A treasured place for valuable plants preserved as a National Natural Monument
The 1917ｍ-high Mt. Hayachine is surrounded by the tourist destinations of Iwate Prefecture such as Morioka, Hanamaki and Tono, and is known for its beautiful view from each of those places. However, trekking onto the mountain, you will encounter a pristine natural environment spreading out with a wild landscape consisting of huge rocks boldly protruding from the slopes and surviving mountain flora from the Ice Age beautifully blossoming everywhere. In spite of the narrow area, the mountain plants can be seen in great numbers so Mt. Hayachine is famous as a place that admirers of such plants look forward to seeing. This precious habitat along with the forests of Mt. Yakushi have been designated nationally as a Natural Monument known as The Alpine Belt and Forest Plant Community for Mt. Hayachine and Mt. Yakushi. As well, the Mt. Hayachine area is notable for being the only habitat on the island of Honshu for the Japanese spruce tree and so has been designated as another national Natural Monument known as the Mt. Hayachine Southernmost Point for the Japanese Spruce. The mountain is also considered as one of Japan’s Top 100 Mountains and as one of The Top 100 Mountains for Flowers in Japan, so it has become very popular as 100,000 trekkers visit annually.
Taking a walk through the mountain flora of early summer and the foliage of autumn
There are a variety of courses which you can enjoy trekking on Mt. Hayachine, but to enjoy a relatively easy hike, there is the round-trip course from Odagoe to the summit. The course that takes 3 hours one way gets close enough to the top so that the area gets quite craggy with rocks, but in summer, the panoramic view has elegant greenery and a beautiful landscape of blossoming plants at your feet. And then in the autumn, the blanket of changing leaves is lovely. For the experienced trekkers, there is also the course which rises from Kawara-no-Bo and then heads down to Odagoe, but the climb is filled with steep crags and slopes and areas where you have to make use of stepping stones to get across the streams, so care must be taken if using this course.