(那須岳) Mt. Nasu Hike

I've tried this mountain before when I was a wee girl (ok, it was in 2018), and the strong winds made the cable car inoperable. At that time, I thought no cable car = no going up the mountain.

I came back to amend that.

Budget: JPY6,210 (~USD58)

• JPY2,600. Bus, roundtrip. Nasushiobara to trailhead.
• JPY1,200. Ropeway, one way. (it is JPY1,800 round trip)
• JPY2,410. Train, Nasushiobara to Tokyo Station.
• +JPY400. Coin locker, Nasushiobara Station.

Hike Date / Difficulty (Elevation: 1,917m / 6,289ft)

• July 24, 2020
• Difficulty: 3 out of 5. But with technical sections.
• Route below is around 10.6kilometers, with an elevation change of ▲868m/ ▽1173m
• PDF Map Link (dayhike)
• PDF Map Link (overnight)
• I did this with two more mountains a bit north. Here's my log: Mt. Adatara-Mt Azuma-Mt. Nasu Hikes

When to Go

• Latter April to early November, but I think autumn is around early October.
• It seems that the buses are running even in winter, so I would say winter is doable? Someone commented somewhere that there was a couple meters of snow though, and that the roads were plowed but closed. An alternative is to start the hike at Yumoto

Special Notes

• Mt. Nasu means three peaks: Mt. Chausu (茶臼岳), Mt. Asahi (朝日岳), Mt. Sanbonyari (三本槍岳). Mt. Chausu has the crater, Mt. Asahi's got the best views, Mt. Sanbonyari is the highest. When you say Mt. Nasu, it means those three - and yes, I asked the employee at the ropeway coz I was trying to skip one haha.
• Trailhead 1. Nasu Ropeway.
• Train, Tokyo to Nasushiobara Station (那須塩原駅):
• Bullet Train: JPY5,980, 101minutes. Earliest arrival at Nasushiobara Station: 07:32am. (Nasu Shiobara)
• Local Train: JPY2,810, 180minutes. Earliest arrival at Nasushiobara Station:8:25am. You can use Hyperdia to find the local trains.
• You can also take the train to Kuroiso Station (黒磯駅) and take the bus from there, so you can tweak your search accordingly. The train from Kuroiso Station, bus stop 2, is JPY1,380 one way.
• Bus, Nasushiobara Station to the trailhead, Nasu Ropeway (山麓駅).

Bus Schedule: Nasu Shiobara (那須塩原駅) to Nasu Ropeway (那須ロープウエイ)
Bus schedule. It'll take 1 hour 20 minutes, and cost JPY1,430 one way. Earliest one at 6:35am.


Bus Schedule: Nasu Shiobara (那須塩原駅) to Nasu Ropeway (那須ロープウエイ)
Bus schedule. Last bus at 4:33pm.

• With a start of 10am, and the last bus at 4:30pm, it is a tight deadline to make it back down the same day.
• Trailhead 2. Kita Onsen (北温泉).
• This is the direct path to Mt. Sanbonyari, which also means that if you end up wanting to skip backtrailing and doing an onsen before you catch your bus, you can do this. Kita Onsen is less than half an hour walk away from the bus stop (google map pin).
• It basically takes the same public transportation as above, and is about 2 or so stations prior to Nasu Ropeway.

• Nasu Ropeway. The ropeway status is updated the day itself, around 9am. So there's no way to know in advance. Even throughout the day, they will give regular updates if they have to skip that time etc given the wind strength.

• Nasu bus pass - JPY2,600 unlimited rides for two days, which is cheaper than paying JPY1,430 one way. Further, if you plan to stay two days and explore the area, you can use this pass and hit multiple places such as Nasu's marshlands. The driver will offer this to you in the bus itself during one of the breaks.

• Mountain hut.
• Paid: (三斗小屋温泉). No online reservations, you need to call them ahead of time
• Operation period: middle of May to latter November, Check-in: 1pm to 4pm, Check-out: 8:30am
• Contact number: 09085892048 (call between 7am to 5:30pm)
• Toiletries and towels are not provided, so bring your own. BUT no shampoo/soap allowed.
• Fees (per person):
• Tent: JPY2,000
• Dorm type room: JPY3,500 (bring your own sleeping bag)
• Futon: JPY7,000 (without meals)
• Free: There is one, but it also serves as a break area that was very crowded, and there's a sign that says only use it for emergencies.

Itinerary - Overnight
Saturday

• 08:25am. Arrival at Nasushiobara Station.
• 08:30am. Bus, Nasushiobara to Sanroku-eki(山麓駅)
• 09:47am. ETA: 山麓駅. Start hike.
• 11:40am. ETA: 茶臼岳
• 01:42pm. ETA: 三斗小屋温泉. The check in is 1 to 4pm, so this is pretty good time.
• Rest at the hut.

Sunday

• 05:00am. Start hike. I've decided to take this route rather than loop around because I would rather catch the sunrise on the eastern side.
• 07:25am. ETA: Summit! 三本槍岳
• 08:55am. ETA: 朝日岳
• 10:15am. ETA: 山麓駅 Back to Nasushiobara!

Itinerary - Dayhike

• 08:21am. Arrival, Nasushiobara Station. I then rushed to go to the coin locker which is close to the East Exit, and find four 100 yen coins. The cheapest locker is 400yen, so if you plan to use them, have coins ready before you arrive. After stashing my clothes, I took the West Exit, took the escalator to my left, and the bus stop is right across me. You can see "那須ロープウェイ" written on the bus. It is at bus stop 3.
• 08:30am. The bus departed on the way to the ropeway.
• 08:47am. The bus stopped at Kuroiso Station - bus stop 2. So you can also take the bus from here.
• 09:20am. Bus break. The driver offered us the Nasu bus pass.
• 09:48am. Arrival at Nasu Ropeway. I went straight to the ticket counter, bought my ticket and waited for the ropeway. The ropeway runs thrice an hour, every 00, 20 and 40. However, they check regularly the wind strength and adjust accordingly. It started drizzling. Spoiler alert: It did not stop drizzling until 2:30pm.
• 10:00am. Boarded the ropeway.
• 10:06am. Started my hike. Just exit the ropeway building, and there's basically one path. It was a very rocky, and windy trail. I had a little pebble lightly hit me in the cheek. There are some forks on the path that lets you bypass Mt. Chausu. Just keep going straight up, until you see the torii (the wooden arc). To be safe, make sure you check the kanji for summit (頂上) as the directions will refer to that a lot.
• 10:40am. Arrival at Mt. Chauso summit. Took some photos, then continued on in a loop around the crater. The loop took less than 5 minutes, and off I go to Mt. Asahi.
• 11:40am. I reached the fork for Mt. Asahi and Mt. Sanbonyari. The last 15-20 minutes of this trail was dangerous, and involves a lot of chains, trust on your shoes (and they better deliver!). It was not that bad (though I was scared!), but definitely NOT beginner friendly.
• 11:50am. Summit, Mt. Asahi. The segue to Mt. Asahi took me 15 minutes in total - ascent, quick picture taking, and descent.
• 01:00pm. Summit, Mt. Sanbonyari. From Mt. Asahi to Mt. Sanbonyari is a third ridge walk, a third swamp, and a third gully. Prepare to get your shoes muddy, as I would assume the gully part has some muddy sections even if it is not raining. The trail here, as with the rest of Mt. Nasu, is clear cut and sectioned. That means minimal diversions, and therefore no RESTROOM breaks. Ladies, the only covered section I found was near the yellow marker "40", which is about half an hour before Mt. Sanbonyari's summit.
• 02:50pm. I exited the trail, marked by another torii gate. Here just keep going straight, and follow the signs for the ropeway (ロープウエイ).
• 03:05pm. I got back at the ropeway, and board the bus at 03:13pm.
• 04:30pm. Bus arrived at Nasu-shiobara Station.
• 08:00pm. Home sweet home! 

West exit, escalator to the left. The bus is right outside - you can see it now, the middle one.

Upon exiting the ropeway, the path is quite clear. 

Near the summit of Mt. Chausu you will have the option to skip it and turn right. Always choose left, going up. 

Soon enough you'll see the torii and pass by it. 

Here's the summit of Mt. Chausu, and behind you are are a pile of rocks (higher than the marker)

This is a couple of minutes after the summit of Mt. Chausu. You could see the crater, people standing on the rocks at the summit. 

And right down there is the emergency hut. Behind it, is a hill you'll bypass, and behind that is the summit of Mt. Asahi. 

Inside the mountain hut - this is the sleeping area. The room on the left has seats and tables. There's a sign (in Japanese) that says that you shouldn't stay in the mountain hut (but why is it there? Oh, for emergencies)

Here's a sample chain segment. Nothing too freaky - all of them have about a foot wide space. It's the drop that was scary. 

View of Mt. Chausu from the top of Mt. Asahi. You can see the mountain hut as a tiny red dot. 

It was basically rolling hills (at the ridge) from then on. Plenty of benches too. I like this one in particular, and thought it'll be a nice place to bring your date or something (wink wink)

There's a rather big, steep drop from the ridge, and after that is a planked path. Then you start hiking back up.

You'll see plenty of signs like this, and some of them don't have English on it. So make sure you have the map for the Japanese characters. You see that yellow number 39? The most "secluded" segue I found was right behind number 40, for those who need the restroom. 

And here we are at the highest point. A whopping 2 meter higher than Mt. Chausu. 

View from Mt. Sanbonyari summit. I headed back quickly. 

Trail going back to the parking lot, right after the emergency hut. 

Aaaand the hike's done. The entry from the parking lot is marked by the torii.