Nikko / 日光 / ニッコウ is known for its natural beauty, World Heritage Sites, and relaxing atmosphere. While most people would go to Lake Chuzenji, Toshogu Shrine, Rinnoji Temple, and the Shinkyo Bridge or Kegon Falls.. Me and my crazy friends decided to climb Mt. Nikko-Shirane / 日光白根山 / ニッコウシラネ which is located on the border of Gunma and Tochigi prefectures.
OCT 26, 2024 (Saturday) – The road going to the trailhead is the infamous Irohazaka winding road or Iroha Slope that has a total of 48 sharp curves. Definitely not for beginner drivers like me so I skipped driving here. This road is a popular spot for Autumn Foliage viewing. We even saw monkeys on our way and going back. I suggest you take motion sickness medicine for this though because it was a rough ride.
There is a campsite nearby if you want to stay the night before. We are coming from Tsukuba so we just left early to get there around 7:00 for an early start.
We planned on taking the ropeway initially but decided to start from Suganuma Trailhead instead. There is a parking lot near the Hishiya Suganuma Sales Office Yamakoya and most people parked here. This is the only toilet we saw and no toilet after this or at the summit or nearby the pond so make sure you go to this one here if you’re taking the same route as ours.
We parked further inside after passing by Shirane Trailhead sign all the way to the parking lot near this sign below.
Meet the gang: Me, Roberto, Sonia, Shinobu, Micah, Jade
8:00 – Started our ascend. It was about 10°C so I had my fleece jacket on. It started out really nice.. for like 5minutes.
IMMEDIATE REGRET. I thought I learned my lesson last time when I hiked without proper sleep but I really couldn’t sleep the night before even though I was so tired after my 11 hour shift. I did try to sleep though, I just couldn’t.. I think I only got 2-3 hours. Does anyone have any tips on this? If you do, please do share!
9:45 – We reached Midagaike / 弥陀ヶ池 / ミダガイケ (The smaller pond in this route). Here we ate our breakfast and had coffee. I really like the view here. They have some benches too around the pond where people can eat and just admire the view.
10:25 – We started heading to Mt. Shirane summit. There is also a way to the Goshikinuma Pond / 五色沼 / ゴシキヌマ which is less steep than the route we took so if you just want to go to the pond you can also turn left and go from here.
It started getting really hard for me to ascend from here on. But the views were amazing! You will see the emerald water of Goshikinuma pond from above. So worth it!
STAGE 4: REGRET. What did I get myself into?
11:30 – We reached a rock formation that we climbed for the obligatory peak shot.
The trail coming up to this rock formation was too steep for me and I was struggling. Roberto was too kind to offer to carry my backpack. Thank you so much Kuya!
If you’re a beginner I suggest you carry a smaller and lighter bag. Something that doesn’t restrict movements when climbing big rocks. I made a mistake of packing too much for this hike and I ended up not using most of them, they’re just added weight.
11:45 – A little bit after this rock formation, we reached the landmark of Mt. Shirane, and we thought this was it but the summit marker is further along. You have to descend and then ascend a little bit. We were so hungry that we decided to eat first. Roberto boiled water for our cup ramens and coffee. I brought a light down jacket in case it gets really cold but it was about 14°C at the summit so I only needed my fleece jacket.
12:35 – After lunch, we finally made it to Mt. Shirane Summit (2,578 masl)
The panoramic view from up here was amazing. You can see Mt. Nantai, other mountain ridges, the emerald colored lakes and the sea of clouds. We got lucky with the weather again this time because forecast was light rain but it did not rain at all. It was a little cloudy at first but it cleared up later on. The temperature was perfect.
I am not sure if this was the actual summit marker at first because it was different from the ones I saw online. (There were two wooden summit markers on other people’s pictures or vlogs so I wasn’t sure if were even at the right one. But this was the place where everyone was queuing to take pictures and so we did the same.)
13:00 – We started our descend after taking pictures here and we just started walking towards Goshikinuma. My phone died around this time and I think that’s why my Yamap activity history was messed up on the app. Not 100% sure which path we went around this area but I don’t think we took a straight line from shrine landmark to Mae-Shirane and then going down to Goshikinuma pond but this is what it shows. I don’t think we saw the Goshikinuma Mountain Cabin but we went to Mae-Shirane so maybe we did go a straight line?
I was confused where to go down looking at the maps while planning this hike but we just followed Roberto this time because it’s his 5th time going here. But if you’re going by yourself then I think it’s better to use a map/offline map like Yamap app because it can get confusing.
Our descend was pretty rough though. Lots of rocks (which reminds me of Mt. Fuji descend) but the dormant trees were giving “winter is coming” vibes that I actually like.
14:20 – We finally reached Goshikinuma , the emerald colored pond. The reflection of the dormant trees on the water makes it a really cool backdrop for your next holiday postcard.
14:45 – We left the pond and headed back to the small pond (Midagaike). There is a little bit of ascend and descend on the way there but not too bad like earlier.
15:15 – We reached Midagaike. From here its about 3.3km walk going back to Suganuma Trailhead / 菅沼登山口 / スガヌマトザングチ and it took us about 1 hour and 15minutes. It seemed never-ending. It didn’t seem this long when we were climbing up but it definitely felt long going down. I even hit my left knee twice on a big rock so be careful on your descend especially the rocky parts of the trail. My knees and ankles were really hurting it was so hard to walk.
16:30 -We got back to the trailhead.
After our strenuous hike we looked for an onsen nearby so we can soak our body pain away and went to NikkoWanoshiro Onsen. We paid ¥700 each and I had to buy towels (Big one is ¥400 and small one is ¥300 I think?) because I didn’t bring one. Traffic was so bad it took us almost 2 hours to get there.
I like this onsen but the outdoor bath is small. They have sauna but they didn’t have a cold water bath, only cold shower. I like going back and forth to hot and cold bath so I wish they had it. But at that point, I would be happy with any hot water on my body I didn’t care anymore.
After onsen we had dinner at Enya. The food here was really good and the customer service was superb. I remember eating here 11 years ago when I first went to Nikko(also the last) and I highly recommend. This place is popular with Japanese.
Mt. Nikko-Shirane (2,578 masl)
Mt. Nikko-Shirane is the highest mountain in Nikko National Park, and also the highest mountain in both Gunma and Tochigi prefectures. The peak of Nikko-Shirane is a lava dome featuring large cliffs, a small crater lake, and panoramic views of the surrounding mountains including Mt. Nantai and Lake Chuzenji. It is also listed in the 100 famous mountains in Japan.
Total distance : 8.6km
Hike time : Start 8:00 – End 16:30 (Including lunch break in the summit)
Ascend : 3 hours and 50 minutes (Including mini breaks)
Descend : 3 hours and 30 minutes (Including mini breaks)
Total breaktime : 2 hours 43min (from Yamap) This includes a long lunch
Backpack weight : I didn’t weigh it but I estimate around 5-6kg?
Water : 1L pet bottle plus 650ml tumbler (I forgot to buy ice but I thought its gonna be okay since it’s not that hot but I think I still prefer ice cold water while hiking.)
Difficulty : This was harder for me than Karamatsu hike.
Yamap Hiking route HERE. (Disclaimer, my phone died after the summit so it might’ve affected the gps recording)
I really would love to go here again but next time I think I want to take the ropeway and enjoy the deck view there too. I heard it’s amazing. Then maybe just go straight to the pond and have a picnic there. I think it could be a nice hike for beginners. Or see how I feel AND THEN try to go to the summit. Either way I would still go down Goshikinuma pond because the view is really nice.
Thanks for reading and I would really appreciate it if you leave a comment 🙂
#MarieJournals
I organize hikes in Kanto area and always looking for joiners so feel free to send me a message if you want to join us.