Yatsugatake Trip, Part 3 (June 5th)

Rhododendron aureum (Kibana Shakunage).
Even the buds were not so many yet.
キバナシャクナゲ。蕾をつけているのもまだちらほらといったところ。

On the second day of our trip, it was covered with fog and we couldn't see much for a while.
While we walked on the ridge of Mt. Yokodake to the Ioudake-sansou Hut, it started to clear up sometimes. On the ridge of Mt. Yokodake, we found the second one of 2 kinds of flowers we looked for, Pulsatilla nipponica (Tsukumo-gusa). This plant only grows in this area and the Hakuba area in Honshuu island. Most of them were not open yet, but we found quite a few of buds. We took a short break at Ioudake-sansou Hut (the toilet is really clean here!) and then had lunch at Akadake Kousen Hut. From there we took Kitazawa trail back to Minoto-sansou Hut. On the Kitazawa trail we found quite a few of Viola selkirkii (Miyama Sumire) and some of them were extremely tiny comparing with what we had seen before. We had seen only some of them in Shinjo before, so I was amazed and took bunch of pictures of them.
We got to the Minotoguchi BS around 16:00 and took bus back to JR Chino Sta. and took the local trains back home. I could hardly believe that we did that much hiking in 2 days!

Day 2:
Akadake-choujou-sansou Hut (6:30) - Mt. Yokodake (Oku-no-in peak) (8:50) - Ioudake-sansou Hut (9:50) - Mt. Ioudake (10:40) - Akaiwa-no-Kashira (11:05) - Akadake Kousen Hut (12:20) - Kitazawa Trail - Minoto-sansou Hut (15:07) - Minotoguchi BS (16:05) - bus (16:34 - 17:26) - JR Chino Sta. - trains - Home.

2日目は、赤岳頂上山荘から横岳、硫黄岳とまわり、赤岳鉱泉から北沢経由で美濃戸口バス停に戻りました。帰りはちょうど、17:36発の大月行に間に合いました。
まずは、赤岳鉱泉に至るまでの画像から。山荘を出発したときは、ガスっていて何も見えない状態でした。


Jizou-no-kashira.
My partner took this statue for a person in this fog.
地蔵の頭。相方はお地蔵様を、人影と間違えていました。


Dryas octopetala (Chounosuke-sou).
You can see the beutiful white flowers in July.
チョウノスケソウは、まだ葉っぱが出てきたばかり。


Pulsatilla nipponica (Tsukumo-gusa).
Here is the one we were looking for!
ありました！ツクモグサ！露に濡れています。


Pulsatilla nipponica (Tsukumo-gusa).
Most of them were still buds, but they were intrestingly hairy.
本当に毛深いんだぁ…


Oxytropis japonica (Oyama-no-endou).
There weren't many of them yet...but in July their beautiful flowers covers the ridge.
オヤマノエンドウもまだちらほら見られる程度。


Pulsatilla nipponica (Tsukumo-gusa).
We found quite a few of them on the Mt. Yokodake Ridge.
横岳の一帯にかなりの数、出ていました。1，2週間が見ごろなのかな。


Mt. Yokodake and Mt. Amidadake.
横岳と阿弥陀岳。ようやく霧が晴れてきました。


Daidoushin on the right and Shoudoushin on the left.
大同心、小同心も見えてきました。
ちょっと前までは霧の中に隠れていました。


The other side of the ridge had lots of snow still.
尾根の反対側にはこんなに雪が残っているところも。


Mt. Ioudake and Ioudake-sansou Hut on the lower right.
硫黄岳山荘もうっすら見えてきました。


On the way to the summit of Mt. Ioudake from the hut.
山荘で小休止し、硫黄岳頂上を目指します。
やはり今日は開山祭…この辺りからすれ違う人の数が多くなりました。


Mt. Yokodake and Mt. Akadake from Mt. Ioudake.
硫黄岳から横岳、赤岳…雲に隠れちゃってます。


Mt. Ioudake.
硫黄岳の爆裂火口。


Mt. Higashi-tengudake and Mt. Nishi-tengudake from Mt. Ioudake.
硫黄岳からの東天狗岳、西天狗岳の眺め。去年はあそこに足を延ばしました。
手前の根石山荘…鄙びた感じが味わい深かったです。


Mt. Akadake (left), Mt. Nakadake (center) and Mt. Amidadake (right).
赤岩の頭付近より。赤岳、中岳、阿弥陀岳。


Mt. Akadake. If you look closely, you can see the trail we took the day before.
赤岳の眺め。1日目に苦戦した文三郎尾根のコースが見えます。
ここから自分たちが歩いた道のりがぐるっと見渡せたので、よく歩いたなぁと、半ば自分でも信じられないような感覚になりました。