磐梯山 - Bandaisan - 10/25/2022

About: Mount Bandai (磐梯山, Bandai-san) is a stratovolcano located in Inawashiro-town, Bandai-town, and Kitashiobara village, in Yama-Gun, Fukushima prefecture. It is an active stratovolcano located to the north of Lake Inawashiro. Mount Bandai, including the Bandai heights, belongs to the Bandai-Asahi National Park.

The altitude of the triangulation station “Bandai”, installed in 1904, had been employed as the official altitude of Mount Bandai. However, after the station disappeared due to erosion, it was re-measured in October 2010 and now is 1,816.29m. The name “Mount Bandai” is used to refer to the main peak “Bandai”, along with several other peaks including Akahani at 1,430m and Kushigamine at 1,636m, created during the 1888 eruption of Mount Bandai.

Mount Bandai was originally called “Iwahashi-yama” which means “a rock ladder to the sky”. It is now sometimes called “Aizu Fuji” and “Aizu Bandai”. The south foot is called Omotebandai and the north foot is called Urabandai. When seen from Omotebandai, the mountain looks very tidy, but when viewed from Urabandai the mountain shows a wild shape, due to its collapse.

It is one of the list of the 100 famous mountains in Japan. In 2007, the mountain was selected as one of the top 100 geographic landmarks in Japan. Additionally, in 2011 the mountain was certified as a geopark of Japan.

Getting Started: After spending about 2-3 hours at Zaozan (Mount Zao) on 10/24/2022, I started a 2.5 hours drive south to where I would be staying for the evening. It was again a last inute booking through Booking.com but turned out to be a great deal.

I arrived about 7:30 PM at the Hotel Listel Inawashiro Wing Tower (ホテルリステル猪苗代ウイングタワー). Because of the time I arrived, the fact it was quite literally freezing, and after a long weary day of driving, I really wanted to get in the onsen, so did not get any photos of the actual hotel. By clicking the link to the hotel name above, there are many photos. Their direct website link is also here Hotel Listel. The photo directly below is looking out my window with Lake Inawashiro in the background.

I left the hotel that morning fairly early, about 630-7 AM, made a quick stop at 7/11 to pick up a few things, then drove about 30 minutes to the Bandai trailhead that I took called the Happodai Trailhead. There are other trailheads like the Inawashiro Trail Head entrance however I took the recommended Happodai as a first hike experience. Here is the AllTrails Link, which shows the trail route and distance of 7.4 KM out and back. AllTrails lists the hike as moderately aggressive which I would agree with but well worth the view and cardio reward.

Arriving at the Happodai Park lot.

Happodai Trailhead Signs.

Remnants of a mountain onsen. While hiking up and coming back down I passed by these remnants of what used to be an active onsen area. I'm not quite sure if the owners may have passed on or that it was just too difficult to maintain a more remote onsen (that people hike to). The area had a heavy sulphur smell in the air and there was a large pool of boiling mud with a little steam but appeared to maybe have "dried" up maybe. Along the actual hiking trail directly opposite of the below 2 pictures, there were some bubbling mud spots on the trail however the water was cold.

About 3/4 up the mountain, its amazing to come across this working cafe. While I had my own coffee, water, and snack and was eager to complete the hike, I could see my next trip spending some time here. It turns out the guy who works this cafe does this hike everyday. There was an additional person that was there and doing some trailwork (clearing) going up.

It was also at this junction where although I thought I was up early to hike this trail, there were already several individuals and groups coming down the mountain (age ranges from guessing around 30-60+.

After the lodge, its about 300 more meters to summit which is the photo immediately below with Lake Inawashiro in the background. Overall this was my first official aggressive and rewarding hike. I remained on top for about 30 minutes and started a much quicker hike down the mountain where after completing the hike, I started the drive to Azuma-kofuji (Azumayama.