For The Love of Travel

A stunning start to the day. The Sogakudai viewpoint on route 241 commands a spectacular view of Mt Oaken and Mt Meaken in the background. Both are included in Japan’s list of its top 100 scenic mountains. The drive is winding and you have to watch out for red deer and foxes.

I was looking forward to my next stop, Lake Onneto, wanting to experience its ‘mysterious charms’, in the words of a brochure. I knew it wouldn’t have a ‘kaleidoscope of colours’, or reflections of Mt Meahan….I put droney up and almost lost it, as the signal failed mid flight and it wasn’t connected to the remote anymore. I pushed a couple of buttons and after a couple of seconds of nothing….discovered it was making its way back to me…phew! And Lake Onneto was completely frozen over apart from a tiny bit of melt at one end.

Drove past the Akanko Ainu theatre where one can enjoy performances of Lost Kamuy, which combines Ainu ancient ceremonial dance with digital art and contemporary dance. And just further along, shy deer who had just skipped across the freeway, were interested to see me drive away.

The 258km Doto Expressway is extraordinary. It has a 70km speed limit along its whole length (not that Japanese citizens adhere) and an impressive series of tunnels. It connects the east of Hokkaido with central regions including Sapporo. So many beautiful vistas along the pathway. There was one section in particular, where all you could see in front of you, was the whole horizon covered by mountains, wowser!! The next pic is of just a tiny section of road that I liked coming around (no, there were no cars behind me at the time!)

There’s also a system of being able to pull off the freeway every 60kms or so – time for a coffee and loo break. One spot I had a brief rest at, had a miniature horsey for kids to ride and parents could take cute photos of them against a gorgeous backdrop. Adorable.

I had heard about Hoshino Resorts and their Unkai Terraces development, trying to get you to experience ‘being up in the clouds’, looking out from structures (sky wedge, contour bench, cloud pool) over nature, selling cloud-themed sweets (see Cloud9 ice cream below 🙂 and drinks (cloud bar). I drove as far up the mountain as I could before having to turn back because of…icy road conditions. Lots of different cable cars taking you up to different levels of ski run. The one I took a pic of below I reckon is like “Bourke St” @ Mt Buller :). Check out the vegetation you can wrap yourself around at the base of the run….that would put me off for sure!

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!

Just to share one of the things I love about this country….getting petrol for my car – the petrol attendant motions me in…with an elaborate gesticular display, to position my vehicle just so (manoeuvres worthy of any aircraft marshaller I’ve ever seen doing their work!); takes my credit card…returns it….fills car up….brings me a receipt to sign off on…..pretty much in 3 mins. Great system, love it.

I didn’t get up to much in Sapporo – I drove up to Mt Moiwa observation deck but it was closed; the TV tower looked awesome but I didn’t feel like getting views of city buildings; so I ventured out to see a statue of Dr Clark, famous for the phrase “boys be ambitious”, standing atop Hitsujigaoka Observation Hill. It has panoramic views of Sapporo but you need serious binoculars otherwise everything appears as a speck on the horizon! Observation Hill was originally a national research centre, where sheep were kept. Who was Dr (William Smith) Clark you ask…he was a professor of chemistry, botany and zoology; a colonel during the American Civil War and a leader in agricultural education – President of the Massachusetts Agricultural College 1867-1879. In 1876, during the Meiji Restoration era, he was hired by the Japanese government to establish the Sapporo Agricultural College (now the Uni of Hokkaido) and greatly earned the respect of his students and faculty members.

The weather’s improved with lots of sunshine, so a glorious day to travel through a new set of mountain ranges and passes…Lake Katsurazawa was frozen over, so no pics to be had there.

I travelled through the town of Mikasa, (from whence I remember volleyballs I used in competition in the dim dark past, came from)….I pulled over at the local timber mill, loving the way poles of timber are stacked.

I stood on the bridge looking over the Ikushunbetsu river to the side of the mill, and all of a sudden, there was a flapping of wings and I was lucky to see a Great Blue Heron take flight, a glimpse of unexpected majesty. (Because I’m not a twitcher, had to google to make sure it wasn’t a crane). I understand that unlike its cousin, the crane, which symbolises peace, luck and longevity, the meaning of the heron’s appearance is more mysterious…tied to spirits, gods, death and a link to another world. 

I barely managed to get the camera up in time, but pleased with the shot.

The Shirogane Blue Pond, wasn’t. It was pretty much frozen over, just with a few glimmers of melt starting…so this was the best I could do… 🙂

Just a few kilometres down the road, the Shirahige waterfall….after the waterfalls I’ve seen and captured, a bit of a meh! But still……

On the road to Kamifurano, discovered the Nisshin Dam and put my drone up….loved this view…

From Kamifurano to Asahikawa, I loved the farm fields in different stages of snow melt, the colour and patterns left on the landscape….and I was surprised by a fox wanting to cross the road (as happens) ….

Loved this pano too with Mt Furano and Mt Biei in the distance ….its so hard to capture the beauty of the environment you are driving through!