1 November 2025
Lots of rocks and not much mud
Mount Rokko from Ashiyagawa to Arima Onsen
The main hike near Kobe is the rock garden hike. I have done it before. Today is the first day of a 3 day weekend and I thought it would be horrifically crowded but it was actually fine, even the actual rock garden bit at the start.
Last time I got to the top and went along a ridge for a while and came back down towards Kobe. Today I went over the top and down the other side to Arima Onsen, which was a much bigger place than I was expecting. The photos were good, I tried to restrain myself but there are still a few too many to scroll past however....
First, the stats-
14.59km - but don't underestimate the rocky start
4 hours 40 minutes - I ran a lot of the way down
1,081m vertical ascent
1,290 calories burned - the rock climbing bumps this up
Today's hike starts at Ashiyagawa station. It is about 2km from the trail proper. The great thing about this hike is how close it is to the centre of town. No 2 hour train ride today, just 10 minutes.
The road up to the trail is quite nice, and there are a lot of Lamborghini's or similar in the houses.
It is a steep road, you can see Kobe below.
Here is where the trail starts. I recall this shop being open in the past. Today it is not.
There is a waterfall. It is about 12 feet high.
A lot of these people are wearing helmets. I often get asked if I should be wearing a helmet.
As mentioned, the start of the hike is as much rock climbing as it is hiking, but it makes for great views.
Nice.
Osaka is just around to the left. You will see it soon.
It takes over an hour to ascend through the rock garden.
The view is a bit deceiving today, the actual peak is quite high at just under 1000m, that is not it.
Past the rock garden there are some sandy ravines.
Osaka is on the left of this photo, I think. Nice cloud.
One of the intermediary peaks. A few other people around, and some power lines.
Parts were dark and moist, but never overly muddy.
I remembered this from last time, between the peaks is a very fancy golf course. The trail skirts along its edge for a while.
The next peak. Not a lot of Autumn yet.
I had to cross a couple of streams. I remained upright.
A bit more view.
The top of Mount Rokko has not a lot going for it. And not many other people. There is a cable car nearby, and a 'skyway' toll road runs along the top of the ridge. Cyclists like it, maybe they do not have to pay the toll.
I think I went in that direction last time. I was surprised to be in cloud.
I continued over the back. At first it was very developed.
Public toilets. High quality.
The way down was very smooth. I ran most of it.
The first proper red tree.
Autumn has started but is nowhere near peaking.
Here is where I came out at Arima Onsen.
Obviously there is a shrine.
The village is much larger than I thought. Steam was coming out of the road in places from the hot springs.
There were a lot of tourists, and ice cream shops.
Streets lined with shops all the way to the train station.
I think this water may have been hot or at least warm. People upstream have to leave their showers running permanently so that the storm water is hot.
And after a hike that did not take as long as expected, here is the train. It goes one stop. Then you change and go a couple of stops, then you change and go through a huge tunnel under the whole mountain range straight back to Kobe. The whole journey back takes only about 20 minutes.