2013-07-07 大滝＆大岳

Hike along waterfalls in the sweltering heat of Japanese summer.

NB: the GPS data got compromised so I uploaded the track I downloaded and intended to follow, however the actual route differs quite a lot but there is no way to retrieve it from the device. The actual elevation gain is probably around 1300 to 1400m and total distance 16 km (including all the route finding)

From Hatonosu (ride Ome line from Tachikawa and get there before 7:00AM) there is no sign and my GPS didn't catch its bearing so I decided to go towards the direction I thought was correct without absolute certitude. At 7:00 AM it was already above 30 degrees and I was lazy to check the map, I couldn't keep in my pocket since it would have dissolved in sweat in a few minutes.

Anyway after 20 minutes of getting nowhere I finally found the correct road, well exposed to the sun to make things worse. After a short while it turned into a very wide trail with multiple bifurcations. When the trail became a road I thought it was a private path since there was no sign of roads on the map and I tried my luck at the first bifurcation. My luck wasn't good this time and I ended up in some sort of abandoned campsite with lattice fence barring the way. A small part of me wanted to give up but I wanted to get to those waterfalls so I came back to the big trail, checked the map 20 times in between as my GPS had failed me.

After some time the GPS got back to life and I kept going South on a very easy trail, with almost no slope until the pass which name I cannot read (that one was indicated from the start of the trail but not at the many intersections).

Upon reaching the entry of the waterfall trail, there is a large wooden board with a lot of information and the 3 major waterfalls are very easy to find. The many rocks on the side of the stream are covered in verdant moss giving a touch of fresh life while the heat is basically cooking me. The first big waterfall Mitsugama no take 三ッ釜の滝 is divided in 3 main parts, totaling 20 meters in drop. Between each section there is a natural pool of somewhere near 3 to 4 meters in diameter. I was really interested in getting into it but there was no way to access it from the trail without taking the risk of falling on the side rocks and possibly killing myself in the process. I therefore waited for a better opportunity to approach a natural pool. Above Mitsugama there are still more small waterfalls with natural pools, almost as inaccessible without a rope of at least 3 to 5 meters.

The trail gets very steep with stairs and rocks but still nothing really technical to get to the second major waterfall: Nejire no Taki (ネジレノ滝) which is a waterfall in two sections of 10m high in all, its main feature might be the heavy noise it creates. There is a rather large basin at the bottom so it is not possible to get really close to it unless you want to go in the water. I thought it wasn't a very good spot and someone else was also taking pictures.

Going further and getting in slightly more rough terrain with ropes and broken wooden stairs, one gets to Ootaki (大滝) the largest of the tree waterfalls. This waterfall has a drop of 30 meters and a relatively large debit making water droplets fly around tens of meters aways. In a few minutes I could cool down and decided to get lunch there, much earlier than before. I tried to get into the water, before reaching the first waterfall I was persuaded I could immerse myself totally due to the intense heat. However the water turned out to be much colder than I thought. After setting the camera on its tripod I could barely stand the 12 seconds in 20 cm of water, so much for the idea of taking a swim.

From Ootaki I decided to go for the advanced trail leading to Oodake (大岳山). After a few seconds I was reminded it was crazy hot but I just had to reach the summit. The trail is only indicated at the very beginning and it says the trail is in bad condition and it is only for "veterans". I usually have no problems with that kind of trails, however that trail was particularly bad… correction the trail was inexistent, there were no tapes and only footprints at the beginning. After 15 minutes of wild guessing where the trail might be, many hesitant steps on unstable dirt and scrambling with both hands while intermittently using the fan with one hand not to elf, I was lost, the GPS was getting no signal for being in a very narrow valley. When I checked the shape of the mountain on the map and GPS giving my last position a few minutes earlier I decided to go in the most probable direction which meant I had to cross the small stream I was walking abreast to. Only then was I relieved to see the group of hikers who got to Ootaki while I was having lunch.

It turns out the correct trail to Oodake from Ootaki is not indicated on the map and I must have missed the intersection. This one was much easier with only a delicate part but it was so hot I needed to use the fan relentlessly. Shortly before the summit the trail merges with a mainstream track packed with hikers. I was not unhappy to notice I wasn't the only person struggling with the heat but probably nobody was sweating as much as I was.

From Oodake the trail is very rocky and steep to the hut and then becomes flatter and easy for a run. Downhill the heat is much less of a problem, especially if the terrain is appropriate for running as the relative wind due to the motion has some nice refreshing power.

The 3 waterfalls on the way downhill were much less interesting compared to the 3 first described above. Only one of them is mentioned on the map tengu no take (天狗の滝) which might be the 2nd one. The first two are consist of water sliding on a very steep wall, which creates much less droplets of cool water and unless you get almost under the fall it is still very hot. The last waterfall is a bit more refreshing but significantly smaller.

At the end of the hike there is a small road connecting with road 205 and there is a bus stop with a vending machine. After 1L of fresh aquarius I decided to keep going since the next bus was 45 minutes later and there was no shadow in sight. I got to another bus stop in front of a Tofu shop. There was a nice wooden structure with benches and all this sheltered from the sun. It was very refreshing, there was a thermometer and to my great surprise it indicated 33 degrees… I can only imaging how hot it was around Ootake. Definitely 1265m of elevation is far from enough to get cool in the summer.

Overall: Except from the off-trail part between Ootaki and Oodake there is no technical difficulty. However that short stretch is not maintained and only adventurous minds should venture there.
Unless you stay very close to the waterfalls, it is extremely hot in summer.

More pictures here:https://www.dropbox.com/sh/f53ia2msc2ebykh/5rxIa57Tqu