the “Fools Ridge” going from Shibusawa Station so obviously we didn’t take that route. Instead, we left from Hadano Station, then took a bus to Yabitsu-Tōge. From Yabitsu-Toge you can follow the signs for Mt. Tonodake. You’ll have to go down the mountain along a paved road for about 10 mins until you’ve reached the trail head. From here you start the ascent up to the peaks. Mt. Tonodake is 6.2 km away. The signs are well marked so there shouldn’t be any problems reaching the final destination.
About a 1.5 km up you’ll reach Ninoto peak (二ノ塔) just a little further is Sannoto peak (三ノ塔). Once you’ve reached Sannoto peak you’ve done most of the steep incline. From there you just follow the ridge line up to Karasuoyama (烏尾山), Gyojatake (行者ケ岳), Mt. Shindainichi (新大日) and finally Mt. Tonodake (塔ノ岳). While traversing from Sannoto to Tonodake the trail is fairly manicured, most of the time. There are wooden pathways that you can follow and chains and ladders for you to hold on to, if you need. Once you’ve reached the summit of Mt. Tonodake there is a hut there where you can pay to buy a variety of drinks and food, ranging from hot tea to beer to Cup Noodle. (If you’re looking for hot ramen there are some huts that serve them on the way down to Okura.) There are plenty of spaces to eat outside as well, but we took the opportunity to get out of the freezing wind and go inside. They say that on a clear day you can have a great view of Mt. Fuji but unfortunately for us we didn’t have a clear day.
Going down we decided to go towards Okura bus stop to Shibusawa Station. Again the signs are well marked with some wooden pathways and chains. It is steep, so if you have bad knees, hiking sticks would be useful. Once you’ve reached the bottom you’ll reach a paved road which takes you to the bus stop. Along the way some of the residents might have vegetables or fruit sitting at their front gate. If you feel like it, you can take some and leave money in the jar.
Overall, it was a fantastic hike. It took us around 5 hours of actual hiking to do the 16.4 km. We saw people from young to old scaling the mountain. If you want to bring young children, there are accommodations on the mountain from Okura up to Tonodake that you can stay over for the night. I could be a fun family adventure.
Best of luck and happy hiking,
Kai
