Location: North 30.33609, East 130.50423 (GPS at the summit)
Difficulty: YDS class 2
Climbed August 7. 2016.
Information:
How to get there:
This is the highest mountain on the island of Yakushima, located south of
the city Kogoshima. To travel there from Kogoshima is in general quite
expensive. One can travel by jet-foil or ferry boat. The least expensive,
but also slowest mode of travel is to take the freighter boat that leaves
from a separate location about 15 kilometer south of the central part of Kogoshima.
The advantage is that you save an overnight since you must spend a night on
the boat. With arrival at 0700 in the morning, this is a good option if you bring a car
along. This boat leaves from location N31.48277, E130.51631, note that one should be there
at least one hour before departure. The ticket office is right there in a rather small
and primitive building.
Once on the island, there are several trails to this mountain with different
trailheads. The most popular trailhead is located at the very end of a rather
long mountain road. In order to locate this, drive south along the coast from
the town (main harbor) of Yakushima. You will then get to a small town named Anbo, the
road fork is then at location N30.31154, E130.64752. Turn right here and follow the road
as it climbs uphill. Higher up, this road gets more narrow, but it stays paved all the
way to its highest point at location N30.29957, E130.53397, elevation about 1380 meter.
>his is the trailhead, parking is limited so the best approach is to be there early.
This trailhead is also served by a bus, however it runs infrequently and it is unclaer
if one could take the bus round-trip on a single day hike.
Route description:
Head up the stairs and exit onto the trail via the small portal. This trail is
very well marked with kilometer signs about every 500 meter. The trail is 8 kilometer
one way from the trailhead to the summit. The trail is nicely made with boardwalks,
wooden steps and even a couple of sections with a rope to hold on, in order to
safeguard slightly steeper rock.
rock.
Comments:
We arrived at 0700 with the overnight freighter boat. After some local organization, we headed
to the trailhead and arrived there around 0845. This trail runs through a national park, moreover it
is also a UNESCO world heritage area. The forest is quite unique, huge trees and many different
species.
We left at 0900 and made the trip to the summit in 2:30, arriving there at 1130. This is twice as
fast as the advise on the signs at the trailhead. Along the way, we admired the vegetation, observed
local wildlife, both bigger and smaller. The return hike took 2:15 for a total trip time of 5 hours.
The scenery and the landscape are quite unique, this hike is highly recommended.
Here is a quick summary of peaks climbed in my trip to Japan.