(高妻山) Mt. Takazuma Hike

Or Takatsuma, the tall wife, is what the Japanese characters mean. It also shares the trailhead with the Black Princess (Mt. Kurohime 黒姫山). Make whatever you want out of it.

 
Budget: JPY7,100 (~USD65) from Tokyo

• JPY1,550. Bus, Nagano Station to Togakushi Camp.
• JPY1,550. Bus, Togakushi Camp to Nagano Station.
• or JPY2,400. Roundtrip bus, valid for 7 days
• JPY4,000. Bus, Tokyo < > Nagano Station. 
• or JPY4,820. Two days' worth allocated with Seishun 18 ticket. (if from Tokyo)

Hike Date / Difficulty (Elevation: 2,353m / 7,720ft)

• Target: 2021
• Difficulty: 4 out of 5.
• Route below is:
• Loop - around 12.5kilometers, with an elevation change of ▲1,507m/ ▽1,502m (8h20m)
• The trail from Togakushi Camp to Ichifudou hut has some sketchy sections - river crossing, narrow ledge on a rock... nothing too sketchy, but definitely safer to do going up than down.
• Backtrail - around 12.0kilometers, with an elevation change of ▲1,492m/ ▽1,492m (7h55m)
• Map Link

When to Go
The bus runs from April to mid-December, so I would say that's the hiking season.

Special Notes

• Weather check: Japanese
• During summer, the entire hike had insects flying over your face nonstop. A face net is highly recommended. 
• Trailhead. Just one, really. You can do another bus stop a bit down the road, but this is it. 
• Togakushi Camp Field (戸隠キャンプ場). There's a camp area there (which is expensive) that you can stay at and then do another mountain, the Black Princess (Mt. Kurohime).
• Bus schedule link here. The name of the route is "ループ橋経由戸隠線" (it's also labelled as 70), and just click the first pdf link. Something like below should pop up, and look for the the Togakushi Camp or "戸 隠 キ ャ ン プ 場" (JPY1,550, 1 hour 15 mins one way, JPY2,400rt bus). Earliest bus leaves at 7:00am and reaches the trailhead at 8:14am. The last bus leaves at 6:33pm.

• Mountain huts. 
• Paid. None. 
• Free. Ichifudou Hut (一不動避難小屋). Small and not the prettiest, but it will do the job. 
• Camping. Camping/Cabin/etc. These are all available at the trailhead, with Togakushi Camp Field (戸隠キャンプ場). Reservation is needed though.
• The cheapest option is renting a space for your tent, which ranges from JPY1,500 during the low season, to JPY3,000 to the high season (July to August) for a two person tent. Here are the prices for 2020.

Itinerary

• 12:00am. Bus, Tokyo to Nagano (JPY4,000 one way for overnight bus)
• 05:05am. ETA: Nagano Station.
• 07:00am. Bus, Nagano Station to Togakushi Camp.
• 08:14am. ETA: Trailhead. Start hike.
• 12:50pm. ETA: Summit. No breaks.
• 04:25pm. ETA: Back to trailhead.
• 04:13pm / 05:13pm. Bus, Togakushi Camp to Nagano Station. If the 4:13pm bus is missed, will have to take the overnight bus from Nagano Station to Tokyo. 
• 05:30pm / 06:30pm. ETA: Nagano Station. 
• 06:00pm / 10:10pm. Bus, Nagano Station to Tokyo (JPY3,500 one way).