My sister and I aimed to split the Dewa Sanzan (Haguro, Gassan, and Yudono) across three days. Haguro was said to take about 2 hours to climb up/down and so we did this hike at the end of our travel day from Semboku/Kuroyu in the north. We arrived at the bus area/trailhead for Haguro around 3; shockingly, parking was free (we used a rental car for our extended trip all around Tohoku). Our weather the week before in Towada-Hachimantai had been terrible (rain, fog, winds) so we were please to see it was finally sunny at Haguro. We began our trip by visiting the Yamabushi/Mountain Monk-Pilgrimage Museum across the street; it was OK but they didn't allow pictures. Most of the exhibit felt like it was focused on the strict vegetarian diet you were supposed to do while hiking this pilgrimage. We started up Mt. Haguro at around 3:45. It was probably 85 degrees and well over 75% humidity - so hot and sweltering, even in the shade of the magnificent trees. From the trailhead, you are mostly on shallow stone steps. At first, the stairs go down to a series of small shrines, a riverside spring shrine, and then the famous 5-story pagoda. Many people seem to stop there. Unfortunately, the pagoda was shrouded in construction tarping and scaffold when we were there this July. From the pagoda, you climb very steeply on the stairs for a long tier. The grade is worse than, say, a US national park trail with switchbacks. But the stairs are wide (probably 10 feet) so there is plenty of room for resting to the side. When we were there, there were probably less than 20 people climbing/descending above the pagoda. At the top of the first big climb, there is a place to eat/buy drinks. Given the intense heat, I knew I was going to run out of water (I was carrying a liter and most was gone) so I paid for bottled water. After a short rest, we climbed the second equally steep tier, did some rolling trail sections, and then climbed into the summit shrine area. Because it was now after 5 (it took me about 75 min up with the breaks), virtually all the buses/visitors were gone (you can drive to the summit, or take a bus). The summit is not open/with views; it is a low forested summit with a number of large buildings or smaller temples. As with the pagoda, several buildings were shrouded with construction. We asked to use the only restroom we could find just before they were about to lock up the museum/restaurant. We spent about 30 minutes on the summit and then descended. It was about an hour down. With all the water consumption, I - of course - had to pee like crazy. Thankfully, there was a hilarious Japanese outhouse by the pagoda. It should also be noted that we encountered the famous and dangerous Japanese giant hornet (the one that flew in front of me was almost 2 inches long) along this and other Dewa Sanzan peaks; stings can be deadly (supposedly even if you aren't allergic). We were back at the car around 6:30 - and off to our hotel in Tsuroaka (from which we staged the rest of the climbs - reviewed under Gassan and Yudono-Shrine).

Haguro-san, which symbolizes birth, was the easiest to access as buses take visitors right up to the summit before few buses move on to Gas-san. We took the first bus that departed at 6am and got off at the base of Huguro-san and began our hike around 7am. It took a little over an hour for us to get to the top but the hike was very pleasant up the 2500 or so stone steps. Almost the entire way up was shaded so it would have been a comfortable bike even in the middle of the day. There were numerous shrines and the impressive five-story pagoda along the way keeping the hike interesting. At the summit was a complex consisting of more shrines and there was a group of students practicing martial arts which was cool to see.