宝登山・Hodo-san

February 9th

We’re finally on the cusp of spring and all my favourite scents of the year. Ume is my absolute favourite but robai (winter sweet) has to be a strong runner up. There is a famous robai-en at the top of Hodo-san, with a temple at the bottom and a ropeway up to the park at the top. As you can imagine when the flowers are in bloom like now it is heaving with people, especially as it was such a sunny day. The queue for the ropeway was pretty bad though not unthinkably long.

Not liking crowds we decided to hike from the neighbouring station and end up at the park, not realizing that this was an incredibly popular route. The train got busier and busier and the final leg on the Chichibu line was stuffed with hikers. Surely they can’t all be getting off at the same place, we thought, but yes, we all poured off the train together at Nogami station. The queue for the ladies toilet was horrendous, so rather than wait we pushed on to the tourist center just a few minutes walk along the trail. There was still a queue but thankfully not too terrible. Run off the train and you should be okay. By the time I came out the queue there was terrible too so speed (or a strong bladder) is your friend!

The trail was very nice, though hard to appreciate with so many other people. The first half an hour or so was spent jostling for position but we made it through the worst of it into relatively calm waters between groups and could walk at our own pace. It would be a good solo hike; not too challenging and plenty of signs. With so many other people it would be difficult to make a mistake. The sun was warm but the wind was cold; still very much winter hiking.

We got to Hodo-san in a little under two hours. It was wonderfully warm at the top, presumably because the mountain was protecting us from the worst of the wind and the sun was warm. We wandered round smelling everything, then sat in the sunshine enjoying being warm for a change. I wish there was some way to take that smell home; it was lovely.

Reluctantly we left to find the path down the mountain and back to the station. There is a very easy gravelled path down but we saw some people heading down a narrow side path and of course we decided to go that way instead. We cheerfully followed the people in front through muddy patches and over ditches, slowly coming to realise that though there had been a definite path at the top it was becoming less and less obvious which way to go. Somewhere back the mud we’d lost the trail. There were quite a lot of us all looking bemusedly at each other, some deciding to head back, others consulting maps and phones. Rumour had it that if we pressed on just a bit more we’d hit the main path so pushing our way through the undergrowth we kept going and made it back. I guess it’s not a hike without a bit of excitement!

There were plenty of people around the shrine at the bottom of the temple and lots of tempting things to eat and drink. We couldn’t resist the ogondango ( 黄金団子) at the bottom and they were delicious. Much fortified we carried on down to the station.