Mt. Vaca Loop starts at the corner of Pleasants Valley Rd. and Gates Canyon Rd. The entire trail is on a road that will either be paved/gravel/hard-packed dirt.

PARKING There is a gravel area at the street corner with enough room to park about 6 cars and an area on the other side of Gates Canyon where a couple more cars can park.

The Chuo Alps Traverse starts in Ina City towards the top of a mountain road at a university research hut that studies the local fauna, plants, and weather which connects to a trailhead and heads south along the ridgeline and finishes at an old post down, Odaira-Juku. The Chuo Alps are smaller and tamer than the Kita and Minami alps and are seen to be more beginner-friendly. However, two of the 100 famous mountains of Japan are along the route: Kiso-Komagatake (2956m) and Utsugidake (2864m).