Mt Takatsuma (高妻山) hike

Mt Takatsuma (高妻山, takatsuma-yama) is one of Japan's Hundred Famous Mountains located in Nagano’s Myoko-Togakushi Renzan National Park. This National Park is home to four hyakumeizans (Mt Amakazari, Mt Hiuchi and Mt Myoko) and this was my last of the four to complete the set. Considering it's at least a 3.5 hour drive from Tokyo to the trailhead, it may have been more efficient to climb Mt Takatsuma together with another mountain on one of my previous trips to the area - but I couldn't get a clear enough weather window to fit two hikes in, so I came back this year to hike this one by itself. Since it is has an elevation of only 2353m, it does open up a little earlier than some of the 3000m+ Alps mountains, so it was the perfect choice for a June hike. Since it is a long drive, I chose to sleep in my car the night before at a nearby michi-no-eki (roadside station), then drive up to the trailhead to begin my hike at 5am. It's a fairly common starting time so even though it was a…