(明神ヶ岳) Mt. Myoujin Hike

This was Mt. Kintoki's plus one, and there's another one too, but I decided to skip it for the day as sunset comes pretty early and I'm a slow solo hiker, so I'm not taking my chances.

Budget: JPY4,820 (~USD46)

JPY4,660. Train, Shinjuku Station < > Hakone-Yumoto Station (JPY2,330 one way)

OR JPY2,440, if not taking the express train (Romance Car). (JPY1,220 one way)

JPY1,100. Bus, Miyogino-shishomae (宮城野支所前) < > Hakone-Yumoto Station (箱根湯本駅) (JPY550 one way)
Note: There is a pass called Hakone Pass, but it costs JPY5,000+, which is not worth it if for this trip.

Hike Date / Difficulty (Elevation 1,169m / 3,835ft)

November 8, 2020
Difficulty: 2 out of 5
Route below is around 7.8 kilometers, with an elevation change of ▲876m/ ▽876m

For a longer hike, I combined this with Mt. Kintoki, the combined itinerary to be linked here later.

PDF Map Link

When to Go
Anytime during the year!

Special Notes

Weather check.
Nothing technical on this hike - no drops, chain section, etc. Definitely a place to bring your family and newbie hiker friends. Or just take a nice stretch in the mountains.

Trailhead. I will refer to one trailhead for this hike, but there are definitely a couple that can be done assuming that you wish to combine the hike with a couple of summits. Here's a link of the map, so you can play with it.

Miyogino-shishomae (宮城野支所前). The walk from the bus stop is not well marked, here's the google maps pin. Access to the bus stop as follows:

Train, Tokyo to Hakone-Yumoto Station.
Bus, Hakone-Yumoto Station (箱根湯本駅) to Miyogino-shishomae (宮城野支所前). JPY550, 16 minutes one way. Bus schedule here, return bus here.
The return bus can get stuck in traffic (I was stuck for an hour). So try to get down at Ohiradai Station (大平台駅) and just take the local train to Hakone-yumoto Station.

Bus schedule, Hakone-Yumoto Station (箱根湯本駅) ⇒ Miyogino-shishomae (宮城野支所前)

Bus schedule, Miyogino-shishomae (宮城野支所前) ⇒ Hakone-Yumoto Station (箱根湯本駅)

Mountain huts.

Paid. None
Free. None
Camping. None. Wild camping is possible at the summit of Mt. Myoujin though.

Itinerary - Plan

06:31am. Train, Shinjuku to Hakone Yumoto, transfer at Odawara.
08:29am. ETA: Hakone-Yumoto Station.
08:41am. Bus, Hakone-Yumoto Station to 宮城野支所前 trailhead.
~08:56am. ETA: Bus stop, 宮城野支所前
~09:00am. Start hike.
~11:10am. ETA: 明神ヶ岳 summit. One hour lunch.
~01:50am. Back at trailhead.
~01:55pm. Bus, 宮城野支所前 to Hakone Yumoto Station (箱根湯本駅). Given how popular Hakone is, the traffic can be really bad (I was stuck for an hour, and this is a normal occurrence).
02:10pm. ETA: Hakone Yumoto Station (箱根湯本駅). Train, Hakone Yumoto Station to Shinjuku Station.

The pictures start at the summit, as I did this hike with Mt. Kintoki.

The summit of Mt. Myoujin! Crowded, but not as crowded as Mt. Kintoki's.

Mt. Myoujin's summit marker, with Owakudani as the background (the theme of this hike)

Continuing on.

There were some forks immediately, I just kept looking at my map and stayed on the main path (right).

Still staying one the main path (right)

Bamboo! (right?)

Soon I arrived at another fork, where I had the option of doing another mountain, or descending. As I wanted to be down with plenty of allowance given that sunset is before 5pm, I took the turn right to Miyagino.