Lots of fog when I left this morning and I was immediately worried about what that meant for the sites I would be visiting that morning. Well, as you would have it, brilliant sunshine at my first port of call at Oyunuma Pond, a natural footbath at the Oyunuma River that flows from a lake of the same name. Except the walkway to it was closed half the way along, so I got to see a tiny waterfall, cascading gracefully into a teeny tiny area that could be referred to as a mini pond. Lots of sulphur smells though!

Brilliant weather at the Jigokudani crater (aka Hells Valley) just a few minutes up the road. Its a spectacular valley just above the town of Noboribetsu Onsen, which displays hot steam vents, sulfuric streams and other volcanic activity (mercifully not the latter when I was there). There are lots of walkways through the valley to see the activity close up. You can see a few puffs of sulphur in the bottom left hand corner of the pic.

I was told by the Visitor Centre in Teshikaga that I wouldn’t be able to see bears cavorting in any hot springs as they were (derrr!) in hibernation. So my substitute this afternoon was visit the Yakumocho Kiborikuma Museum. Yakumo is the birthplace of Hokkaido’s specialty – carved wooden bears, which started in 1923 when Tokugawa Yoshichika brought back carved bears from Switzerland, encouraging farmers to take up the craft. The Yakumo bears differ from those produced elsewhere as they feature fur lines extending downwards from the shoulder. And since Yakumo farmers have raised bear cubs as models for their carving, many feature soft facial expressions and playful gestures. Awh, adorable!

My last task today was to get some shots of Mt Komagatake, a 1,131m high active volcano straddling the towns of Mori, Shikabe and Nanae. It used to have a cone shape like Mt Fuji, but the summit collapsed during a major eruption in 1640. There are a number of viewing points but I chose 2 – from a freeway ‘pull in’, as below…

And also from Kogetsu Bridge in Nanae, in the Onuma Quasi National Park….happy with those shots too.

My last night in Hokkaido, on the ferry early tomorrow morning and back to the (main) island of Honshu.