(仏果山) Mt. Bukka Hike

A, Tanzawa mountain range. The mountain range of leeches. Even upon entry - I was welcomed not with the customary signs for bears, but for leeches. I have an irrational fear of leeches, which is why I plan to exclusively hike the Tanzawa range in winter.

Budget: JPY2,720 (~USD27)

JPY760. Train, Tokyo to Hashimoto Station.
JPY590. Bus, Hashimoto Station to 鳥居原ふれあいの館
JPY570. Bus, 土山峠 to Hon-Atsugi Station.
JPY800. Train, Hon-Atsugi Station to Tokyo

Hike Date / Difficulty (Elevation: 747m / 2,451ft)

December 20, 2020
Difficulty: 3 out of 5
Route below is around 12.5kilometers, with an elevation change of ▲1,394m/ ▽1,412m
PDF Map Link

When to Go
Anytime during the year, though avoid summer given the leeches.

Special Notes

The hike is ideally a Mt. Bukka - Mt. Takatori hike, but I decided to extend the hike to cover Mt. Minami too. However, there are plenty of exit points for those who would rather make the hike shorter.

Since I did Mt. Minami too, I went up from one bus stop and descended to another bus stop, so it did feel like I honestly did two day hikes in one day.

Weather forecast. English / Japanese. English more detailed, Japanese more accurate. The English one refers to Mt. Tanzawa, which is the main mountain in the area.
Trailheads. There's quite a lot of them, and if you check the map you'll be spoiled for choice. I'm writing the ones I'm planning to use:

Tsuchiyama-toge (土山峠). Access as follows:

Train, Tokyo to Hon-Atsugi Station (本厚木駅), JPY800, 1.5 hours one way.
Bus, Hon-Atsugi Station to 土山峠. JPY570, 41 minutes one way.

Bus from Hon-Atsugi Station to 土山峠 runs at 6:55am, 7:50am, 8:40am, 9:40am, 10:40am, 12:40pm, 1:40pm and every hour until 7:40pm, and then the last one is at 8:30pm.
Bus from 土山峠 to Hon-Atsugi Station runs at 6:51am, 7:26am, 8:11am, 9:06am, 9:56am, 10:56am, 11:56am, 12:56pm, and every hour until 8:56pm.

鳥居原ふれあいの館. Access as follows:

Train, Tokyo to Hashimoto Station. JPY550, 1.5hrs one way.
Bus, Hashimoto Station (North Exit) to 鳥居原ふれあいの館. JPY590, 49 minutes one way.

Bus from Hashimoto Station to 鳥居原ふれあいの館 runs at 06:55am, 7:55am, 8:55am, 9:57am, 12:55pm, 1:55pm, 4:40pm, 5:40pm, 6:40pm, 7:50pm.
Bus from 鳥居原ふれあいの館 to Hashimoto Station runs at 5:55am, 6:55am, 7:55am, 9:00am, 12:00pm, 1:00pm, 3:40pm, 4:40pm, 5:40pm, 6:40pm.

Mountain huts.

Paid. None.
Free. None.
Camping. None.

Itinerary

06:20am. Train, Tokyo to Shinjuku Station.
06:58am. Train, Shinjuku Station to Hashimoto Station.
07:50am. Hashimoto Station. North exit (北口), Bus stop 2, wait for bus "橋07".
07:55am. Bus, Hashimoto Station to 鳥居原ふれあいの館.
08:43am. ETA: 鳥居原ふれあいの館.
09:00am. Start hike.
10:30am. ETA: 南山
12:50pm. ETA: 高取山. One hour lunch.
02:20pm. ETA: 仏果山
03:35pm. ETA: 土山峠
03:56pm. Bus, 土山峠 to Hon-Atsugi Station.
04:43pm. ETA: Hon-Atsugi Station.

Actual Log

06:20am. Train, Tokyo to Shinjuku Station. Transferred to Keio Line - there are pleny of signs - ignore the one going to Shin(New) Keio Line. The train, if coming from Yamanote Line, goes down via the Keio Department Store.
06:58am. Train, Shinjuku Station to Hashimoto Station.
07:50am. Hashimoto Station. North exit (北口), bus stop 2, Bus 橋07. Exit, go straight, at the fork choose North Exit (left). Go out in the big open area, and there'll be numbers pointing you where to go. It's on the far end, so run.
07:55am. Bus, Hashimoto Station to 鳥居原ふれあいの館. I missed my bus by about 3 seconds as I was looking at all bus stops for my bus. So I had to wait for the 8:55am bus. I went to Starbucks to sit down and wait, then went back to the bus stop at 8:40am. The bus was there waiting, so I got in, tapped my IC card and sat down.
09:41am. Arrived at 鳥居原ふれあいの館, the last stop. Tapped my IC card out, and exited. Right across is the toilet, and the trail to Mt. Minami is at the parking lot to the left of that. So I went to the toilet, to the parking lot, and within a minute or so came across the first sign pointing to Mt. Minami (南山遊歩道). I followed the road, and crossed a bridge. Right after crossing the bridge, to the left, is the trailhead.
09:50am. Officially at the trailhead. Surprisingly, there were no warnings for bears - but plenty for leeches - "ヤマビル注意".
10:39am. Arrived at a park (?), with covered tables. I went to the viewing deck at the right, and continued on to Mt. Minami.
10:50am. Arrived at a fork that will allow me to bypass Mt. Minami summit, and go straight to the dam - あいかわ公園. I took the trail to the right going to Mt. Minami.
11:00am. Arrived at 南山. There were two tables at the summit, but the grass was covering most of the view. I continued on. From here, I followed the signs going to the dam "あいかわ公園".
11:19am. Arrived at the electric tower with a fork (I passed through a couple of electric towers at this point). I turned right. From here to the dam it basically was stairs. There was another fork, both turns will lead to the dam, with the right turn being shorter. I took the right turn.
11:35am. Arrived at the main road. I turned right and kept walking until I got to the dam. I crossed the dam, had a break, and continued on. The trail was at the end of the parking lot, on a little path to the left. There's a sign pointing to Mt. Bukka (仏果山). I walked next to the water for a minute, and then started the steepest ascent of the hike, which lasted about 10 minutes (and I'm slow).
01:06pm. Arrived at Mt. Takatori (高取山). There's a viewing deck that's as high as the highest tree on that ridge - so about three flights of stairs. I went up, took a lot of photos, went down and continued on. I simply followed the signs to Mt. Bukka (仏果山) and stayed on the main route.
01:47pm. Arrived at 仏果山. There was a deck here too, similar to the one at Mt. Takatori. I went up, took a bunch of pics, went down, and had to figure out the trail to 土山峠. I had to retrace my steps back to the fork I didn't notice, but thankfully there was a sign - look for the sign going to "半原越" or "土山峠". So I continued on the ridge, and within a couple of meters was a rather steel descent - I had to use my hands to go down, but there plenty to hold on to - including the shiny new chains to the left and the right. There were some rather narrow sections of the ridge, but nothing narrower than a foot. I kept straight, and followed the signs to "半原越". When the sign says 1.0km to "半原越", it's a big flight of stairs down on the best soil I've trekked on (very soft to the feet!). Soon enough I started following the signs to 土山峠. Once close enough, the signs will start showing the English to it too - so I learned that it is read as Tsuchiyama-toge (土山峠). It was a quick descent, nothing too steep, though I did encounter a bunch of monkeys running the path.
03:25pm. Arrived at the main road. Finally, a bear warning! I turned right to go to the bus stop.
03:28pm. Arrived at the bus stop (no need to cross the road). The next bus is at 03:56pm, so I decided to walk to the next bus stop instead of waiting in the cold.
04:02pm. Bus Hon-Atsugi Station.
04:43pm. Hon-Atsugi Station, ate dinner (not a lot of options), and went home!

The cute train going to Hashimoto Station.

The signs outside North Exit of Hashimoto Station - I had to go to bus stop 2.

The 8:55am bus.

At the bus stop. You can see the toilet at the right (the small building) , the main road to the left, and the path to the parking lot in between. I went to the parking lot.

The trail sign at the parking lot, and I had to go to the sidewalk next to the main road.

Walking next to the main road...

There's the trailhead! To the left - after the blue rail.

The trail! At the left is the warning about leeches.

The initial part of the hike.

The common trail.

A restroom right before the park with a viewing deck.

I bet this is camping friendly - but only in winter. Coz you know. Leeches. Don't want them crawling in your tent. Or inside your tent. O.O

The viewing deck.

Back to the main trail.

The summit of Mt. Minami.

Close by are the spray (alcohol/soap?) bottles in case you have a leech attached to you.

The view next to that spray storage.

The fork soon after, next to the electric thingy. I turned right, and it was basically stairs til the main road.

See? Stairs.

There was a fork, both of which leads to the dam. I took the shorter route - right.

A little reprieve from the stairs.

The main road. I turned right.

Keep on walking until the dam. Then turn left to cross to the dam.

There's a lot going on below that dam - they even have a cable car for those who wish to go down. There's a bus stop in the area too, so this place can definitely be the end or the start of the hike.