Jeff and I did this route in early September 2016, after an unprecedented August in which Hokkaido was battered by successive typhoons. Until then, it had been a rare event for a typhoon to pass directly over the island; that summer saw about five hit us square on or pass close by in a two-week period. Many forest roads in the centre of the island remain completely destroyed and unlikely ever to be repaired, affecting access to a number of popular trailheads. By early September, though, the weather had cleared up.
With the prospect of three clear days we park the car in one of the free car parks below the Asahi-dake ropeway. The first day’s walk is over familiar ground, up and over Asahi-dake and round the southern rim of Ohachidaira to the path south from Hokkai-dake to the Hakkun-dake Refuge. On the climb up Asahi-dake we pass a university club group laden down with massive rucksacks, the girls in the group dwarfed by their loads. Probably first-years, we chuckle; in the hierarchical world of Japanese university mountaineering clubs they always get to carry the most. The campsite by the Refuge is quiet, perhaps a combination of the previous weather and being later in the season.
The next day dawns beautifully clear and after the usual only-slightly-burned-porridge we set off south along the broad ridge of Takanegahara. Nobody else is around and with clear air and high mountain views in all directions it feels like we are on top of the world. After Jeff threatens to feed me to a bear if I hum The Carpenters one more time, we reach the top of Chubetsu-dake as the mist comes in. It soon clears again to show us the surprisingly big drop off the west side of the summit. We continue on up though dwarf juniper to Goshiki-dake. Here the main ridge turns west to Kaun-dake and the trail runs on a wooden boardwalk through a high marshy area rich in flowers. Bears like flowers and wild herbs too, and we see plenty of evidence of their presence in fresh droppings and paw prints in the mud beside the trail.
After a scramble up the rocky summit tor of Kaun-dake we head off down to the lake at Hisagonuma. The hut near the eastern end of the lake is empty so we decide to stay inside rather than on the boggy looking campsite. It appears that the water source has dried up so we grab all our containers and head to the opposite end of the lake to where a big stream flows into it from a large snowfield. It is about twenty minutes in each direction and by the time we return a few more people have turned up to stay. After a pleasant evening and some hot food we turn in for a good night’s sleep.
It is misty when we wake up. We know this will be a long day, so we are on our way early. After stopping to refill our water bottles again we head back up to Kaun-dake. The mist is clearing now and we can see the mountains north to Asahi-dake poking out of the sea of clouds. At the summit we meet up again with the university club members, who have stayed the previous night at the Chubetsu-dake hut. We chat with one of the first-year girls who tells us they are from Keio University and have come up from Tokyo to do the full north-south traverse of the range, another two or three days’ trek. That partially explains the size of their packs. I nearly put my back out lifting hers to get an idea of the weight.
We leave them to head down the long ridge to Tenninkyo. This is a beautiful walk, high and airy, a mostly gentle descent through fields of flowers that must have been spectacular early in the season. Asahi-dake looms in front of us as we get further down. The trail passes through another marshy area on duckboards then enters the forest. We have seen nobody for hours since leaving Kaun-dake.
Suddenly we encounter massive paw prints on the trail. Massive, fresh paw prints. Going in our direction. No problem, we reassure ourselves, after a few metres the beast will have wandered off into the forest again. But it hasn’t. For the next half hour, hearts in our mouths and sweaty palms poised to grab bear spray canisters, we follow the tracks down the trail, shouting loudly around every blind corner. We have no way of knowing if they are a few hours old, or only a few minutes. Every so often they seem to disappear, only to show up again around another corner.
Eventually the bear tracks run out just before the lookout over to the scenic series of cascades on the other side of the gorge that make up Hokkaido’s highest waterfall. We breathe a sigh of relief, enjoy the view, then take the steep switchback trail down to Tenninkyo Onsen at the bottom of the gorge. We expect it to be deserted as we know the recent typhoons have destroyed the access road, so we are surprised to see a car making its way towards us. The driver jumps out and tells us he is supervising the repair crew who have just this moment reopened the road. He offers us a lift out and back to Asahi-dake Onsen. I am momentarily tempted, but Jeff is made of sterner stuff and firmly declares that we will walk another few hours on the connecting trail up the steep side of the gorge and through the forest. Just after we set off we hear a shout and turn to see our new friend running after us with three bottles of icy cold water he’s just bought from a vending machine. An unsolicited moment of kindness that we appreciate very much.
The trail out of Tenninkyo is rough and does not appear to get much use. After a steep climb up and over some small areas of landslip we enter the forest. The trail is generally easier from here though there are occasional fallen trees and swarms of hungry mosquitoes to contend with. For some reason they all want to eat me. Low on energy, we finally slog into Asahi-dake Onsen around late afternoon. With all the excitement of the bear tracks and then not wanting to stop because of mosquitoes I haven’t eaten since mid-morning and am about ready to hit the wall. The first priority is washing off three days’ grime in the local onsen, then it is down to the big city of Asahikawa for some ramen before the drive back to Sapporo.
17 thoughts on “Central Daisetsuzan Circuit Hike”
Hi guys and congratulations for the awesome website! I’ll be in Hokkaido in September and considering doing this hike. Are you aware of any update of the track conditions between Tenninkyo and Asahidake Onsen. In case it will be impassable, are there any options to be considered? Many thanks!
Hi Massimo, thanks for the query. Unfortunately that trail is no longer maintained. As of 2022 it was very overgrown (source). Note also that the closest bus stop to Tenninkyo Onsen is 7km away unfortunately. If you stay at Shikishima-so Ryokan in Tenninkyo, they run a free shuttle for guests (link). All the best!
Thanks Rob for the kind reply!
Hi! First of all thank you for the maps, GPS traces, and reports: I have used several cycling and hiking routes during my August 2020 Hokkaido trip 🙂
This particular route is a challenging and beautiful circuit through Daisetsuzan! I wasn’t lucky with the weather, as there was a lot of fog and wind on the day I did it, so I didn’t see much of the views, but it was nevertheless a nice loop! Just a WARNING on the trail from Tenninkyo Onsen to Asahidake Onsen: it is still not maintained at all as of August 2020. Not only it is therefore hard to find, it is also very hard to hike!! On top of this, the GPS trace (as well as the physical map) is misleading as it is guiding you up the mountain, whereas the actual trail stays much longer on the mountain side before going up the slope again. As a result, this last part was very challenging and took me much longer than anticipated: I thought it was the hardest part of the day!!!
Hi Vincent, thanks for the feedback and update on the trail! That trail from Tenninkyo was bad enough when we did it so it must be in rough condition now if it’s been further neglected since then. Back then it was mainly OK after the climb up from the gorge. We also found it easily enough as our Japanese guidebook told us to go behind the shrine, but it wasn’t immediately obvious if I remember correctly. As for the map, you are right, in that section ours does cut off the corner a bit as the official topo and Yama to Kogen maps show the trail looping round a bit more and that’s also how I remember it. Anyway, thanks again and this should be useful for future hikers to be aware of.
Vincent, Rob the Map Wizard/GPS Guru has amended the maps etc. However, he also discovered that the trail between Tenninkyo and Asahidake Onsen is now ‘closed’ as of last year! He’s going to find out more about what that actually means. It could explain why you found it hard to find and follow. It was certainly the sting in the tail when we did it. So thanks again for bringing it to our attention.
Oh wow, good job on updating the map! I think this will be useful if anyone attempts to hike it in the future. Knowing that the trail is actually ‘closed’ kinda makes me feel better as I really struggled 😉 With the right GPS trace, I feel it is still doable… but this might get worse again in the future. That would be a shame, since it is I think the only way to get out of Tenninkyo Onsen, and loop back to the start of this nice loop.
Hello! I am currently planning to take 10 days and hike around the park in mid August. I am sorry for a specific question but I was wondering if you knew if the buses were still connecting the ropeway to the JR station or airport. I know a lot of public transportation into the mountains have been shut down because of covid and I have been struggling to find access to the park as I do not own a car!
Hi Nick, yes the buses are all still running as usual, this includes the Ideyu-go from Asahikawa JR station to the Asahidake Ropeway. See the timetable here: https://www.asahikawa-denkikidou.jp/asahidaek_line/.
Hi Rick,
Thanks for the awesome guide! A friend and I are planning to backpack the route in mid-July. Do you have a good resource for understanding the general temperatures we can expect so we can plan our gear?
Christina
Hi Christina, I’m really pleased that you’re finding it useful! I’ve asked Rob if he uses any good meteorological sites giving historic temperature data etc, he’s more up on that than I am. From personal experience, if the weather is fine then it can be warm and sunny during the day but drop down to single digit temperatures at night. One time around the third week of July it was 30 degrees back in Sapporo with people complaining about the heat making sleeping difficult while I was glad of my cosy down sleeping bag camped next to a snowfield. If the weather is bad then it will be cool to cold and not the place to get soaked. The 2009 Tomuraushi Incident in which 8 hikers died of hypothermia occurred in mid-July.
Hope this helps and have a great hike!
Rob suggests https://www.daisetsuzan.or.jp/the-climate-of-daisetsuzan/
This guide is incredible! I’m interested in doing this hike this July 2020. In regards to access, it seems I can take public transportation to Asahidake Ropeway Station and then at the end of the trail I can take a bus back to Asahikawa from Asahidake Onsen Campground. Is that correct?
Hi Chris, I’m really pleased that you’re finding this useful. The bus from Asahikawa station to the ropeway is very convenient and I’ve used it a couple of times – but not returned on it! For the return bus, the timetable indicates it will stop at the campsite, or you could walk up the road to the ropeway station and catch it from there. I hope it all works out and you have a great hike!
Wanted to thank you for all the info on here! Just finished the hike yesterday, we were very lucky with sunny days and great clear views. I would point out that the last day goes through pretty rough trails, not well maintained.
The finish at the onsen is a must!
Happy hiking 🙂
Thank you for the feedback! Indeed, the trail from Tenninkyo to Asahidake Onsen Village is no longer maintained, and is very overgrown.
Thanks Tamuz! Great to hear that it went well for you. It’s a few years since maintenance stopped on the trail onwards from Tenninkyo so it must really be quite bad now. How long did it take you on that section?