I never thought I would like winter hiking in this lifetime because I always liked sunny weather and warm temperature. But after hiking in Autumn, (which was so cold when we were at the summit of Nikko-Shirane), I’ve become more open to hiking in the cold now and this hike to Unryu Keikoku / 雲竜渓谷 or “Cloud Dragon Valley” could not be any more perfect for my first winter hike. This valley is between Mt. Nyoho and Mt. Akanagi in Nikko, Tochigi.
Despite running into few problems on the way, during and after the hike, I still think it’s the best introduction to winter hiking for me because we still had a great time, but only if you go with people who are experienced in winter hiking and know the trail because going back, there was a split trail and we didn’t know if we should go left or right.. We had to ask our friends which way to go because it wasn’t showing up on my Yamap offline map.
**My Yamap offline maps was weird from the get go. It was telling me I was off the grid from my original hike plan right at the start of the hike, maybe because we parked at a different place, so I just canceled that one and started another activity without the pre-planned map. Going back I didn’t have a pre-planned map so maybe that’s why it didn’t show? I don’t know and my fingers are too cold to figure it out at the time.**
7:00 – We reached Nikko around 7am and headed for the trailhead to park nearby but unfortunately, our car wasn’t able to proceed uphill despite having snow tires. We gave up and parked at Toshogudai Parking Lot instead.
8:00 – We left the parking lot and started walking. Some put on their crampons and micro spikes, I didn’t because I felt like I would have a harder time walking if I put on my micro spikes early on. But my hiking boots have good grip and it hasn’t let me down yet so I was good until the uphill.
I like the trail from this parking lot to the actual trailhead though! Because look at this view!
As we got closer to the trailhead, we started seeing cars parked on the side of the road and only about 10 cars were able to park at the trailhead.
9:30 – We reached the actual trailhead and waited for the rest of our group.
Pictures just don’t do it justice. It’s winter wonderland indeed!
10:30 – I put on my micro spikes because we are approaching the uphill and YOU WILL NEED SPIKES. It’s this area below. We saw some people putting on their crampons around here. It’s about 4.5km from where we started.
10:50 – After that we reached this part.. I don’t know if it’s a dam? But the overlooking view is so nice! I felt like a legit winter hiker. haha!
We took some pictures here and went down. Then we have to go through some body of water. It’s not too deep that your boots will be submerged in the water but going back I was not careful because we were in a hurry that my right sock got a little wet.
12:30 – There are stairs going down before reaching the frozen falls and we just slide our way down. It was actually fun and not scary because there are rails to hold onto.
13:00 – Unfortunately for us, it started snowing really hard and the visibility dropped low so we decided not to go any further and started our descend immediately.
On our way down, my friend realized he lost his phone. So him and kuya Roberto went back to look for it. We couldn’t go back to them because we were scared we would get lost so we just waited there. Eventually they caught up to us but they never found the phone.
16:30 – We finally reached the parking lot. Here was the only bathroom I saw. Someone said there’s one near the trailhead but I cannot confirm because I didn’t see it. We paid ¥500 when leaving.
Hike Log:
Unryu Keikoku (1,341 masl – I don’t know how accurate yamap or myphone is, but this is what shows)
Feb 08, 2025
(Tochigi Prefecture)
Ascend : 7.5km
8:00 – 9:30 (From parking lot to the trailhead)
9:30 – 12:30 (From trailhead to Unryu Keikoku Frozen falls)
Descend : 13 km
13:00 – 16:30 (From Frozen falls to parking lot)
**We took a different route going back but I wasn’t able to record because my phone was low battery during descend so I didn’t turn on yamap recording anymore.
TOTAL STEPS – 14,000
Backpack Weight : 3kg (I purposely did not bring a lot to this hike because I was worried for my left knee. That’s why I also used my pole sticks right from the start.)
Water : 800ml of water in thermos + 500ml of hot tea in thermos.
YAMAP LINK :
Difficulty : Honestly, it wasn’t too hard for me despite taking a two month break from hiking. I actually liked it so much because it wasn’t too hot. That was actually my motivation to not stop moving. I know I’d be cold once I stop moving so you really have to keep on walking. There wasn’t a lot of elevation as well so I think you just have to be careful with the icey part because it’s slippery.
The only scary party is the small downhill parts, because you don’t know if you’re gonna slide and hit your hips.. so we just slide from the start.
What I wore : Base layer, Fleece jacket, down jacket and a rain jacket. I bought rain pants but I didn’t use it. I get hot pretty easily when moving so after 30 minutes I took the down jacket off, and after an hour I even took the fleece jacket off.
Extra things I brought :
-Hand/foot warmer or Kairo in Japanese
-Gloves liner
-TISSUE! (This is the most important! LOL)
Things I should’ve brought :
-A helmet. Going near the frozen spikes was giving me final destination vibes and I highly suggest you bring one when you go here. Most of the people we saw had it, we didn’t.
-Balaclava that’s not too thick but enough to block wind.
-Gore-tex cap because while my beanie kept my head warm, it’s not waterproof so I had to put on my raincoat hoodie and because of that I can’t see the trail infront of me. I was struggling the whole time.
-Ski Goggles (I only brought sunglasses with me but when it was snowing hard and the wind was strong, it kept on fogging and I ended up not seeing anything. I saw some people bring this so I think it’s a good option.
Overall, despite everything that happened. We still had a great time and no regrets choosing this place as my first winter hike, I’d do it again.. I think I’m hooked! Thank you so much to the super nice group who patiently waited for me and my friends at that downhill part. We needed more courage to go down because there was nothing to hold onto for support. In the end we just chose to slide down.
EAT, SLEEP, HIKE, REPEAT =)
#MarieJournals
This is very helpful. Thank you.
You’re very welcome!