Yakushima Forest Trek, Japan

Miyanoura Port · Japan

Moderate4 daysAsia~£600 est.

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Overview

Yakushima receives up to 10,000 millimetres of rain a year in its mountains, and the payoff for staying soaked is the most enchanted forest in Japan: moss a hand-span deep, sika deer stepping through the mist, and yakusugi cedars that were already ancient when Kyoto was founded. The pilgrimage walk follows an old logging tramway up the Anbo valley to Jomon Sugi, a cedar variously dated between 2,000 and 7,200 years old. Go also to the Shiratani Unsuikyo gorge, whose "Mononoke forest" directly inspired Studio Ghibli's Princess Mononoke, and push on up Miyanoura-dake - at 1,936 metres the highest point in the Kyushu region - where the granite summit breaks out of cloud forest into wind-flattened bamboo. Here rain is not a risk, it is the weather: full waterproofs, spare warm layers and dry bags for everything are the kit list, and the mountain huts are unstaffed shelters, so carry a sleeping bag and food. The trap is timing - the June rainy season and late-summer typhoons can shut trails for days, so aim for March to May or October and November. Four days with ferries from Kagoshima, guesthouse nights and buses runs about £600.