(皆野アルプス) Minano Alps Hike

Ever heard of Minano Alps? Me neither. But it's a mountain, so I figured might as well visit.

Budget: JPY2,940 (~USD29)

JPY2,700. Train, Tokyo < > Minano Station (JPY1,350 one way)
JPY240. Bus, Minano Station -> Chichibu Kegon Mae

Hike Date / Difficulty (Elevation: 626m / 2,054ft)

November 23, 2020
Difficulty: 2 out of 5.
Route below is around 7.5kilometers, with an elevation change of ▲673m/ ▽803m
PDF Map Link

When to Go
Anytime during the year!

Special Notes

Weather check.
The highest point is (破風山, Happusan) Mt. Happu at 626.5meters. Another mountain that is passed on this post's route is 大前山 at 653 meters. The hike covers around five peaks, and involves a lot of ups and downs.
Trailheads. The primary one is Minano Station, which can be adjusted depending on what part of the trail you'd want to start in. Hikers are spoiled for trailhead, and they are all served by the same bus.

Minano Station (皆野駅). This is a small station, and unfortunately there are no convenience stores nearby, nor is there a warm place to stay at.

Train, Tokyo to Minano Station.

There are a couple of trains available, I chose the cheapest one (this is a cheapadventures blog). It cost JPY1,350 from Edogawabashi. Some can get as high as JPY2,500+, and only save about 30 minutes of commute.
Given the tight transfer at Ohanabatake/Seibu chichibu Station, google maps doesn't show the cheap options, so I used hyperdia.

Chichibu Kegon-mae (秩父華厳前). Google maps pin.

Train, Tokyo to Minano Station (皆野駅)
Bus, Minano Station to Chichibu Kegon-mae (秩父華厳前). Bus schedule in this link, look for 日野沢線時刻表. (Bus T34）

Itinerary - Plan

05:25am. Train, Edogawabashi Station to Minano Station, transfer at Ikebukuro Station, Hanno Station and Seibu-chichibu Station. (JPY1,350 one way)
07:39am. ETA: Minano Station.
08:48am. Bus, Minano Station to all the trailheads. In this case, I'm choosing Chichibu Kegon-mae (秩父華厳前)
09:12am. ETA: Chichibu Kegon-mae (秩父華厳前). Snack, get ready.
09:30am. Start hike.
12:05pm. ETA: Mt. Happu (破風山). One hour lunch.
03:30pm. ETA: Minano Station.
03:02pm/03:37pm/04:04pm/04:39pm. Train, Minano Station to Ohanabatake Station. From then on, walk to Seibu-chichibu line and look for the path the train that is only JPY960 one way.

Travel log

05:25am. Train, Edogawabashi Station to Minano Station, transfer at Ikebukuro Station, Hanno Station and Seibu-chichibu Station. The transfer to Seibu-chichibu Station to Ohanabatake Station was a bit intense, so I ran! Do not follow google maps, follow the signs at the station. I had to buy tickets at Ohanabatake Station, and I knew I needed to pay JPY390 so that saved me a lot of time. Inserted the money, prices showed up at the buttons, I pressed 390. Done! While at the train, I decided I didn't want to wait for the bus for an hour, and thus switch my route to start at Minano Station, and end at the bus stop.
07:39am. Arrived at Minano Station. Exited the station, walked a little bit, turned right, crossed the train tracks. Walked straight.
07:52am. Arrived at an intersection, went straight. To be fair, "straight" was a little bit skewed to the right. Soon enough, I crossed the bridge. Turned right after crossing. A minute or two later there's a fork with a road to the left going up. Turned left. The path curves to the right, at the end of which is a house. The path is at the side of this house, so I went straight. At the end of the path is the first trail sign (only in Japanese). I turned right. Exactly two minutes later (as per the time stamp in my pictures), is an off the road turn to the left. There's a little sign that says "大渕登山口" plus "皆野アルプス"(Minano Alps). I turned left. And the hike officially starts.
08:13am. At the trailhead is a counter and the obligatory sign to be careful of bears. I started a rather steep ascent that lasted about 20 minutes.
08:34am. Arrived at 前原山, at 347 meters. I then descended a bit, only to ascend back up. This is a recurring theme - I stopped counting after five ups and downs.
09:19am. There was a fork, where an option to bypass Mt. Happu is at the right. I kept left. There was a small section that has stairs, but otherwise it was mainly a normal trail.
09:39am. Arrived at the 休憩場 or the break area.
09:43am. Mt. Happu Summit! The marker might be a Saitama style marker, as I remember seeing this with Mt. Bonoore too. The summit is small, and can possibly only accommodate ten people? It wasn't steep or anything, just a small space. I took a couple of photos, and headed down.
09:52am. Arrived at the fork, where I can go straight to the bus stop or summit a couple more mountains. I decided to go up the other ones and took the left turn. The turn has a warning that the area has bee's nests, so be careful. From here on the trail was a little less maintained, and there were sections with legit drops. Nothing technical or too dangerous, but definitely requires attention.
10:12am. Arrived at 大前山, at 653 meters. Started descending again, and was surprised by a legit chain section - though just two meters? Just for this section I'd recommend doing the trail on reverse if there are definite beginners in the group, as going up is easier than descending. But it's really nothing technical.
10:22am. Arrived at Mt. Tengu (天狗山). Immediate upon descent, there's a sharp turn to the right which is marked by a not so obvious white marker. From here on was a gentle descending big switchbacks.
10:33am. Arrived at the houses. Within a couple of meters is a sign, so I turned right, and walked in between houses. About 30 meters later was a big turn to the left of the road, but watch out for a sign for a trail that goes straight. I went straight, and was back on the trail.
10:47am. Arrived at the trailhead, with a warning for bears. Crossed the bridge to the main road, and turned left for the bus stop.
10:50am. Arrived at the bus stop. The next bus is at 11:21am, so there's time to kill. The area has a tourist spot - some falls, and so I went there to take some pictures. It also has a lot of benches for people picnic-ing, so it's a good place to pass the time.
11:27am. Bus to Minano Station. The bus was a bit late. I had to take a ticket upon boarding. Payment at the exit is as manual as you can get - the driver had a box with money on it, and you'll put your payment (and pick up your own change if any) on the box and leave. Honesty basis.
11:48am. Arrived at Minano Station. From here on is the way back home, and google maps will be helpful. If you're coming home to Tokyo, make sure that your fare is less than JPY1,500! In my case, I took the train from Minano Station to Ohanabatake Station, and walked to Seibu-Chichibu Station, where I took the train back to Ikebukuro Station.

The local train to Hanno had armchairs!

Minano Station!

Upon getting off the train I had to cross the tracks, and had a nice view of Mt. Bukou!

Exit the station, and go straight.

First chance I get, turned right.

And crossed the tracks again.

An intersection that confused me a bit. I had to go straight, but the "straight" curves to the right.

Crossed the bridge. Suggest you keep right here as I had to turn right at the end.

Crossed another bridge. Watch out for the fork, as there will be no trail signs.

Took the left turn, which goes up a little bit.

Followed that road.

At the end of which I'm supposed to go straight. But the road doesn't have a straight path.

Apparently I have to walk in the middle of the neighborhood.

At the end though is a sign, which gave me a lot of comfort. Remember this marker as this is the main marker of the entire hike, and there's no English translation. I turned right.

Soon there's another maker saying it's the trailhead (登山口)

Had to walk past the locals' gardens.

There it is! The official trailhead with the obligatory bear warning!

I of course clicked the clicker. I'm visitor 9,780.

The trail up. Yup, that's the trail.

I surprisingly encountered a peak - at 347 meters!

Beautiful views out though. Even when I can hear the city's announcements etc.

Some of the "rope" sections. Ropes aren't really needed though (sorry for my finger, I don't have other pics)

Fork - left goes to Mt. Happu, right to skip it. I took the left one.

Encountered the only stairs in this hike.

Don't let this deceive you. There are only about three sections with autumn foliage in this trail when I hiked.

The rest area.

Mt. Happu's summit!

Went down and arrived at another fork -left to summit Mt. Tengu etc, right to go straight to the bus stop. I took the left one.

Oh, and it has a warning about bees. Don't know what to do with that information.

Summited Mt. Daizen (?)

A pleasant surprise - a legit chain section. Here's my view before I went down. It was actually steep, and would definitely qualify as a technical hike had it been a meter longer, and with cliffs on either side.