Mt. Adatara (安達太良山）
Mt. Adatara is an active volcano located across the valley from Mt. Bandai and is just a stone’s throw from Fukushima city. Beautiful rock formations and a lovely hut to boot.
The hike: From the ski resort parking lot, head toward the right hand group of buildings and start walking up the far right ski slope. The trail will branch off to the right and follow the ski resort for a short time before reaching a forest road. The trail crosses the road several times before heading up to a ridge and flattening out somewhat. All of this should take about 45 minutes or so. Continue following the gentle trail for another 15 or 20 minutes until you come to a junction. If you head left you follow a different ridge, but instead continue straight ahead for another half hour and you’ll come to the Kurogane Hut (くろがね小屋）This hut is open all year round and is an amazing place to stay in the winter. Plus, it has a hot spring bath! If you’re only coming for a day trip then take a quick break at the hut before starting the real climb to the summit. From the hut, the trail starts climbing rather steeply through rugged volcanic tundra. It should take anywhere from 45 minutes to an hour to reach the summit. If the fog is in then keep an eye out for all of the paint marks on the rocks. Whiteout conditions in winter can be quite dangerous, so go with a group and bring bamboo poles to mark your path. The rocky summit offers spectacular views of the surrounding scenery: Mt. Bandai directly in front of you, Mt. Iide to the northeast, and Mt. Azuma, which is connected to this mountain by a long trail. (It could make for an interesting trek). Anyway, enjoy your lunch with hoards of other hikers who probably came up from the ski gondola on the other side of the mountain. If the weather is good and you’ve got time, you can hike to Mt. Tetsuzan, the true high point of the volcano, and there is a free emergency hut just beyond the summit of Tetsuzan. From the summit, follow the signs to Mt. Yakushi （薬師岳）and the ski resort. This side of the mountain is much easier (and more popular) than the route mentioned here, but makes for a nice look hike. You should reach the top of the ski resort in about 45 minutes from the top. If you’re too tired, then take the gondola down, but otherwise follow the path down back to the parking lot. In winter, you can glissade down the slopes in record time. This hike can also be done in reverse, and you could also use the gondola to cut out 400m of elevation gain.
When to go: This hike can be done year round, but be prepared for meters of snow in the winter (bring snowshoes or crampons). The fall colors in mid to late September bring the crowds.
Access: From Fukushima station, take a local JR train and get off at Nihonmatsu (二本松) station. From there take a bus to Adatara Kogen Ski Resort. Be sure to check the bus schedule (call 0243-23-0123 in Japanese), as some buses only go part of the way to Dake Onsen. It’s a quick 20 minute taxi ride or possible hitch from the Onsen, or you could shell out about 5000 yen for a taxi ride from Nihonmatsu all the way to the trailhead. It also appears that there is a shuttle bus from Koriyama station as well, but service has been suspended because of the 2011 Tohoku earthquake. Click here for more information.
Level of difficulty: 2 out of 5 (elevation change: 760m)
Explore posts in the same categories: ArchiveTags: hiking, Hyakumeizan (百名山), japan, Mt. Adatara, Tohoku
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Hiking in Japan 
October 28, 2016 at 8:44 am
I hiked up Mt Adatara last Sunday October 23rd. The shuttle bus is back in service. It leaves at 8h15 (in 2016) but you can get it if you take one of the first shinkansens out of Tokyo to Koriyama and then the local train to Nihommatsu.
There is no shuttle bus back to the station though. The last bus to Dake Onsen leaves at 14h40 (in 2016). Service ends Sunday November 6th. The link above contains the latest timetable.
There is also a hot spring with a very nice outdoor bath at the trail head. It’s brand new – I overheard some hikers say that it was built just last year. It costs 600 yen.
On the way up, instead of following the trail straight up, you can also just continue along the forest road. It’s a nice easy to walk road which doesn’t take much longer than the trail, which seemed quite slippery.
I was very impressed by the views of the crater from the top and disappointed that I hadn’t climbed this one sooner. I wonder if it is still necessary to put the warning in red at the top of the post, especially for a short trip (the mountain was swarming with kids by the way) and Mt Azuma and Mt Bandai are merely 15 kilometers further away and yet have no warning.
March 19, 2023 at 9:03 pm
Currently (March 2023) there is one bus per day leaving Nihonmatsu station at 08:13AM and returning 16:16 (or close to that). Dake Onsen at the bottom of the trail is open and helps you to kill time after the hike. The ropeway was not running, when I went last Friday. It’s a nice loop hike and the views from the top were stunning, but it was very windy.