Mount Mitake & Koganegatake

What?
Mount Mitake (御嶽or三嶽or三岳) is the highest mountain of the Taki Mountain range (多紀連山) in Sasayama (篠山), Hyogo Prefecture (兵庫県), reaching 793 meters. Next door’s Koganegatake (小金々岳) tops 725 meters and can be reach circling directly through the Tamba Sasayama Forest Adventure Park, a play park in the middle of the woods.
Where?
Mount Mitake lies north of Sasayama (篠山) in Hyogo Prefecture (兵庫県), though it is not be confused with Mount Mitake near Tokyo or Mount Ontake in Nagano which is written with the same characters. To get there you need to get off at Sasayamaguchi Station (篠山口駅), exit the east gate and take a taxi that serves as a bus for a flat rate of 500 yen. You should get off at Hiuchiwan Stop (火打岩). Be careful though, the bus-taxi only rides twice a day (three times on a weekday) and should be reserved an hour in advance. From the bus stop it’s around a hundred meters forward before heading into the forest through a small path on the left. Watch for an arrow, the entrance is easily missed.
URL
Two Cups of Ginger Taxibus Timetable

An old magazine in my possession talked about a certain Mount Mitake in Hyogo. It was different from the other articles as it was only one page instead of 2 to 4, and to be honest the pictures weren’t that awe-inspiring. Additionally, a quick search on the net (in English) gave me barely any results. But my friend wanted to go hiking in an easily accessible place, and from where we live, Sasayama can be reached in one straight line and in less than an hour. So Mount Mitake in Hyogo, here we come!

We missed the taxi-bus that left only three minutes before we arrived at the station due to a misunderstanding. Bummer. For all of you who will have the same tough luck, a one way trip costs about 4500 yen when taking a regular cab. When we exited the cab we decided to tackle Mount Mitake first and loop clockwise. The path immediately goes up steep, but reaching the summit doesn’t actually take that long. The path is very clearly indicated and a lot of it is covered by stairs. In that sense it didn’t really feel like climbing a mountain. The first spot that reminded me that we were actually going towards the highest point in the mountain range was a beautiful view over the area from an isolated rock a little before the top. Continuing we saw an eerily looking shrine and an equally eerily looking toilet. If you turn left here you get to the top, but it as bland as any top can be. We quickly took a picture of the equally bland sign that indicates the height of the mountain and had lunch at the rocks next to the shrine. The warm spring-sun and the beautiful view made this spot so much better than the actual top. The rocks would also be a harbinger of things to come. But first we had to descend again.

The stairs towards the peak of Mount Mitake.

The first spot with a stellar view.

Eerie.

Sometimes it was more rock climbing than anything else.

To tackle Mount Koganegatake we first had to drop around 200 meters, crossing the concrete road and the Tamba Sasayama Forest Adventure Park. The park seemed pretty fun and we were a bit tempted, but it costs a whopping 4000 yen. So we just passed it and started our climb again. Although Mount Mitake and Koganegatake are right next to each other, they couldn’t be more different. While the previous climb consisted mainly out of staircases, this one resembled a rock climbing course, not unlike when we climbed Mount Shiraga in the vicinity.

The top of Mount Kogane (the “gatake” actually means “peak” in Japanese) can only be reached by pulling yourself up on chains, crawling on spikey rocks, twisting your ankles and enjoying the view every two seconds. This mountain is so much more challenging and rewarding than Mount Mitake! So when we reached the top we again enjoyed a few moments in the sun before we started the descent heading for the taxi-bus stop. The descent started out very rocky again, shifting into a comfortable ridgeline walk before following a cozy stream all the way down. Arriving at the bus stop we were in time for the taxi-bus home, however as we forgot to call an hour in front we again had to pay the high fee. I didn’t really care, I had fun and we were going for a beer – the perfect reward for an adventurous and fun hike.