20161004 - 20161005_Hokkaido

Oct 04

This was another driving day ... Utoro - Teshikaga - Kushiro - Akanko, but we had a few view points planned in between to break it up. After yesterday's rain, this morning was cloudy with strong gusting wind. The car shook when we went through some open areas. Fortunately we were driving away from the rain clouds and the sun came out shortly. The first couple view points were just so so.  But there was this one place with a big patch of grass ... with the strong wind blowing on the grass, they looked like waves.

F R E E  foot bath

We stopped at the Kawayu Eco Museum Center and watched a short video showing how the volcanoes were formed in the area. It was quite interesting, but it would have been better if the video has English subtitles. We also went to a natural foot bath by the road and enjoyed a quick dip ... the water is quite HOT!

Sulphur Mountain

Next we went to see the Sulphur Mountain up the road ... you can see a lot of  steam coming out from the rocks. It was quite an experience ... bright yellow crystals formed at the mouth of the fumaroles and the smell of sulphur in the air. There are also a number of hot springs bubbling up - there was not a lot of water, but you could see that the water is at boiling point.

Mashu-ko

Next we drove up a long winding road and arrived at Mashu-ko_#3 Viewing Point. The viewpoint is at the top of the ridge looking down to the crater lake. Remembered the strong wind that I mentioned earlier ... you can hear it howling up here. #1 Viewing Point is next, the view is not as good since it is down from the top, but it has a store, cafe, and is wheelchair accessible ... they also charged for parking - what a rip off!

We lucked out at this ramen place called 弟子屈, which is very popular with the locals. It was packed the whole time we were there. There was a sumo wrestler having lunch in the restaurant ... he must be bigger than all three of us combined! Their noodles have the best texture we had so far.

somehow this guy is out in the open!

Next is the Kushiro Marsh Observatory, they closed off the roof observation area due to the high winds; but you really could not see much anyway. The display on the second floor was also rather disappointing ... so we went for a 2.5km loop walk to see if we could get a better view of the marsh. There was not much to see,  but it was a very pleasant walk on a raised platform all the way. We reached an observation area where you could see out onto the marsh ... and we managed to spot 6 red crowned Japanese cranes in the distance using the paid binoculars at the station! The crane sanctuary we visited next has 6 pairs of cranes - with one "baby", which is almost fully grown as we are in October now. On our way to the hotel in Akanko, we also saw a few cranes in the fields by the road.

Since we got to the hotel late, we did not have time to enjoy the onsen, but David finally managed to get his massage.




Oct 05

David and Lesley planned a hike to the top of Mt. Meakan today. As usual, Karen did not go with them. It is good that Lesley is around to make sure David behave himself.

a touch of koyo (colourful leaves) around Lake Onneto 

After they were dropped off at the trailhead, Karen drove to the other end of the trail and did some short hikes. Karen did the loop around Lake Onneto. It was an easy hike with the exception of fallen trees that blocked the trail, some of the wooden pathways were broken, and some detours along the way. Most of the trees are still green with an occasional bright red maple ... certainly not a view worth writing about. All in all, it was a very peaceful walk around the lake.




As there was still time before the serious hikers were due back, Karen went to see the Yuno-Taki Falls. As waterfalls go, it is not one that people will hike 2.8 km return to see, but it is an important geological site. It is the only place on earth where manganese ore deposit is growing. I won't bore you with the details, you can read it up on the internet if you are interested.

赤沼 (Sekinuma, Red Pond) in the Mt Meakan crater

David and Lesley hiked up to the summit of Mt. Meakan via the mountain trail besides the Meakan spa, and came down via the Onneto Mountain trail.  We were expecting it to take us 5+ hours, but it was not as strenuous as expected!  We were blessed with perfect hiking weather - cool and overcast with sunny breaks - so we could keep a good pace without becoming overheated on the climb. The trails are divided into 10 segments, and each climbing segment took us between 10-17 minutes.  The first 3-4 segments

青沼 (Aonuma,Blue Pond) in the Mt Meakan crater

were through forest. It was beautiful, but tricky, walking up the path because it was over exposed roots. The next 3 segments were through corridors formed by low growing spruce and some open areas of large rocks. The plants were non-existent in the final three segments of the trail. The path was now made up of loose small rocks and thus making it a treacherous climb. However the rocks also became much more interesting - beautiful bright red, some purple and a bright yellow orange! All the exertion was worth it when we hit the final segment.

We were at the crater of the volcano (Note: Mt. Meakan is an active volcano!!) and could see hot pools of water (including a bright azure one), escaping clouds of poisonous gas, and interesting rock formations (stratfications from lava and layered rock).

looking at one of the craters from the summit with Lake Akan in the background

and here's the proof that we were there

We also had an unobstructed view of Lake Akan, another active volcano crater, Mt. Akan-Fuji and mountains as far as the eye can see.  In this case, a picture really is worth a thousand words!  The descent was less interesting, but slightly more dangerous with all the loose gravel.  All in all a hike that was well worth it!  :)

We met up for lunch at the Tea House near the Lake Onetto trail, and we all selected different dishes - udon, ramen and dumplings. They served us an interesting preserved vegetable that we had never seen before, and it tasted very good.

bokke - the bubbling mud pools

We went back to town to visit the Lake Akan Eco Museum. The most interesting thing was the marimo - the green algae that grew into large green balls - the first time we ever saw something like that. At the back of the Eco Center, a path led us to a few hot bubbling mud pools. You can actually hear the bubbling noise and smell the sulphur. The dense mud pools look the best when they bubbled up and formed a perfect semi circle.

The temperature dropped quite a bit in the afternoon and it got quite chilly.  We got back to the hotel around 5 ... just in time to enjoy the onsen and another buffet dinner in the hotel.