A dayhike in Kanagawa. Didn't see Mt. Fuji, but saw my first bear print in all my hikes in Japan. Did I panic? Not really. But that's probably because I was in the middle of being lost in my hike with no trail signs or practically no trail visible. Haha.
Budget: JPY2,780 (~USD27) from Tokyo
JPY1,030. Train, Tokyo to Shin-Matsuda Station.
JPY530. Bus, Shin-Matsuda Station to Yagurazawa Bus Stop.
JPY1,220. Train, Yamakita Station to Tokyo.
Hike Date / Difficulty (Elevation: 870m / 2,854ft)
February 26, 2022
Difficulty: 3 out of 5, because of the route that I took. The route below is a not-at-all-maintained route (from 山伏平 right below the summit of Yaguradake to Yamakita station). Trails and trail signs are minimal, so for beginners, please take the other route to Yamakita Station.
Route below is around 11.5kilometers, with an elevation change of ▲979m/ ▽1,110m (5hours~)
Trailheads. There are quite a couple, but the main ones as far as I can see are:
Yagurazawa Bus Stop (矢倉沢).Google maps pin here (google works for transport directions). There's a restroom less than 5 minutes away.
Train, Tokyo to ShinMatsuda Station (新松田駅).
Bus, Shin Matsuda Station to Yagurazawa Bus Stop (矢倉沢). Take North Exit (北口), bus stop 1. There are a couple of bus stops number 1, take the right right across the street, in front of the 7-11. Pictured below. IC cards accepted.
To trailhead, JPY530, 30 minutes one way. 8:10am, 08:40am, 09:10am and 10:05am.
There's also a bus coming near Daiyuuzan Station (大雄山駅), bus schedule here. Getting to this station is pretty hard, so would still go with ShinMatsuda Station.
For those with cars, there is no official parking lot that I saw, but I did see some cars parked here, close to the trailhead.
Yamakita Station (山北駅). Around two hours away from Tokyo, this stop transfers at Shin Matsuda Station above. It should be JPY1,220 ish one way, but it can get as high as JPY2,000+ depending on the train taken, so check the prices at google maps first!
Jizoudo (地蔵堂). Same access as Yagurazawa Bus Stop above, but +7 minutes on the bus)
Mountain huts.
Paid. None.
Free. None. Summit might be a decent place to wild camp on.
Camping. None.
Itinerary
06:48am. Train, Tokyo area to Shin-Matsuda Station. (JPY1,030)
08:54am. ETA: Shin-Matsuda Station.
09:10am. Bus, Shin-Matsuda Station to Yagurazawa Bus Stop
04:07pm. ETA: Yamakita Station. Trains to Tokyo around that time are at 12:53pm, 1:59pm, 02:43pm, 03:15pm, 3:47pm, 4:13pm. (JPY1,220 one way).
Actual Log, but please refer to the detailed pictures.
08:36am. Arrived at Shin-Matsuda Station. Took North Exit, and the bus stop is in front of the exit. There are a couple of bus stops number 1, so I had to find the one going to Jozoudo 地蔵堂
08:40am. Bus, Shin-Matsuda Station to Yagurazawa Bus Stop
09:11am. Arrived at Yagurazawa Bus Stop. Started walking to trailhead. There were enough signs going to the summit of Yaguradake. Turns that I took are pictured below.
09:37am. Finally at the real trailhead! There is a gate blocking the path, so I just went it and closed it again.
10:48am. Arrived at 矢倉岳 Summit! Had some snacks and flew my drone.
11:16am. Continued on my hike.
01:06pm. Arrived at 鳥手山 Summit.
03:08pm. Arrived at Yamakita Station and caught the 3:15pm train.
The bus stop in front of 7-11.
Yagurawasawa bus stop.
From the bus stop, I crossed here and turned right there in the middle.
First leg of my hike.
There is a toilet right here. Can you see the sign? No?
What about now? Toilet = "トイレ"
The restroom.
There is a bus here coming from Sekimoto (関本), just in case you want to save about 5 minutes of walking from Yagurasawa bus stop.
I can't believe they wrote the trailhead sign on the building. Haha.
A bit confusing here, but path is to the left.
There's a small sign to the left pointing to the right. So turned right here.
After a while, here's another fork where I had to turn to the left. Can you see the sign?
How about now?
Saw a shrine, and turned left.
Walking slowly up.
I thought it was the trail. No it was not. Continue on the main trail.
Some cars parked near the trailhead.
A turn here, there's a small sign pointing to the left.
Past a tea farm. An abandoned one it seems.
Fenced in trailhead. Apparently a bear was last seen at July 25 (it is February when I hiked). I went in.
Still a road trail.
Finally on an actual trail!
One of the nicer trails.
Going up!
Soon there were stairs
At the summit. About 4 benches with tables at the summit.
Continuing on my hike.
A bench to rest while looking at Mt. Fuji. No, Mt. Fuji was not visible at all when I went.
Lots of stairs down.
A resting spot at fork of Yamabushidaira
Yep, this is how I learned the name.
To the left is the parking lot+difficult trail to Yamakita Station, the right is the main trail to Yamakita Station. I turned left.
About two meters in, is this blocked of trail saying that it's a difficult trail and be careful. In hindsight, I should NOT have had taken this trail and should have had taken the main trail back to Yamakita Station.
It all started nice and well.
A marker - but not a summit.
Going down when there is practically no trail to follow. I would think that after hiking a hundred or so mountains in Japan I would have an idea how to read trails, but this place has NO trails.
Ok, please, please don't be a bear foot print. I really think it is, but I blocked this part out in my brain while I was hiking. Also, never saw another soul in this trail. I was following one person's trail, was also lost when that person was lost (saw him backtrack when I did). I was ok hiking solo, but seeing a bear print makes the entire thing scary.
Oh, a well marked trail! Except it is not. Not a trail. The only time I saw something similar was when I saw a deer digging through a trail, so I would say this is the doing of a deer. Oh, and I am sure this is NOT the trail because I followed so many of these in this hike and got lost.
Mt. Toride (取手山) summit. Trails before and after this are nonexistent.
A sign! How dilapidated this sign is should have had been my sign. I tried to bypass a summit and turned left. That was NOT a good move. In hindsight, I would have had turned right.
The easier section in this trip, but the rest was sketchy. After this, for about 20-50 meters I guess, I barely had a solid footing for ONE foot (it was inclined). Oh, and to the left was a big drop. To the right was nothing to hold on to. No, I did NOT like this section.
Finally back into the main trail! This was "too" main a trail that it had tracks on it. What do you call those tank tracks?
Some sections, particularly the turns, were cemented. But they were pretty easy to walk on to, and after the sketchy sections of this hike, I'm happy to have this "trail".
It's not a tank, but I don't know what to call those "tires"/
I'm done! And some pampas grass (?) to welcome me back to civilization.
Walking back to town.
I've been here before! I've realized this when I saw the sign to Mt. Ono. Haha.
The park I wanted to visit for the Sakura. Looking at it from Matsuda Station though, it doesn't look like they are in full bloom, so I decided to skip. I've visited this place when I went to Mt. Takamatsu.
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