Tsukuba san night hike

'Stardust' night hike on Tsukuba san on Saturday December 10th.

Hiking Tsukuba in the dark is a different experience that you shouldn't miss. Full moon will be on December 8th, so the moon will still be beautiful if the sky is clear. The view from the top of the mountain is gorgeous, enjoy 'Stardust over Tsukuba'.

During autumn/winter season, the 'stardust cruising ropeway' is available.
If the ropeway works, we go back by ropeway, but it depends on the weather. So be prepared to walk down, just in case.

http://www.mt-tsukuba.com/?p=1723

After sunset, which is around 16:30, we will start hiking from the Tsutsujigaoka (つつじヶ丘) ropeway station and climb to the Nyotai summit (female peak, 女体山).
We will enjoy the night view from the mountain, have a small 'party' at the viewing deck and take a ropeway back to the car parking lot.
So, one way hike and one way ropeway ride!
Please bring a head/hand lamp and warm clothes, it can be windy and pretty chilly at the peak.

The restaurant is open until the last ropeway.

Difficulty level: 2 out of 5.

Meeting time and place : 16:00 at car parking next to the Tsukuba center bus terminal.

*What to bring:

• Head/hand flashlight
• Hiking shoes/boots
• Warm clothes
• Rain gear
• Snacks and dinner
• Drinks

*Expected costs:

• Car: 500 yen/car (parking) + share in gasoline costs
• Ropeway : 1300 yen (unfortunately they do not sell one way tickets for the ropeway after 16:40)
• Club fee : 300 yen

• Insurance

  *Please email
  1) Your name.
  2) Can you bring your car and how many passengers can you take?
  3) Your phone number.

Feel free to ask if you have questions or requests. I will be in HS on the first Wednesday of the month, December 7th.

Hope to see you for this new adventure!

We, the 10 people that joined the hike, had a wonderful time on our own Tsukuba san.

Though most of us had hiked the Tsutsujigaoka side before, sometimes a long long time ago, it is very different in the dark with no other people on the trail.

We left the Tsukuba bus terminal parking at around 16:20 with two cars and arrived at the Tsutsujigaoka parking at 17:00, meeting with two more hikers.
We started to hike at around 17:15, it was already dark and the moon hadn’t risen yet.

On the trail the views of the lights on the Kanto plain were already beautiful and getting better once the (almost) full moon appeared above us.

We didn’t meet any wild boars, making sounds with key cars (bring a bear bell next time...) and talking/laughing.

Reaching the Nyotai summit at 18:50 the views were breath-taking. We could even see the Sky tree in Tokyo. It was not too cold on the summit, as there was not much wind.

We proceeded to the restaurant, café Blu, where the hungry ones had dinner. On warmer days the terrace in front of the café would be a great location to eat. The views from the terrace are really good.

We took the 20:20 ropeway. In fact it was not necessary to buy a return ticket as I had mentioned in the announcement. We could buy a single trip for 750 yen. We took the cars back to Tsukuba. It was an experience to repeat. Maybe next time on a moonless night so we could see more stars…

Thanks to all hikers for their company and for Emiko and Matt for sharing their pictures!