Akadake 赤岳 Yatsugatake 南八ヶ岳 - Nagano,Yamanashi - 10/15/2024

My Experience: Drove from Takasaki (in Gunma) the morning of which took about 2.5 hours to arrive. Parked at Yatsugatake Sanso which has several large parking lots in the area. I had originally thought this was as far as one could park however after about 2.7KM up the gravel road, there is much more parking at other lodge areas. From here I only hike up to Akadake and back down. This hike was by far one of the most aggressive uphills I have done out of all the volcano hikes.

About:
Volcano No. - E84
Volcano name - Yatsugatake Volcano Group
Geologic code - Q3m
Main activity period - Chibanian (Middle Pleistocene) - Holocene
Activity period / recent activity - From 0.5 Ma.
Latest eruption - 900-700 yBP (Yoko Dake)
Volcano type - Composite (compound) volcano, Lava dome
Representative rock type - Intermediate
Main rock type - Andesite, Dacite, Basalt
Height above sea level - 2899 m (Akadake), 2530 m (Tateshinayama)
Location (Prefecture) NAGANO, YAMANASHI
Active volcano name by JMA - Yokodake
Record of eruption & disaster - 22 Aug 887: Debris avalanche due to the flank collapse by a gigantic eathquake dammed up Chikuma River and formed a dammed lake (The dam broke down on 20 Jun 888, causing debris flows).
Additional comments - The Kita-Yatsugatake includes Tateshina-yama, Yoko-dake, Shimagare-yama, Chausu-yama and Futago-mine. Yoko-dake Volcano is defined as an active volcano based on the "new active volcano definition" of Jan 2003. The Minami-Yatsugatake includes Io-yama, Akadake, Amidadake and Amigasa-yama. They are all included in the Yatsugatake Volcano Group. (Source: GSJ)

About: The Southern Yatsugatake Volcanic Group (南八ヶ岳, Minami-Yatsugatake), also known as just Yatsugatake is a volcanic group of inactive volcanoes located on the border of Nagano Prefecture and Yamanashi Prefecture on Honshū in Japan. The Southern Yatsugatake Volcanic Group is part of the Yatsugatake Mountains. The southern group is defined as the mountains south of the Natsuzawa Pass. The highest peak of the mountains is Mount Aka and the elevation is 2,899 metres.

The Southern Yatugatake mountains are steep and have alpine characteristics. The mountains of the Northern Yatsugatake Volcanic Group are gentler and lower. Mount Tateshina is also part of the Northern Yatsugatake mountains, but is listed separately. This volcanic group is listed among the 100 famous mountains in Japan. There the mountains are listed as Yatsugatake. These mountains are part of the Yatsugatake-Chūshin Kōgen Quasi-National Park. The volcanoes are stratovolcanoes that are 1 million to 200,000 years old. The rock is mainly basalt and andesite.

List of peaks
The following major peaks make up part of the Southern Yatsugatake Volcanic Group and are listed by height starting from the south, to Natuzawa Pass, beyond which the Northern Yatsugatake Mountains begin, the peaks are:

Mount Amigasa (編笠山, Amigasa-yama) 2,523.7 metres (8,279.9 ft)
Mount Nishi (西岳, Nishi-dake) 2,398 metres (7,867 ft)
Mount Mitsugashira (2,580 m)
Mount Gongen (権現岳, Gongen-dake) 2,715 metres (8,907 ft)
Mount Aka (赤岳, Aka-dake) 2,899.2 metres (9,511.8 ft)
Mount Nakadake (2,700 m)
Mount Amidadake (阿弥陀岳, Amida-dake) 2,805 metres (9,203 ft)
Mount Yoko (横岳, Yoko-dake) 2,829 metres (9,281 ft)
Mount Iō (硫黄岳, Iō-dake) 2,760 metres (9,060 ft)
Mount Akaiwanoatama (2,656 m)
Mount Minenomatsume (2,567 m)
Natsuzawa Pass (2,423 m)
From Natsuzawa Pass, it is possible to descend to Sakuradaira, via O-ren Hut and Natsuzawa Kosen, or directly to Honzawa Onsen, or continue through the Northern Yatsugatake Mountains.(Source: Wikipedia - Southern Yatsugatake Volcanic Group)

Geological Summary: The older Yatsugatake volcano was active about 1 million years ago and the younger was active about 0.2 million years ago (Nakano et al., 2001). This complex of N-S-trending stratovolcanoes extends for about 10 km and is also known as Minami Yatsugatake ("Southern Eight Peaks") (Matsuhisa and Kurasawa, 1983). Both ends of the complex produced volcanic dry avalanche deposits (sector collapses of a volcanic cone), ranging from 0.27 to 9.0 km3 in volume(Tadahide, 1983). The volcanic rocks of the northern end generally consist of hornblende and pyroxene dacites, whereas those at the southern end are composed of olivine and pyroxene andesites. The volcanic products also contain xenoliths derived from a diverse assortment of basement rocks (Matsuhisa and Kurasawa, 1983). Extensive geochemical data is available from Matsuhisa and Kurasawa (1983). (Source: Smithsonian Global Volcanism Program)

#japanese #japantravel #volcano #volcanic #onsen #hotsprings #hike #travel #travelvlog #japanvlog #japaneseculture #volcanohikes #volcanotreks #hokkaido #gunma #nagano #miyagi #yamagata #niigata #iwate #aomori #akita #fukushima #shizuoka #oita #kumamoto #kagoshima #nagasaki #mammut #arcteryx #gopro #djiair3 #dji #montbell #hiking #naganoprefecture #nagano #gifujapan #gifu #gifuprefecture #yamanashi #yatsugatake #akadake