Hiking Mount Kujuu, Kyushu, Japan 2010-12-27/28

The mountain I saved me as the last challenge during my second Stay in Japan was Mount Kujuu.

Usually there is only few snow in Kyushu area, so we thought it was safe to do before new year's. Unfortunately we were wrong. Our trip collided with the time of most snowfall for this winter. So it was hard to come to the mountain, and impossible to navigate the planned route. So we just went up one afternoon and returned the next day during hard snow storm. On one side a interesting experience, on the other side it could have turned out very dangerous.

I bet it is a nice area to explore in good weather. When I have another chance I would like to go there again. Lets see - for Aso-zan I also took a lot of trials.

Accommodation was the camping ground 坊ヶツルキャンプ場 (Bokketsuru Camp Place) inside the mountains.

This time Team Pink teamed up with the local hiking club called Wandervogel from Kumamoto University. Combining forces, our group grew to 8 people. Wow!
They also lend us the required equipment in point of sleeping bags and cooking. Thank you very much for your kindness! I hope to have another chance to set out into the mountains together with you.

Because of large group size and remoteness of the area we opted for rental car. Bus transport is available, but arrives the earliest and leaves the latest in early afternoon. No good timing for hiking.

The Route

The complete route is available in various formats

The Hike

Additional Information

Planning Literature

• David Joll,Craig McLachlan, Richard Ryall: Hiking in Japan , Lonely Planet, ISBN-10 1741040728, English
  Description of the hike which you can change with the help of a map

Maps $ 山と高原地図 56, 1:50 000, 山と高原地図 阿蘇・九重 由布岳: ISBN-13: 978-4398757968

OpenStreetMaps

Main track is available (by me :-) and you can download this to your GPS (better have it)

2011-08-08 Team Pink

licensed under a Creative Commons license (Deutsch)