REPORT

If you ask me when the summer hiking season in Shinshu truly gets underway, the answer is simple: 6/20 (Sat.). By then, much of the remaining snow has melted, many mountain huts have opened for the season, and both hikers and alpine flowers are appearing in greater numbers. Today I ran into a few Hakuba Iwatake Staff members (pictured) enjoying a day off in the mountains, who told me, “We always read your reports! We’re heading all the way to the summit of Mt. Karamatsu today.”
[Trail to Mt. Karamatsu・No. 3 Cairn to Shita-no-Kanba]

Around Shita-no-Kanba, I was drawn to the delicate pink blossoms of takane-zakura blooming among the fresh green leaves of the dakekanba trees. On the steep rocky climb between Shita-no-Kanba and Kami-no-Kanba (pictured), the northern half of the trail remained closed due to a slope collapse, so ascending and descending hikers carefully shared the southern side of the route.
[Trail to Mt. Karamatsu・Shita-no-Kanba to Kami-no-Kanba]

At Kami-no-Kanba, which was still largely snow-covered at the same time last year, the summer trail (pictured) is already fully accessible. The area was dotted with Shirane-aoi, sakura-so, and urajiro-yoraku in bloom. Beyond Kami-no-Kanba, however, sections of the route still crossed snowfields, and since I had not brought crampons, I decided to turn back there.
[Trail to Mt. Karamatsu・Kami-no-Kanba]

Although patches of snow still remained around Happo Pond, the popular viewing deck on the south side of the pond has reopened, once again allowing visitors to enjoy the classic view of the Hakuba Sanzan reflected beyond the water. In the gravelly terrain around the No. 3 Cairn, kumoma-sumire (pictured), ume-hatazao, and kumoma-miminagusa continued to look excellent. Along the ridgeline trail below the Shakuji Cairn, iwa-shimotsuke had begun to flower, while the number of blooming Nikko-kisuge day lilies along the boardwalk route continued to increase.
[Happo-one Nature Trail・No. 3 Cairn]

*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