Shikotsu-ko & Tarumae-zan

We made a trip to a nearby lake last weekend to get in at least one more camping trip before summer slips away (click here for a link to more info on the Shikotsu-ko national park). We loaded up rental cars on Saturday morning and drove the short 1 hour drive to lake Shikotsu. It is a beautiful, deep lake (2nd deepest in Japan) with, what they call here, “very cold water”. The lake was once the caldera of a very big volcano and the water in the lake is amazingly clear. We took a pedal boat out for a spin and even in the deeper parts the water looked like swimming pool water. The nutrient levels in the lake are so low that the water doesn’t support a bacterial or algae community so the transparency is around 25 m on most days.

Moss Canyon.

We hung around the small town for the afternoon and took a short walk to a place called moss canyon before setting up camp by the lake. Unfortunately for Shawn and I, the friends who were supposed to bring us a tent didn’t show up (their son got sick and they decided not to come leaving us roofless on the lakeside). Lucky for us it didn’t rain overnight. Yes, that is us sleeping “under the stars”.

Our campsite.

It would have been nice (it was warm and dry) except for the group of noisy teenagers who arrived at 11:00 that night, partied only two tents away and made multiple trips to the bathroom (their bathroom route passed directly above our heads) and shouted and giggled to each other while on their way. We were even more annoyed to watch them pack up their guitar and leave at 8:00 the next morning.

A dip in Shikotsuko, Eniwa-dake overlooking.

After a short breakfast swim (for Shawn, not me because I was told the lake was WAY too cold to swim and didn't pack my suit – it definitely wasn’t and in Canada would be considered a warm lake!) we packed up and headed for Tarumae-zan, a nearby volcano. Mt. Tarumae was "born" only 9000 years ago with eruptions along the edge of the caldera that forms Lake Shikotsu. The lava dome at the top (shown below - and yes, its massive) was created in an eruption in 1909. The most recent eruption here was only 30 years ago!

The very top of Tarumae, a smoking lava dome.

Walking along the trail on top of Tarumae.

An overhead view of Tarumae.

We were happy to see blue skies for the first time in a couple weeks and walked around the moonscape at the top of the volcano listening to the mountain hiss and rumble. I was really surprised by the noise it made, loud and menacing. It was also pretty smelly up there when the wind was blowing the right way! After walking back down we grabbed an early dinner at the small town on the lake and drove back to Sapporo. I returned to work on Monday with a sunburnt nose, another great weekend in Hokkaido.

Overlooking Shikotsuko from Tarumae-zan.