REPORT

On 6/7 (Sun.), the day after the Happo Alpen Line began daily summer operations, the Japan Meteorological Agency officially announced the start of the rainy season for the Kanto-Koshin region, which includes Hakuba. Today, a local resident from Hakuba Village (pictured, front right) called out to me saying, “Hey, Snownavi! Since the Kurobishi Forest Road still isn’t open, I actually had to buy a proper ticket for the Happo Alpen Line to get up here!”
[Happo-one Nature Trail・Happo Cairn to No. 3 Cairn]

The Kurobishi Forest Road and the Kurobishi Line are currently scheduled to open on 7/1 (Wed.). On the mountain this morning, a cool northwesterly breeze blew on and off beneath mostly cloudy skies. It felt pleasantly comfortable whenever the sun broke through, though stepping back into the shade quickly brought a chill. I met a couple from Hyogo Prefecture (pictured), who told me, “We came up to the No. 3 Cairn yesterday too, but everything was completely hidden in fog. Maybe it’s because we paid our respects at the little shrine (the Okusha of Iimori Shrine) that the weather cleared up today? We’re so happy to finally see the views we came for!”
[Happo-one Nature Trail・No. 3 Cairn]

Around the No. 3 Cairn, there were abundant displays of flowering ume-hatazao (pictured), kumoma-sumire, and kumoma-miminagusa. In the wetlands around Happo Pond, yukiwari-so, Tateyama-rindo, and ko-iwakagami were flowering beautifully as well, while chinguruma had just begun to bloom. Along the boardwalk trail, where the spring alpine flowers were reaching their seasonal peak, I was surprised to find that Nikko-kisuge had already started flowering.
[Happo-one Nature Trail・Happo Pond]

There were relatively few hikers continuing beyond Happo Pond toward Mt. Karamatsu. Both the Karamatsu Summit Lodge and Goryu Sanso will begin their summer operations on 6/20 (Sat.). By then, even more of the remaining snow above 2,000 meters should have melted away, making the predominantly ridgeline route to Mt. Karamatsu even easier to hike.
[Trail to Mt. Karamatsu・No. 3 Cairn to Shita-no-Kanba]

＊The observation deck on the south side of Happo Pond is still buried beneath the snow.
＊The Kurobishi Forest Road and the Kurobishi Line are currently scheduled to open on 7/1 (Wed.).
　 　　　 　　
[Happo-One Nature Trail Opening Information]
*Period … 2026/5/30 (Sat.) & 5/31 (Sun.), 6/6 (Sat.) – 11/3 (Tue.)
*Hours … Gondola (8:00～), Alpen Quad, Grat Quad
*Fees … Happo Alpine Line Roundtrip / Adults JPY3,500, Elementary School Students JPY2,300 → Advance Discount Tickets: Adults JPY3,200, Elementary School Students JPY2,000! (Skip the ticket window! Go straight to the gondola gate.)

*Hakuba Happo-one will be reported 1－2times a week
*Request for the original data of our photographs

reported by Snownavi