Hi all – Quick itinerary check and Kamikochi/Northern Alps input wanted.
I’m landing in Japan on October 12, leaving on the 28th, (first visit) and after a lot of iterations, finally came up with a plan that worked and gave me all the exploring/hiking I wanted–until I couldn’t book the first night I planned at Kamikochi. So while I’m refreshing the site to see if a bed opens up, would welcome your thoughts on the following top-level itinerary.
Nights 1 & 2 – Tokyo
Nights 3-5 – Kyoto/area
Nights 6 & 7 – Nakasendo post road (lodging locations TBD)
Night 8 – Matsumoto
Night 9 – Sunday night. Planned to stay at Tokusawa in Kamikochi. Not sure if I should do a second night in Matsumoto or consider a different, higher hut.
Night 10 – hut TBD. Currently reserved Tokusawa but would like to be high though.
Night 11 – hut TBD. I want to give myself the opportunity to stay high instead of essentially turning around and going back down. In my “perfect” world, I’d like to traverse over and come down on the west side rather than backtracking to Kamikochi.
Night 12 – Takayama
Night 13 & 14 – Kanazawa
Night 15 & 16 – Tokyo
Regarding the hiking, I like getting up high and staying there–my favorite hikes are hut to hut in the Dolomites. I don’t care about peak bagging, and since I’m going to be hiking solo, plan to keep my days shorter and easier than I might if I hiking with others.
Follow-up question–I will be keeping a very close eye on the weather because while I don’t mind hiking in the rain, this is my vacation and if it looks like 3 days of rain in the mountains, for safety’s sake, I’m likely to change plans. Any thoughts on what those backup plans could be?
Thanks in advance, hope I’m in the right place with this one!
by AmateurEnthusiast3K
