October 2006

SHIRETOKO
Shiretoko is acclaimed as Hokkaido’s (and one of Japan’s) most beautiful National Parks. It is a volcanic mountain range jutting out of the Sea of Othotsk on one side and the Pacific Ocean on the other. We were a bit apprehensive about exploring the park as it has more bears per square kilometre than any other place in Japan! We traveled up the eastern coastline and stopped to watch fishermen at the river mouths trying their best to catch Salmon. We then traveled over the mountain range via Shiretoko Pass but had little to see as strong winds and clouds obscured the view. Once back down at sea level we looked for a place to camp in Utoro. We were again amazed by the number of deer everywhere. We had to stop on the road to allow a hind and fawn to cross and looked out the window to see two young stags happily grazing by the road. In the town itself there were deer grazing in the grassy areas between the hotels and restaurants. The campgrounds are closed this time of year as they tourist season is slowing down and generally people consider it too cold to camp now. This didn’t bother us much and we kept up our trend of camping for free. We did our bit to protect the National Park and had venison curry for dinner at a small café. Next day dawned clear as expected and had a nice sunrise at 4.30 am! We went back to bed for a few hours and got up at 7’ish to head for Rausu-dake. At 1661m it is the highest mountain in the National Park. We suppressed our fear of bears and climbed about half way up the mountain. We didn’t go all the way because of high cloud and enjoyed the view we had. For me it was great to see the autumn colours, something you can’t really appreciate in the New Zealand Mountains. Afterwards we found a natural outdoor onsen (hotspring) and also walked around the famous 5 lakes.