I recently took a trip out to Nagano’s Mt Nyu (ニュウ), which is located in the northern part of the Yatsugadake Mountains. Unlike most of the other mountains I’ve been climbing recently, Nyu is not a 100 Famous Mountain or on any sort of major hiking list.
Instead, it is most famous for the deep-fried bread rolls sold at the Takami-ishi Mountain Cabin (高見石山小屋) partway up the trail.
After seeing the bread rolls all over my YAMAP feed last year, I knew I wanted to make the pilgrimage out at some point. Takami-ishi is either near the start or end of the trail, depending on which direction you take the loop course. Since I didn’t want any chance of the pastries selling out, we opted to stop at the hut first, which is a quick 40 minute hike up from the trailhead.
What I didn’t take into account is that the hut doesn’t start selling its bread until 10am. Luckily we started our hike pretty late today, and so we only had to wait for about 20 minutes until we got to place our order.
We weren’t the only ones lining up, and there were at least 10 to 15 people around the hut’s opening time. It was quite popular!
The rolls were well worth the hype. They came in 5 flavours: cheese, kinako, matcha, chocolate and sesame. My personal favourites were the cheese and sesame. I had skipped breakfast today, and I’m glad I did because the pastries really filled me up.
We even got a visitor - a spotted nutcracker (or ホシガラス, hoshi-garasu). Birds in the mountains are usually quite shy, but this guy had obviously been fed before, as he was quite happy to pose for photos on the fence of the hut.
Before setting off on the rest of the course, we also climbed Takami-ishi (高見石), which is what the mountain hut takes its name after. It translates to something like “high viewpoint rock”. As the name would suggest, on a clear day you can see out across Yatsugatake and particularly down to Shirokoma Pond. Today it was quite foggy, so there wasn’t much to see.
With our bellies full, we set out for the rest of our hike. To be honest, you could totally descend back to the trailhead at this point - it’s not like you have to climb Nyu to be able to buy the pastries. But Nyu definitely has a strong association with the deep-fried pastries, since it’s the highest mountain in the area, and people tend to do it as a set since it’s a nice loop course.
After another 45 minutes, we passed by the peak of Mt Naka (中山, naka-yama). Five minutes before reaching the peak itself, you also pass the Mt Naka viewpoint (中山展望台), which is another opportunity to get some views (weather permitting).
Onwards from Mt Naka, you get to descend a bit before climbing to Mt Nyu.
As you approach, you can see the summit of Mt Nyu poking out.
Due to some light rain and fog, unfortunately there was not much to see at the peak of Mt Nyu itself. So I snapped a quick photo, and then we were on our way back down to the trailhead.
Near the trailhead is Shirokoma Pond (白駒池). It looked very atmospheric due to the fog. I actually camped here on an overnight hiking trip last year, but that’s a story for another post!
Nyu is a one of the lower mountains in the Yatsugatake Mountains, compared to the highest peak of Mt Aka (赤岳), which comes in at 2899m. The loop course is not too long either, so I think it makes for a nice, beginner-friendly introduction to Yatsugatake.
Hiking course details
| Date climbed | Length | Course time |
|---|---|---|
| 2024-09-29 | 7.9km | 4h25min (the expected time for an average hiker without breaks) |
This is a loop course starting and ending at the Shirokoma-ike trailhead (白駒池入口). After first passing the Takami-ishi mountain cabin (高見石小屋), you’ll hike up to Mt Naka (中山), before finally reaching Mt Nyu (ニュウ) and then descending back down to Shirakoma Pond (白駒池).
Public transportation access
With public transport, coming to Mt Nyu is possible as a day trip from Tokyo. It will require a train and a bus. Your options are either:
- A Shinkansen to Sakuradaira station (佐久平駅) which is an 80 minute trip from Tokyo and costs 6000+ yen one way. Then it’s a 95 minute, 2000 yen bus trip from the station to the Shirokoma trailhead (白駒池入口).
- A local train to Chino station (茅野駅) which only costs 3410 yen, but nearly 4 hours from Tokyo. From there, there is a 70 minute, 2200 yen bus that can take you to the trailhead.
Instead of getting off at the Shirokoma-ike trailhead, you can also get off one bus stop later at Mugikusa Pass (麦草峠, mugikusa-toge). There’s an example of someone doing this course via public transport at Yamareco.
Car access details
| Car park | Time (from Tokyo) | Round trip cost |
|---|---|---|
| Shirokomanoike Iriguchi Parking Lot (白駒の池入口) | 3h30min | ~13200 yen |
The carpark costs 600 yen. We had no problem finding a spot when we arrived just before 9am on a weekend.
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