(棒ノ折山) Mt. Bounoore Hike

Stream trails! The stream trails of Mt. Bounoore (Mt. Bonoore or Bonooresan) is what sets it apart from the other mountains in the area, and I definitely loved every second of it.

Budget: JPY2,140 (~USD20)

JPY590. Train to Han-No Station.
JPY630. Bus from Han-No Station to Sawarabi-no-yu Bus Stop.
JPY920. Train from Mitaka Station to Nakano Station.

Hike Date / Difficulty (Elevation: 969m / 3,179ft)

October 25, 2020
Difficulty: 3 of 5.
Route below is around 13.3kilometers, with an elevation change of ▲1,629m/ ▽1,633m (7h10m).

You can exit at anytime you feel tired though, and take the bus home.

Map Link

When to Go
Anytime during the year.

Special Notes

This trail is pretty famous because it passes through streams - I mean you are walking on streams.

Given this, DO NOT DO THIS WHEN RAINING, or avoid the path with the stream, which can be risky.
Make sure to wear waterproof shoes.

Weather check.
Trailheads. The trails are well marked, in Japanese. So make sure to check the name of the mountains/intersections and just match them.

Sawarabi-no-yu (さわらびの湯). There are other trails, but don't you want to go up the stream? :)

Train, Tokyo to Han-no Station.
Bus, Han-no Station to Sawarabi-no-yu. The bus comes once or twice an hour, the earliest of which is 7:10am, and the last return bus is at 7:55pm.

Kamihinata (上日向).

Train, Tokyo to Kawai Station (川井駅).
Bus, Kawai Station to Kamihinata. Here's the bus schedule. There's only seven buses a day, the earliest at 7:29am, and the last return bus at 6:46pm.

You can reverse the trail above, so you can take a dip at the onsen at the end, but take note of the last bus.

Sawarabi-no-yu (さわらびの湯) costs JPY800 for the entry, and is open from 10am to 6pm.

Itinerary

05:59am. Train, Ikebukuro Station to Han-No (飯能駅) Station, platform 5.
06:55am. Arrived at Han-No Station. Upon exit, turned left for the North Exit, bus stop 3. It was already crowded when we got there. There are a couple of buses that come and go, so we waited for the bus that goes to Yunozawa (湯の沢 or ゆのざわ)
07:10am. Bus, Han-No Station to Sawarabi-no-yu (さわらびの湯).
07:59am. Arrived at Sawarabi-no-yu (さわらびの湯) bus stop. The actual bus stop name is quite long, but there's Sawarabi-no-yu at the end. A good guide is to simply look at google maps - it's pretty accurate.
08:00am. Start hike. Close to the bus stop sign is a guide for the mountains in the area. We went to the main road and walked at the side of the road until we got into the dam, at which point we turned left to cross the dam, and followed the cemented road.
08:25am. Arrived at the trailhead. It was a little turn to the left, with a marker. It was a steep first 2 minutes, then was pretty flat.
08:45am. Arrived at the start of the stream trails - where we were crisscrossing the stream. Definitely the highlight of this hike. Not technical nor dangerous, but I wouldn't bring a first time hiker here.
09:05am. End of the stream trails. The end was marked with a rather steep flight of stairs. After that it was mainly normal soil-trail.
09:22am. Crossed a road, which surprised me because apparently one can drive up til here, but there's no parking. We just continued on the trail.
09:57am. Arrived at the fork to the summit, we turned right.
10:08am. Mt. Bounoore Summit! We found a bench, sat down and ate an early lunch.
10:26am. Started our hike again. We went back at the earlier fork, and this time kept right.
10:57am. Arrived at 黒山. It was a lot of ups and downs from here on, til the end of the hike.
12:26pm. Arrived at the utterly crowded 岩茸石山. Sat down for a late lunch.
01:16pm. Arrived at 惣岳山. The last leg was a bit of a scramble, but nothing too technical - in good weather. It can get a bit sketchy going down in the rain.
02:19pm. Arrived at Mitake Station (御嶽駅), which was also very, very crowded.
02:26pm. Train, Mitake Station to Ome Station, where we transferred and waited for the rapid train to Tokyo. Most people go across the platform and board the first train, but we decided to wait for the rapid one.
03:05ish pm. Train, Ome Station to Tokyo! Whew!

Upon exit, turn left to North Exit.

Bus stop 3.

Wait for the bus that goes to Yunozawa (湯の沢 or ゆのざわ)

It was a very crowded 40 minute ride.

At the bus stop, the road to the trail is behind that white sign.

Behind the bus stop is a guide for the main spots in the area - Mt. Bounoore is there.

The short walk to the dam.

The dam.

Very still waters, reflecting the surrounding area.

Back to walking on the road.

Soon enough we come across a bridge, and to the left is the trailhead. It was easy for us to see because hikers were in front of the trailhead getting ready.