(赤城山) Mt. Akagi Hike

The "Red Castle" mountain, Mt. Akagi has been featured in popular culture because of its driving route! Oh, and it's also one of the three famous mountains of Gunma, called The Three Mountains of Jomo, alongside Mt. Myogi and Mt. Haruna. 

Budget: JPY5,410 (~USD52)

• JPY2,410. One way's worth allocated for Seishun 18 ticket. Roundtrip train, Tokyo to Maebashi Station (JPY1,980 one way)
• JPY3,000. Roundtrip bus, Maebashi Station to Akagisan Visitor Center (JPY1,500 one way)

OR

• JPY3,750. Share to the gas, toll, and car rental. (JPY18,687 total, divided by 5 participants)

Hike Date / Difficulty (Elevation: 1,828m / 5,997ft)

• November 29, 2020
• Difficulty: 2 out of 5. 
• Route below is around 10.2kilometers, with an elevation change of ▲889m/ ▽889m.
• PDF Map Link 

When to Go
Hike logs available throughout the year, so it can definitely be hiked throughout the year. The bus also runs throughout the year, but with different schedules so check the link provided below.

Special Notes

• Weather check: English /  Japanese.  English one has more details, Japanese one probably more accurate.
• Live camera.
• The area covers a number of summits:
• Mt. Kurobi 黒檜山. This is the highest point of the mountain range. 
• Mt. Komagatake 駒ヶ岳登山
• Others I'm too lazy to enumerate. 
• Trailhead. It's one big interconnected set of trails, but it basically was just all bus stops before Akagisan Visitor Center. The closest one to the summit is Mt. Kurobi's trailhead, google maps pin here. 
• Train, Tokyo to Maebashi Station. JPY1,980 one way. In this case, Seishun 18 ticket can be used and make a daytrip train ride JPY2,410 roundtrip. 
• Bus, Maebashi Station to Akagisan Visitor Center, JPY1,500 one way. 
• Bus pass. There's a JPY3,200 bus pass from Maebashi Station to Akagisan Visitor Center. It's valid for one day, and you can basically go back and forth. Without the pass, it's JPY1,500 one way. So if the trip is just gonna be roundtrip, no need to buy the bus pass.

 Bus schedule, Maebashi Station < > Akagi Visitor Center

• For those driving with Japanese car navigator, key in Akagi Visitor Center's phone number to make your life easier: 0272878402.
• The entire hike is a loop, and I'd recommend doing it in a counterclockwise manner so that the rising sun will be behind you while you cross the ridge, as opposed to blinding you. 

Itinerary

• 04:43am. Train, Iidabashi -> Akihabara -> Ueno  -> Takasaki -> Maebashi Station. 
• 07:17am. ETA: Maebashi Station.
• 07:32am. Bus, Maebashi Station to Akagisan Visitor Center. 
• 08:55am. ETA: 新坂平.  
• 09:00am. Start hike.
• 09:40am. ETA: 鈴ヶ岳
• 02:14pm. ETA: 黒檜山
• 05:09pm. ETA: Akagisan Visitor Center
• 05:17pm. Bus, Akagi Visitor Center to Maebashi Station.

Actual Log

• 06:40am. Left Shinjuku and started driving to Mt. Akagi. 
• 09:30am. Arrived at Akagi Visitor Center. We parked closer to the stores and the restroom. Google maps pin here. Parked, got our stuff ready, and started hiking. Given our parking, we have decided to do a counterclockwise loop. The trailhead was about 20 meters back, and very well marked. Started hiking. It was a steep ascent, and soon enough the wooden stairs started. These stairs characterized most of the steep sections up til the summit of Mt. Akagi, with one small section that had iron (steel?) stairs. 
• 10:07am. Arrived at the ridge, and was treated to a gorgeous view of the surrounding mountains. A couple of steps later and I got a view of Mt. Fuji!
• 10:19am. Arrived at Komagatake. This has a great view of the lake. I then started descending the valley and then going up to the summit of Mt Kurobi (Mt. Akagi's highest peak)
• 10:55am. Arrived at a rather crowded shrine, which is NOT a summit. I continued on. 
• 10:57pm. Fork - left goes down to the lake (Kurobi trailhead 黒檜山登山口), straight (right) goes to the summit. The path has turned really muddy, with the trees covered in snow!
• 11:00am. Mt. Kurobi summit! Not as crowded as the shrine, but had enough people crowding it. I took some pictures, and went straight to the panoramic view spot. 
• 11:05am. Arrived at the panoramic view spot. It was a gorgeous view of the mountains, but NOT 360 degrees. I turned back to descend the mountain. 
• 11:16pm. Back at the fork, this time turned right to go down the mountain. It was a rather steep descent, and at that time, covered with a thin layer of snow. The snow at the top of the trees were also melting, and continuously dropping. 
• 11:34am. Done with the snowy section of the descent, and it was just a rocky descent. 
• 12:19pm. Arrived at Kurobi trailhead 黒檜山登山口. I turned right, walking on the road. 
• 12:40pm. Arrived at the trailhead - this is not easy to see, and the only reason I noticed it is because of my gps map. The entrance is at the big sign saying "Numata City", and it's at a turn where there's parking. Know what, here's the google maps pin.  I then just went up, followed the trail, and followed the signs going to "Debaritouge 出張峠", which is easy coz the other trails were so overgrown with vegetation that I would not want to step foot on them. Oh, and other than three workers who warned me not to do this hike because of bears, I did not see another soul.
• 01:34pm. Arrived at what I assume is Debaritouge 出張峠. It's a fork - I turned left. 
• 01:42pm. Arrived at the paved road. I turned right. 
• 01:48pm. I arrived at the lake, and started the walk around the lake back to the parking lot. I initially went down to walk right alongside the water, then about five minutes later went up and walked the trail next to it. 
• 02:15pm. Arrived at the shrine. I wanted to cross the bridge, but when I went, they don't allow anyone to cross the bridge. So I just looped around the main entrance. 
• 02:37pm. Back at the parking lot. I went to have some soba (JPY980?), changed my shoes etc.
• 03:00pm. Started the drive back to Shinjuku.
• 05:55pm. Back at Shinjuku! Yey!

Our first glimpse of Mt. Akagi! The sky was just... gorgeous. 

After parking, we walked a little bit to the trailhead. The trailhead was well marked. 

The first leg of the hike!

Little did I know that the rest of the way up the summit would be mainly stairs. 

The one section that had steel stairs. 

The view at the ridge. It was pretty magical. 

Komagatake. I thought the view at the ridge was magical - rest assured, it kept getting better. 

View of Lake Onuma from Komagatake.

Started going down. 

There's a section where the snow suddenly... ended. 

There were numerous sections where the trail branches off, and these are not even part of the map. Just ignore them. The main trail is quite obvious. 

There it is! The summit of Akagi!

I always look back in the hopes of seeing Mt. Fuji. Do you see her? She's right there, I promise. 

An intersection. Do not believe the time frames written here. 

A crowded shrine, which confused me for a bit if this is the summit. It's not. 

Soon there's another fork, I went straight to summit Mt. Akagi. 

The ridge to the summit was just surrounded with these trees covered in snow. So magical. 

The most beautiful marker I've seen, mainly because of the backdrop. Ok, maybe not the most beautiful. Others were too, but at the moment let's say that it is!

The view at the panoramic spot. 

Back at the fork. This time I turned right to go down the trail.  

Upon seeing this, all the people wearing spikes made sense to me, and I wondered if I should wear mine. 

No spikes needed, most of the trek remained rocky and snow free. 

Big rocks, but thankfully no drops. 

Done! Down at Kurobi trailhead. 

I decided to continue on and turned right, and walked on the road. 

Here's the trailhead. It's the path at the left. 

I then turned right (no other option really), and here my view. Yes, that's a trail. 

After a ten meter or so ascent to the ridge, the path became very clear. 

And within ten minutes reached another sumit. 

...and soon enough another summit. 

Sometimes the trail does get overgrown vegetation though. 

Another summit... written in permanent marker?!

Oh, they actually have a legit marker on the side to the right. 

Looking back at Mt. Akagi. 

Arrived at Debaritouge 出張峠. Turned left. 

Back at the concrete path. Turned right. 

Soon enough I was at the shrine. 

The bridge I couldn't cross. 

Soba!