This is my 1st Time hiking the Central Alps with 5-Finger shoes!!
Kiso-Komagatake is the tallest peak of the Japan Alps at 2,956m. It is also the home of Senjojiki Cirque, one of Nagano’s popular sightseeing spots with access via the Komagatake Ropeway.
[Reference] https://www.go-nagano.net/en/topics_detail6/id=16594
Recently I ‘ve developed a new hobby of walking everywhere with my 5-finger vibram shoes. They are so light & comfortable, good gripping, good exercise for lower legs, ankles & feet. I feel that they make my legs & feet stronger. However, they are not good for running, because without any cushion as normal shoes, your feet absorb all the shock from the ground, esp. paved roads, really hurt the feet, but on soil, they are lovely.
So, I went walking or short hikes with my 5-fingers quite many times already, but I am not confident that I can hike higher mountain with them, because they only provide min. protection to the feet…
Since now now is deep autumn, the last chance to see the colourful yellow & red leaves, we tried today, to the Central Alps in Japan!
It is still difficult for me to wake up at middle of the night, but since the bus stop to ropeway is at least 3-hr drive from our home, and from there have to take 30min bus to ropeway (no cars are allowed after certain point on thr mountain), we had to leave home at around 1am. So, Friday night we packed & took a nap for 2-3 hrs, woke up by alarm clock & left. We stopped by convenience stores to buy breakfast & lunch, but as convenient as Japan, at 1-5am, the shelves in thr stores were still almost empty!
I couldn’t get my favorite pork bun & fried egg roll from 7-11 because they need to be warm & fresh, so I got myself yogurt, packaged tofu stick (contains 10g of protein!) & packaged seasoned chicken breast (again, protein!) (each about USD 1.5-3) Thankfully, the convenience stores in Japan always have awesome & cheap fresh cafe latte thank to the awesome machines (about USD 1.5-2).
Anyway, when we arrived the parking lot in front of the bus stop, the parking lot was already so full & unbelievably long lines of people for ticket, another equally long line of people for the bus. The lines were so long that they went around the whole parking lot, I think 200-300 people per line? I think because it’s the best season to see Red Leaves now, and the government just released the pandemic lockdown on Friday (Oct.1).
Both lines were so long that it’s hard to tell which line is ticket, which line is bus, so i asked 3 different persons on the same line, interesting that they had different answers… Some people didn’t really know what they lined up for. (You must buy ticket before get on the bus.) So, I & hubby waited at different lines to save line, still line were so long , we must had waited for more than an hour. After 30min bus, still had to wait for the ropeway which only runs every 9min or longer. So, the 1st bus came at 5am, but we came too late, after taking the ropeway to the starting point, it was already 8:30am or so.
However, it was such a sunny day, the view made all the waiting time worths it. It’s already late-Autumn, so the leaves are not at their brightest time, but still so colourful. The trail was a bit rocky, so take a while for my 5-fingers to get used to it, because it would hurt if I did hit some stones or other sharp objects. Also, part of the trail used metal mesh to hold the loose stones in place, so I was a bit scared of stepping on the metal wires, but in general, 5-fingers are light & less slippery on the rocks, so I walked with them the whole time.
After walking on the flat field with a little pond in it, the trail started to become steep, many people had to take breaks on the way, and it was crowded with peopke, so we had to wait & walk in turn.
After the steep slope, we came to the open area with a teahouse & camping site. Although it only 9-10am, many people already started put up their tents. I think they plan to leave most of tye stuffs inside the tents, so they can continue to hike nearby without the loads. I had to go inside the teahouse for toilet, and the counter told me it costs ¥200 (about USD 2)! The teahouses on mountains often charges about ¥100 for toilet, and they put a box at the entrance to collect the fees. This was by far the most expensive toilet I had ever been to!
We wanted to finish earlier before the peak hours, so we tasted no time, continued to hike. after the teahouse, we had to climb across another hill (up & down) and then go up again for our destination.
You see, there is a Japanese App on the phone called “yamasuta”. By which, you can get a “stamp” whenever you reach one of the major mountains in Japan. It tracks the location by GPS, so no need to signal. Haha… I just got the stamp of “Kisokomagatake”! Yeah!
On our way back, we passed by the pond. It was so small & shallow, but the water was so clear. It made a beautiful view with the background.
It was sunny, much warmer than we thought (almost 30degC). We wore too much & it was too hot. But anyway, not too difficult trail, so we went & returned in 3.5 hours, took a slightly expensive lunch inside the cafe of the ropeway station & went down.
Luckily, it was not too crowded to go down, we heard that when the time becomes late, people may had to wait for over 2 hrs to take the ropeway/bus to return.
Since I was wearing 5-fingers instead of thick hiking boots, the 3.5 hours caused my lower legs hurt for a day afterwards… but I think they’ll make my legs stronger. I still enjoy hiking with 5-fingers. It feels more free & fun. I’ll definitely hike with the 5-fingers again!!!
