I left early from Asahikawa, heading for the Kurodake Cable Car in the Daisetsuzan National Park. When I arrived, a flotilla of cars had already parked, leaving some vacant spots a fair distance from the entrance. I really felt like an old person when I decided not to walk 200m from the car over icy snow to get to the cable station. I would have, if I had crampons with me. But I didn’t, doh!

These very strange winter wonderland bamboo-based constructions appeared on the side of the road, I think it might be a local Council project – on the side of parkland.

The Sounkyo Gorge was close, a 24km stretch of columnar jointing cliffs, which have been carved deep by the Ishkari River, nature’s many waterfalls. Among them, the Ryusei-Ginga Falls, with two waterfalls flowing side by side, so spectacular, that it’s been selected as one of the top 100 waterfalls in Japan. On arrival, I only saw the more powerful ‘male’ Ryusei; Ginga, was nowhere to be seen. Quite an overcast and freezing day….Ryusei was flowing, but surrounded by icy frosticles, so you can hardly distinguish any ‘flow’ in a photo (because of the freeze frame…did you see what I did there? Haha!)

Driving further along route 273, I came past Taisetsu Lake and saw the Ishikari River winding its course from….Mt Ishikari, of course. Couldn’t wait to take a drone shot. I wish there were more colours in the stunning (bleak) landscape, particularly the water.

I drove to the Mikuni Pass (the highest point in Hokkaido), the road winding fabulously amid a sea of trees and a winter wonderland of snow. There was a summit I was heading for, from which to observe the beauty of the surrounding area….nah! Closed! Too icy! Argggh!

Passed by a few farms in the Kitami area that made an effort for their homes and outer buildings to stand out in the landscape, both in design and colour.

View from the Route Inn Grantia Shiretoko Shari Ekimae hotel 7th floor window for you…at 7pm.

Shari is the jumping off point to explore the Shiretoko National Park – there are 16 named mountains in the park, the tallest and most prominent of which is Mt Rausu, 1666m. The park derives its name from a local Ainu word, which means something like “the place where the earth protrudes” – the peninsula juts out into the Sea of Okhotsk; you can see drift ice; and on the west coast- craggy coastlines and waterfalls. There are also hot springs, forest, lakes and marshes. It’s heavily volcanic, with lots of conifer, birch, fir and spruce trees.

 My first stop off was “Road to the Sky/Heavens Observatory”, at the end of a straight 18km road where in autumn, the sun sets directly in the middle of the road- the traveller feels they are driving straight into the sunset. Not this morning however 🙂 At the ‘observatory’, which was a 5m high wooden lookout, saw this lovely scene across to the sea, the colours and layering perked me up….can you see the drift ice?

The second most scenic thing was this pooh bear looking sign, made me laugh…

I drove through little villages, with great background vistas to behold, that looked poor, dishevelled and deserted…absolutely no-one seemingly farming or doing stuff outside their homes.

The waterfall of Oshinkoshin is worth while visiting – and listed in Japan’s 100 top waterfalls. It looks even more stunning when redolent with greenery on its fringes!

Just caught a glimpse of this lovely heart-shaped bit of drift ice in the Sea of Okhotsk as I was driving back on route 334 from Utoro to Shari.

My last location for the day was the Akan-Mashu National Park close to Teshikaga, an area with MORE volcanoes, forests, lakes, and a native Ainu settlement. I wanted to see waterscapes like this and Mt Mashu’s volcano…but the road to access Mt Mashu was closed due to ice….doh!