Mt Warusawa and Mt Akaishi: Southern Alps 3-day hike

Mt Warusawa (悪沢岳, warusawa-dake) and Mt Akaishi (赤石岳, akaishi-dake) are two mountains located on the southern end of Japan's Southern Alps. Although the Southern Alps honestly don't look that far from Tokyo on the map, some of the peaks in this mountain range have quite the reputation of being hard to get to. For this hike, we took a 2-hour Shinkansen down to Shizuoka, and then a further 4.5 hours on two buses to finally get to the trailhead. A bit of a long trip, but worth it! We did this hike as a 3-day loop hike, plus an additional night at the trailhead the day before due to the public transport logistics of getting there. So four days and three nights in total. As the shuttle bus can only be booked if you also book a night at a hut, we chose to do the first two nights with a tent, and then a hut stay on the last day. Day 0: Camping at the Sawarajima Lodge Regardless of whether you come by public transport or by car, the starting point is the same - the Hatanagi (畑薙) carpark. From…