Senjojiki Cirque at the Central Japan Alps

Hello, Friends!  How have you enjoyed or survived this summer?   Though these days’ 32 to 34 degrees C feels relatively cool compared to the unexpected 37 degrees  C experienced during the rainy season, the hot and humid weather is exhausting.  Summer means to me lots of  spending indoors, occasional outing at night, and travelling to highlands and mountains.  Today’s post is from my recent trip to Kiso region including highlands, mountains, and gorges.

The highest peak in this photo is Mt. Hoken-dake, 2931 meters high.
It is a pointed rocky mountain as "hoken" means treasured sword.



Senjojiki Cirque spreads on a slope at the height of over 2,000 meters above sea level,

just under the alpine belt of the Kiso Mountains (Central Japan Alps). The principal peak that runs 80 kilometers is the 2956-meter-high Mt. Kiso Koma-ga-take. 

The steep slopes of the Senjojiki Cirque were carved by glaciers about 20,000 years ago. 

The cirque is now a meadow of alpine wildflowers which burst into bloom during the short summer.

チングルマ

Aleutian avens, or Geum pentapetalum (L.)Makino

アオノツガザクラ

Aleutian mountain heath

ミヤマクロユリ,

Kamchatka lilies

シナノキンバイ(信濃金梅)

Globeflower, orTrollius riederianus var. japonicus

This natural paradise is easily accessible thanks to the Komagane Ropeway, Japan’s first mountain ropeway.  It rises 950 meters from the Shirabi Plateau over its 2334 meter length in seven minutes and thirty seconds. Senjojiki Station is the station at the highest altitude in Japan.

Getting off the ropeway at the station, you have a panoramic view of the 3000-meter-level Akaishi Mountains (Southern Japan Alps) before your eyes and of Komagane City below. From there you can hike on a looped course in the Cirque or climb Mt. Hoken-dake and/or Mt. Koma-ga-take.

Mt. Fuji is visible beyond the Japanese South Alps, but unfortunately it was hidden by the clouds.

The short summer is in full swing at Senjojiki Cirque.

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