Mount Funagata — Local services in Obanazawa

I had a chance to hike the Mt. Funagata on August 18th. There were only few flowers around but the weather was great and the scenery at the summit was breathtaking. Here is some helpful details. There are 3 main hiking trails and another path connecting the Mt. Izumigatake. I was planning to start from the Otaki trail but unfortunately the road shown on the Google map was not for regular cars. So I ended up with the Hatasaka trail. There is a camp ground and free parking area here. You can see the trail map and the details. The altitude is 620 here so the total elevation was 880 m. It is 7.5 km and 4hr 10 min is the suggested time to hikeU up. After 3.9 km there is a connection path to the Otaki trailhead. Considering the challenging path after this point I decided to go to the Otaki trail head to make the peak and return from the Hatasaka trail to make the loop. The length of the total trial for both sides are almost the same but it is much easier this way. Check the photos. I made the summit in 3,5 hrs including the resting times. There is no water supply except the creek on the Hatasaka trail. After about 4 km you walk through the creek. Luckily it wasn’t raining but was very slippery. Do not recommend this path on a rainy day. Most of the path was narrow and bamboo grass and bushes are making it harder to walk. It is mainly forest until you get closer to the summit. The view was amazing at the top. There is also an emergency hut here. Take your time and enjoy the view. The descending took 2,5 hours from the Hatasaka trail. There was another hut on the way. The door was open and no one was there. It is for emergency as far as I understood. Don’t forget to write on the guest book there. Although it wasn’t a challenging path I got tired since it was a bit long trail. All the sigs are in Japanese so make sure you know them. They were also broken some of them were hard to see. Hope this comment helps you....

I hiked here from Izumigatake, quite a long climb but worthwhile. Hut is excellent, arigato gozaimasu to the people that maintain it. I then hiked out to Jyogi - beware that the trail to Jyogi is very overgrown and easy to lose. Also, fresh bear poop, which was unnerving since I was on my own. Warning that it is very remote - I didn't see any other hikers...

宮城県と山形県の県境にそびえる奥羽山脈船形火山群の主峰となる火山。標高1500.34...