Beginner Hike + Tattoo-friendly Onsen

I love hiking. I also love onsen. If you ask me which one I love more? I don’t think I’ll have an answer.

So, if you’re like me who wants the best of both worlds, you should definitely check out Mt. Mitake-Mt. Hinode-TsuruTsuru Onsen route.

Sep. 22, 2024 / 9:00 – Meet up at Mitake Station, took the 9:12 bus from Mitake station to Takimoto Cable car station.

9:30 – We started hiking from the trailhead near Takimoto Cable car Station. It’s a short route (8.7km) so we skipped the cable car this time. Honestly, if you’re a complete beginner or have no confidence in your fitness level, I would just take the cable car. But if you’re up for a little challenge, this route is so beautiful I highly recommend it!

The path is cemented and the cedar trees have numbers starting from 800? so you know if you’re getting closer to the goal because it counts down to 1.

10:30 – It took us about an hour to reach Tree #1. One of my trail mate wanted to give up mid way but everybody was cheering for her and patiently waited. It’s our first time hiking together and I don’t want her to be traumatized so I didn’t want to force her to go with us when she’s saying she cannot go any further because she’s at her limit, but I also know that our body is much more capable than we think. Sometimes our limit is a little bit further than we *think* it is.

I also did not want her to regret giving up and going down by herself because I know how that feels (I did that years ago on my Karamatsu-dake hike). Eventually she reached the top with us and he was so happy when she reached the top with us. I was so happy for her too. I think one of the best feelings when you go trekking is being able to go to the summit, when you think you can’t. It really proves that hard work pays off.

***But of course, it’s still case by case basis, if you are feeling sick, that’s different and it’s better to go down when you still can instead of pushing yourself beyond your limit. Also, YAMAP has a great mountain/outdoor insurance coverage for as little as ¥580/7 days or ¥5840/a year. You can enroll for yourself, or for your group.

I think it’s a good idea to enroll in one on top of your life insurance (because some insurance has limit on their outdoor activity coverage), especially if you do a lot of outdoor activities because they also have coverage for that. Most insurance don’t have search & rescue/ helicopter rescue coverage and you do need that as a precaution if you are always in the mountains. Separate article HERE.

10:45– We headed to Mitake Shrine. Some opted to rest at the bottom of the stairs and some of us went up the shrine. There are 2 national treasures in Mitake shrine. One of them is the oldest surviving set of o-yoroi-style armor(worn by high-ranking samurai) from Heian period (Year 794-1185) and the other is the only complete harness left in Japan from Kamakura period (Year 1185-1333). I think it’s pretty cool to see stuff like that.

Entrance fee to the treasure hall is ¥500. I was going to go inside but I didn’t want to keep everyone waiting so I plan to go there again by myself next time when I can take my time looking around.

11:30 – We went down and met up with the rest of the group and headed to Mt. Hinode. You just have to follow the signs or follow YAMAP offline map.

Some parts of the trail was still a little wet due to the rain the previous days, but it wasn’t so bad. I would suggest to wear proper hiking boots if you’re hiking after the rain because it is muddy.

Also, be prepared for lots of stairs before reaching Mt. Hinode summit.

12:15 – We finally reached Mt. Hinode summit / 日の出山頂 / ヒノデサンチョウ (902 masl). There are benches and a gazebo where people can rest. I saw a family having a picnic. We also had our lunch there.

Fun fact: Do you know the difference between the two ways (or million ways) the Japanese write their mountain summits in Kanji?

• 山頂 / サンチョウ (Mt. Fuji summit / 富士山頂 / フジサンチョウ) – mostly used for smaller mountains or independent peaks, meaning mountains that are formed by itself.　
  
  頂 / チョウ – Top
  頂上 / チャウジャウ – Top, Summit, Crest
  山頂 / サンチョウ – Mountain top
  ***These 3 kanji are used interchangeably.
  

• 岳 / タケ or ダケ (Mt. Yari summit / 槍ヶ岳 / ヤリガタケ　or Mt. Karamatsu summit / 唐松岳 / カラマツダケ – mostly used for higher peaks or mountain range with a series of high and steap peaks.

13:00 – We started heading to Tsuru-Tsuru Onsen. We took a lot of wooden stairs going down and it was really steep. My friend said that it is harder if you start climbing from Mt. Hinode to Mt. Mitake , she often go hiking by herself here to exercise.

While we were hiking, me and Shinobu had some VERY interesting conversations about life, relationships, differences about how men and women talk, act and feel, that we talked about actually starting a podcast. Honestly, I meet a lot of interesting women with deep souls and personalities but I cannot say the same thing about men. I wonder why? Are men really not into deep conversations? Are they really that detached from their emotions that they avoid even talking about the hard stuff? Anyway, just as we are about to dive deeper into our conversation…

13:53 – We reached the end of the trail, there was a shrine(?) on our left side, and a stream on our right.

We put our shoes in their shoe lockers at the entrance (free). We paid ¥960 for the onsen at the front desk. I had to buy towels (small and bath towel) because they don’t have towel rental and I didn’t bring one. I think I paid about ¥950(?) for it because I want a small towel too. I gave them my shoe locker key and they gave me a barcoded/numbered bracelet. They use it when we ordered food at the restaurant so you know how much you have to pay upon check out.

But I like the company that I was with so I enjoyed eating and chatting with the group. It was a really fun and chill day hike!

The onsen’s alkaline waters are said to make the skin beautiful and silky smooth and they have outdoor baths too. The outdoor cypress bath and outdoor stone bath are switched daily to allow men and women to enjoy both. This onsen is also tattoo-friendly.

After our onsen session, we felt so clean and refreshed. We took the bus to JR Itsukaichi Line Musashi-Itsukaichi Station (about 15min). The bus stop is just right outside the entrance of the onsen so you don’t have to walk far. There’s also a parking lot if you want to go here by car.

After our dayhike and onsen session, Mommy Wheng invited us to go to her area for a night out in Fussa. It’s like the honch of Yokosuka. We went to a resto bar called Taps and Grill Fussa, they have a live band playing that night for someone’s birthday. The food and the ambience of the place was great. Shinobu (Japanese), my new friend played darts for the first time and I’m glad she liked some Filipino foods as well!

2 Summits in one day:

Mt. Mitake (929 masl)
Mt. Hinode (902 masl)
Total Distance : 8.7km
Total time: 4hours 40min
Yamap Hiking Plan HERE.

I highly recommend this route for a beginner or for couples who wants to go out on an outdoor date. It’s very relaxing. There was a lot of people hiking with us so solo hiking is also possible (I don’t recommend though, I’m still scared to do a solo hike). Hope you enjoy this one as much as I did!

Thanks for reading!
#MarieJournals