Mt. Nikko-Shirane

What?
Mount Nikko-Shirane (日光白根山) is with its 2578 meters the highest mountain in the Kanto area and north of there. It is readily accessible though by cable car which lifts you up to 2000 meters in a mere 15 minutes. This makes that around both the lower as upper cable car stations small touristic villages are created. “Village” is a big word though for a few shops, a restaurant and a foot bath. But around the lower station there are some attractions like a luge slide and an onsen, and the upper station already provides some beautiful views. A family friendly mountain which’s also caters to avid hikers as the views from the top are absolutely spectacular.
Where?
The top of the mountain is located on the border of Tochigi (栃木県) and Gunma Prefectures (群馬県). The cable car is part of Gunma Prefecture but can be reached from both Numata (沼田) in Gunma as Nikko (日光) in Tochigi. The latter has more to offer in terms of touristic attractions, but I found the time schedule of the former better suiting my plans. I stayed in Numata to take the bus early in the morning from Numata Station to the Kamata bus stop (鎌田). There I transferred to a bus headed for Yumoto Onsen (湯元温泉), and I got off at the ropeway right before it opened. The buses are scheduled so there is not a lot of time loss during transfers.
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Hikes in Japan Mt Nikko-Shirane Ropeway

There is no way I would have climbed this mountain today if it wasn’t sandwiched in between two event shifts in Tokyo. As the situation was, I already booked my hotel in Numata and my schedule was rather inflexible. But a super typhoon was raging over Japan. Not exactly ideal conditions.

But as it turns out… I was ridiculously lucky. I set out in the hazy early morning with misty rain, only to arrive at the cable car conditions in perfect weather conditions. Beautiful blue skies with the occasional white cloud, not too warm, not too cold. And this would last almost my whole hike. Only halfway the descent I noticed clouds coming in and in the last 15 minutes during my walk through the forest did it start to rain.

But as said; not during my climb to the top.

Mount Nikko-Shirane is a popular mountain. It’s easy to understand why; it’s beautiful and easily accessible. Both hikers as people who just want to walk their dog can come here.
Even though I came as early as possible, there already were around 20 hikers getting ready. Most of them I left behind me and never saw again, but two hikers walked around my pace and were my silent companions on the way up. It was absolutely not bothersome, but bear in mind that on weekends and holidays, and especially with a good weather forecast it might become very crowded on the way to the top.

But as that wasn’t the case today, I thoroughly enjoyed the climb. You start out on an easy to tread path in a pretty green forest, which gradually turns into a rocky path with the occasional view on surrounding mountains. Like the climax in an upbeat song, getting out of the forest with a view on the last few hundred meters to the bald and boulderous peak gives a kind of sense of victory and gives you renewed energy. I honestly loved every moment of the climb and the views at the top were absolutely spectacular.

I enjoyed an onigiri here - what fantastic food for a hike - and screened the path that I was planning to take.
My habit to try to loop my hikes as much as possible turned out badly during my previous outing, but this time I was lucky again.

Out of the forest, on to the top.

A small shrine. The peak is within reach.

I don't know which peak that is, shrouded in the clouds.

No typhoon in sight.

I needed to orientate myself on the top a bit, because although I saw the path I was going to take, I didn’t immediately find the access from the top where I was standing. I idled around a bit and again this was a stroke of luck as I found some breathtaking views from in between rocks and boulders where I shouldn’t need to be.

The slippery way down reminded me a bit of Mount Fuji as I needed to watch my every step not to slip away with the small stones underneath my feet. But different from Mount Fuji, spectacular views were everywhere.
It made going down even more dangerous as I needed to watch my every step, but the views kept pulling my gaze up.

Eventually I arrived at a crossing where I saw some grey clouds getting in. It would still be a while before they would catch up, so I decided to take a small detour to one of the lakes that I saw from above. Here I had my second onigiri and enjoyed the songs of the birds and the rustling of the wind through the trees.
I picked myself up again and continued my loop which would now almost solely would go through unspoiled forest, freshly green from the rain of the previous days. The loop felt rather long, but the forest didn’t bore and I was extremely grateful for the solitude I found here.
The “main road” to the top was crowded as I saw in the last few meters back to the cable car, but during the whole descent I only met one group of three guys. Pure bliss and as good as any forest bath.

The little bit of rain during the last few minutes before arriving back at the cable car didn’t spoil anything.
I have been extremely lucky today and enjoyed every moment and every nook of this beautiful mountain!