We only ended up doing this hike because we ended up having an extra day to kill on Teuri Island during our cycle tour there (route guide here). Our dawn birdwatching boat tour had been cancelled, and we managed to get onto another one the next day before our ferry back to the mainland.
We started the wander through these woods just above the lookout above the ferry terminal. It was actually quite a challenge to find the trailhead (around here), as it was not particularly well marked. The grass was also quite overgrown. Once on the trail, however, it was very well defined. The track surface was one we’ve seen quite often in Hokkaido – a kind of squishy chipboard, designed to encourage the growth of moss.
The trail started out through plantation forest of some sort, before eventually getting to more wild woods. We were happy to stumble upon the open-to-the-public communal building. It would be a nice place to have lunch on an otherwise rainy day.
The walk back to the campground via the main Teuri settlement is quite interesting. There are plenty of old dilapidated buildings, some crumbling into a mess of building debris. Quite a stark indication of the depopulation in these very rural areas of Hokkaido.
