Daisetsu-zan Backpacking
Last Thurday Alex and I left for Hokkaido to do a five day backpacking trek through Daisetsu-zan National Park. We took a ferry to Hokkaido and tried and failed to hitch-hike to Asahikawa, the nearest city to the park. We took a train instead, camped out in a park, and headed to the park the next day. We hiked about 75 kilometers (or about 47 miles), over about 17 mountain peaks. We ate eggs and pancakes for breakfast, soup and granola bars for lunch, ramen noodles and pasta for dinner, and energy bars and trail mix for snacks along the way. We slept in alex's two man tent in all nights except the second, where we stayed in a group shelter.
The weather was perfect. The hiking was rough. The views were spectacular. To see all the photos I took, click here. Or, below are links to some of my favorites from the trip.
On the way to the Park: We got a couple short free rides, but had to resort to catching a train when we realized hitch-hiking was taking too long.
Day one: Starting at the volcano Asahi-Dake and ending at a crowded group site.
Day two: After a wrong turn, took much longer than expected. Further disheartened at the end of the day when two Polish hikers sped past us after hiking twice as far as us. On the positive side, they were very cool and friendly.
Day Three: A pleasant, smooth day. Many big rocks.
Day Four: By far the hardest. Many steep mountains, and due to a map reading mistake, we missed a water spot and went on for about five or six hours with no water. Rough. Didn't take many pictures. Also got wet from waist to toe from walking through dew covered plants.
Day Five: Started early to hit an onsen before getting an afternoon bus. A nice day, climaxing with the barren volcano Tokachi-dake.
posted by Chris @ 10:16 AM
3 comments
3 Comments:
You'd think after your map reading abilities were doubted back in the shining rock wilderness that you'd have chip on your shoulder but yet, you played it too fast and loose and got lose... Too bad. Looks like a great trip though, nice pictures. Sorry to hear about that exam, but I'm sure you'll ace it next time
lose = lost.... I'm an idiot.
thanks!
the mistake was not so much in the map reading but in the map purchasing. We used a photocopy of a page from my "hiking in japan" book and a cheap $3 map from the gift shop. We should have shelled out for a bigger, more detailed one. Contour lines would have made an enourmous difference.
also of note: anyone who knows about the hiking trip jay mentioned above will know how torn up my knee was by the end. Im happy to report my knee was strong and healthy at Daisetsu-zan, though I did make an effort to go easy on it when going downhill, and brought a shock-absorbant walking stick (next time i'll go a step further and get a pair of trekking poles).
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