The Nanataki trail up Mt. Iwate starts in a place called Kenmin no Mori (Iwate Prefectural Citizens’ Forest Campgrounds). This is my favorite trail up Mt. Iwate for obvious reasons. It is long (about 21km round trip), but there are so many different transitions in the scenery that you get to enjoy many mountains all in one.
I would actually recommend trying just the first leg of this hike without going all the way to the summit of Mt. Iwate if you’re not confident. The bottom photo below is a placed called Ojigokudani, or the Great Hell Valley – that you find after walking for about 90 minutes on the Nanataki Trail. (The waterfall in the top picture is along the trail about an hour in.)
I would propose that hikers that don’t want to spend a sold 7 to 9 hours on the trail could just to the top of the Great Hell Valley and enjoy the views from there and then go back down. On the way you’ll pass numerous waterfalls, sulfur vents, and during this season, beautiful fall colors in the forest!
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