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Mt. Kobutaka コブタカ山 – Mt. Honita 本仁田山
Distance: 7.7 km
Elevation change: 914 metres
Highest point: 1224 metres
Start: Hatonosu station (JR Ome Line)
Finish: Okutama Station (JR Ome Line)
Difficulty: ▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅ ❸
Map: Yama to Kogen Chizu 山と高原地図 ［No.25 奥多摩 OKUTAMA］
GPX TrackKML TrackGSI MAPPDF Topo Map
A Summer Hike to Mt. Honita
The hike to Mt. Honita is usually combined as part of a longer walk to Mt. Kawanori however given the hot summer weather, I decided to make an early start and leave the latter mountain for another day. The hike starts out from Hatonosu Station, two stops before Okutama and takes around 90 minutes from Shinjuku, transferring for a connecting train at Ome. Exiting the station, turn right over the train tracks and follow this road for around 200 metres; the trailhead starts on your left side, opposite a small temple. The first section provides a nice view over Hatonosu Township but soon steepens as you approach the Onenoyama Shrine a key trail intersection and should take around 50 minutes to reach this point. Pay attention here as one trail heads up to Mt. Kawanori while the other heads up to Mt. Kobutaka and Mt. Honita. Look for the trail veering to the left and closest to the forestry road.
The next section traces along the Suginotono Ridge, which is marked out with white tape. After 15 minutes, the trail forks again, so keep left, and it will take around 1 hour and 10 minutes to reach Mt. Kobutaka コブタカ山 your next point of call. The ridge is quite exposed at times, which makes summer hiking particularly oppressive. After reaching this minor summit, your best bet for lunch is walking up the final 20 minutes to Mt. Honita 本仁田山 (1,224 m). Along with an abandoned shelter, there are some decent views over Okutama Township and towards Mt. Fuji. When you’re ready to head off, there is a fairly steep descent to the road, which winds its way back to Okutama Station. Note that in some places the trail is narrow and poorly maintained. After reaching the road, it’s a further 45 minutes back to the station, including two bridge crossings over a Tama River tributary.
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I love the website Dave. The pictures are fantastic.
Mel 🙂
Much appreciated Mel and thanks for taking the time to drop by 😉
Have the powers-that-be fixed the trail in the slide area between Okutama and Honita summit. I took small kids up there one time and just had to give up: the trail had simply eroded away.
Hi Michael, while I can’t be certain I would probably surmise that little trail maintenance has been done in the intervening 18 months since doing that hike. I remember coming down it was tough sustaining traction and swore never to return. I would recommend the Kawanoriyama hike if you’re heading up that area again.
I just did this trail today, and I can verify that, while it is a nice little trail, it’s still in quite poor condition. So much so that I would seriously advise everyone to do this trail in reverse- i.e. Okutama to Hatonosu. I met a hiker today who told me that the Okutama to Honita section is rated as one of the three hardest climbs in the Okutama area. I can believe it. Steep inclines, slippery rocks, mud and tree roots make this hard going up but an absolute nightmare going down! But on the plus side, there’s some great mixed woodland scenery and some good views to be had, and at around 9km it’s a hike than can be done comfortably as a day trip.
Given the poor state of the weather lately, I applaud you on making the most of Saturday’s break in the weather – I hesitated and missed the chance 🙁 I wholeheartedly agree this hike would be much easier tackled in reverse and it doesn’t surprise me it’s one of the harder climbs to be found around Okutama. The only harder climb that springs to mind is trail from the Nippara Shonyudo up to Mt. Takanosu.
The Inamura Iwa Ridge climb? Steep, I agree but
1) on the shady north face,
2) in good condition (last time I hiked it was 7 years ago but I would be surprised at major deterioration since then),
3) wonderful rock and needle ice formations and
4) a fall-on-your-butt-laughing view of Mt. Fuji at the top.
After passing a false summit or two the view from the summit must be close to one of Chichibu Tama Kai’s finest.
This trail is really dangerous from Honita summit down to Okutama. At some sections the path was less than 1m wide and was sandy and slippery next to a really steep, treeless slope. I wouldn’t recommend this.
Thanks for the info. Doesn’t surprise me though. It’s about time that trail to undergoes some serious maintenance or is closed off.
I did this hike today. It’s a tough one. Steep up and down.
Just to say that the descent (Honnita to Okutama Station) is still poorly maintained.
Best done in winter perhaps when it hasn’t snowed or rained much. The compacted ground helps.
Quite possibly became even worse after Typhoon Hagibis.
There were no fallen trees blocking the path. It is still quite doable;
just you need to descent slowly and carefully, but only for parts of it..
I wouldn’t say it is dangerous for an experienced hiker.