Rando au Japon 山歩き
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Kamikochi – Karasawa

Nagano

涸沢

Cover photo: Kamikochi – Karasawa

Mist on the water, tents on the snow

View 7 photos
Distance
18.1km
Ascent
816m
22 m of descent
Walking time
5 h 09
7 h 58 with breaks
High point
2,307m
low point 1,511 m
Season
Summer
July 2013

From river stones to snowfields

From Kamikochi to Karasawa, the landscape changes from water and woods to the Hotaka cirque. Mist veils the banks of the Azusa; higher up, colorful tents cluster at the foot of slopes still largely covered in snow in July.

Pond with dead trees in the mist, under the foliage
Panorama of Myōjin-ike (明神池) in the morning mist, at about 1,540 m.

Night at the hut

From the GPS tracks: where they stop in the evening and start again in the morning.

Before you return

Today’s trail conditions and recent trip reports:

Photos 7

Wide, shallow river in the morning mist, wooded mountains
Morning mist on the Azusa at Kamikōchi (上高地), at the start, at about 1,510 m.

Pond with dead trees in light rain, a mountain veiled behind
Dead trees in a pond of the Takezawa marsh (岳沢湿原), in light rain, at about 1,520 m.

Lively stream among the dwarf bamboo of a conifer forest
A stream crosses the forest between the Takezawa marsh and Myōjin, at about 1,540 m.

Stony riverbed, peaks caught in the clouds at the head of the valley
The stony bed of the Azusa upstream of Tokusawa, clouds caught on the peaks, at about 1,600 m.

High rock wall above wooded slopes
The great wall of Byōbu-iwa (屏風岩) towers over the climb to Karasawa, at about 1,780 m.

Hikers seen from behind on a wide snowfield, snowy cirque under the clouds
On the snowfield, the last climb to the Karasawa cirque (涸沢), at about 2,220 m.

Clouds rising along a green slope below a rocky ridge
Evening at Karasawa: clouds climb back up the slopes of the cirque.