After a pre-dawn start from Sapporo and a long drive, Leon, Matt and I finally arrived at the trailhead still with plenty of time to make the hike up. We left the car by the hut, after noting approvingly that it looked very comfortable, a welcome sight since we planned to stay the night.
On the road up to the hut we had noticed bear droppings and soon after setting off along the trail we came across a very fresh offering slap bang in the middle of the path. Thankfully the perpetrator appeared to have left the scene so we carried on, senses heightened to the surroundings.
After a while we reached the end of the riverbank path and forded the stream to begin the climb in earnest (this was before the typhoon damage that destroyed the trail so it now requires crossing and recrossing six times). Up to the shoulder was long and steep but perversely I always enjoy the uphill and once I found my rhythm I pulled away steadily. The clouds came and went as I gained height. From the shoulder I negotiated my way along the final ridge through the haimatsu to the open summit and its colourful sign (since replaced) and waited for the others to join me.
The clouds lifted and the sun came out while we had lunch allowing us views across to the Tokachi coast and northwards along the spine of the mountain range. Then we headed back down the long steep descent to the river. By this time it had started to rain and as we trudged back along the riverside path we were looking forward to checking out the hut. It proved to be clean and spacious and we had it all to ourselves, a perfect way to end my first day in the Hidakas.
2 thoughts on “Rakko-dake”
Trip report for 5/21/25:
Rick and Rob, thank you so much for your site and this post with details and maps. There is very little information about hiking in this part of Hokkaido and this trip would have been hard or impossible to plan (or know about) and do without your write-up, thank you!
What an amazing trail. It’s hard! Short but very steep. Took me 3 hard hours to get up. 2hrs down. Wonderful views. Beautiful streams and valley down low. Rewarding summit. The trail continues along the ridge from Rakko-Dake and from some other maps I looked at it seems like you could make this into a traverse and link another summit or 2 and decent back on the Urakawa side of the peninsula.
The things I’ll note to offer some 2025 updates to the info above are:
1. Trail is well marked. The section along the river is perhaps the harder one to follow but it appears to have recently been re-sprayed with white paint esp at the stream crossings (expect 4-5 crossings. I did these wearing shoes and just let them dry on the ascent). The old red spray paint blazes are also still visible. There are also pink ribbons tied to trees. The higher elevation section where you’re ascending is a clearly cut (though narrow) trail. No blazes or ribbons but clear path to follow, no issues getting lost on this part. You could probably do this hike without GPS though I referred to it to confirm my location and also for progress updates on elevation
2. Tons of ticks – wow I’ve never been so covered in them. I stopped every 5-10min to pick off 1-20 tickets from my legs. Wish I’d worn long pants. It’s early spring and some of them were so small and faint I almost couldn’t see them. Was grateful to notice them early and I made a practice of frequent short rests to clear my legs of ticks before they could crawl to far up my body or make their bite.
3. This is a seriously secluded hike. As far as “front-country” hikes go, this one is remote. I didn’t see a soul once I departed the paved road including the gravel road drive to the hut and the whole hike. It was really a very solitary experience. Mostly beautiful and wonderful but felt uneasy at times thinking about how slipping on the creek crossing or on the steep ascent would be serious and hard to get help
4. Know that for the first 1/2 or 2/3 of this hike there is no cell service. You’ll loose it shortly after departing the paved road and won’t have it again until you’re at about 3000’ or maybe a little higher. For the final 1/3 of the climb and at the summit I had a strong signal.
5. Bring bear spray – there are plenty of warnings and scary looking signs. I was hiking alone which is not ideal but had spray which was a source of comfort given the aloneness of this hike (Was glad to have the spray; consider buying it in Sapporo if you’re reading this early as I’m not confident you could find it here). I spent the day singing and calling to the bears as the textured terrain and loud moving water gave me the impression a bear bell was wholly inadequate for properly announcing my presence.
Overall rewarding and beautiful hike! Be safe and enjoy!
Hi Loren, thanks so much for taking the time to write up a report and for the feedback on current trail conditions and cell phone coverage – we really appreciate it!
Your warning about the tick problem is something that really deserves more attention among Hokkaido hikers. I actually got Lyme disease from a tick bite on my first Hidaka trip that included Rakko-dake. Luckily I knew about the symptoms and got it immediately treated with antibiotics after having the remains of the tick removed in hospital. Also keep checking after you get home, I’ve found them on me up to two days after returning from trips in Hokkaido and Scotland. So cover up and stay safe!
Thanks again, and I hope you have many more happy Hokkaido hikes!