Utoro to Rausu

We woke up to a light drizzle, but nevertheless still felt optimistic enough to leave for the nature center. The nature center was where the bus to Kamuiwakka Falls leaves --- since the Falls was supposedly warm, it was something that Yana looked forward to sitting in. I got up to the nature center with no problem, but Mark and Yana got detained by some deer, making it to the nature center with no time to spare for the first bus of the day.

The bus ride wasn't interesting --- if the weather would have been better, we probably could have ridden out to the falls instead of taking the bus, but since it was raining and dirt roads are no fun in the rain (especially if the fork is making strange noises, as in Mark's case), the bus seemed like a good idea. Kamuiwakka Falls, however, was a disappointment. The waterfalls are indeed warm, but are by no means hot. With a cold rain coming down, they were at most 24 degrees C, hardly worth changing into a swim suit for. On a clear, sunny day, they might get up to 26 degrees C, which would make it an interesting place to swim, but not really a hot springs by any stretch of the imagination. I didn't even bother changing into my swim suit, but Mark decided that he might as well do it anyway.

When the bus came back, we got on it and headed over to the 7 lakes area, which was also similarly disappointing. The boardwalks would take you out to the views of the lake, but it wasn't a particularly pretty lake. By the time we got back to the nature center, it was 11:00am, and the rain was really coming down hard, giving us a perfect excuse for sitting indoors and having lunch.

Unfortunately, even lunch did not make the rain go away, so we put on our rain-gear, and slogged up the hill. As far as hill climbs in the rain goes, it was only mildly unpleasant --- my rain cape kept me warm, and the bike made slow but steady progress. As I approached the summit, I saw that the weather was clearing, and so prepared myself for what should be a pleasant descent. Boy was I wrong! The rain lessened but the wind picked up dramatically. I had a really hard time getting my rain cape off because of the wind, and during the change-over my glasses fell off and the nose-piece was picked up by the wind and blown away, never to be seen again.

I began the descent does, with only a lightweight jacket, and immediately started feeling chilled. I took the descent slowly, and got whipped and moved about by the wind. I had no choice but to take the lane, since at any moment a gust of wind could pick me up and move me 3 feet one way or another on the road. The scenery was gorgeous though! There was an amazing rainbow that stunned folks enough to stop their cars and shoot. To make things worse, I encountered the only asshole driver in Japan on this descent --- a truck driver who would refuse to over-take on the other lane, but rather than sit patiently behind me, would lean on his horn despite seeing that the entire situation was already difficult for me (those gusts were pretty obvious).

I started shivering from the cold --- for a 700m descent, it was taking me far too long to get down the hill. When I got down to 200m finally the wind gave me a break and I could get down to the National Park visitor center and get in and sit in the warmth. Nevertheless, I did not stop shivering for 1/2 an hour. Mark and Yana eventually joined me, and we then proceeded down towards Rausu to look for lodging using the lodging listing the visitor center kindly gave us.

The first place I went to said they were closed. So did the next 2. When I finally found a Minshuku, I was asked to wait while the receptionist checked to see if they were taking customers. I observed the receptionist look outside at Mark and Yana, and realized that it wasn't a coincidence that all the places we visited were closed --- they did not want to take foreigners. The Lonely Planet guide had mentioned this --- apparently, enough Americans and other foreigners have arrived at various guest lodges in Japan, and not realizing that the meals are fixed (no choices in what you get for dinner --- they cook and you eat, just like at mom's house), have thrown fits or asked for their money back. The Japanese, being polite people, would solve this by refusing to take future foreigners as guests, even if they were (like us) entirely capable of downing a Japanese meal without complaint, and would indeed prefer the Japanese meals over any western choices! I felt like apologizing for Americans (especially picky American vegetarian/vegan/ovo-lacto-vegetarian types), but clearly that would do no good --- the damage had already been done.

We eventually found a big hotel near the water which looked expensive on the outside but turned out to be quite reasonable in price (well, ok, 6000 yen a night a person is still not cheap), and booked just rooms for the night. They gave us separate rooms, and the views out of the windows were quite nice. Ironically, all this riding around and looking for lodging had warmed me up, and the sun had emerged from the clouds. We took our showers quickly, and took advantage of the hair dryers to dry out our shoes, then went outside to look for food.

Mark felt like getting some Sashimi, and I was of a similar sentiment. We visited 4 places within 2 blocks of the hotel and ended up picking up a sashimi place run by a husband and wife --- the wife would take orders and the husband would cook or slice it up fresh. It was pricey, but the presentation and the meal was great. I asked for desert at the end, and the wife look puzzled for a bit, and then said she would make some potato mochi, which also turned out to be excellent!

We retired early that night, having been exhausted by the day, despite having only ridden 37.5km and climbed 902m.

Kotan to Utoro

We woke up in the morning to a light south wind and drizzle. Yana wanted to see Lake Mashu, but with the weather the way it was, the beautiful water clarity the lake was famous for would not be present, nor would the climb be present. We decided that we would loop back on the way to Sapporo to take in Lake Mashu and hope for better weather.

We rode past some touristy areas, but before long had to stop to shed clothing because despite the cloudy skies, with a tail wind it was quite warm! The plan today was to ride up Highway 52 to 391, but after that leave the main road as quickly as possible and head in the general direction North-East. In Kawayu Hot Springs, we spotted a free foot-bath, where locals went to soak their feet. The climb up 391 was very short, especially with the tail wind, and we were soon on our way! The descent was longer, but still straight and even though there was a light drizzle, we were very comfortable as the drivers were very friendly --- one car even passed me with all the passengers waving at me.

At the intersection with 805, we made a sharp right turn up a short hill (which shielded us from an otherwise head wind) before heading North-East again with the same tailwind. With the tailwind, we made great time, stopping only for photos of the faraway mountains. At Kiyosatocho, we spotted a bike shop, and stopped to see if the shop had a fork for Mark's, which was starting to make strange noises. There was not much point taking it apart without a spare fork handy, so when the shop owner showed us that he had only one racing bike and it was much too small for the fork to be of use to Mark, we decided to just nurse that fork along and eat a supermarket lunch instead.

Japanese supermarkets are great for supermarket lunches, as they usually sell bento boxes, sushi, and drinks. In addition, if you buy something that needs to be heated up, there's usually a microwave past the cashiers that can warm up the food. They are also generous with things such as plastic forks, and of course, the ever-present disposable chopsticks.

We followed the signs to Shari, and near the train station found an information center. Since there was still a tailwind going, we took a quick check to see how far it was to Utoro, and when the number came out to be about 40km, we decided we would go for it. Unfortunately, the road out of Shari towards Utoro (334) drove us right into a sidewind, which we had to run an echelon in order to cope with. This would have been a problem on such a narrow busy road in America, where drivers won't know what an echelon is, but Japanese drivers were so polite that we felt comfortable doing so.

Once the road made the coast we knew we were in the clear, since the wind now aided us instead of hindering us. We took turns pace-lining, and it was easily one of the fastest 30km I've ever ridden on tour, stopping only to see the sights such as the waterfalls and the streams falling into the sea.

By the time we got to Utoro it was 4:30pm. Utoro was a surprisingly large town, and the lady at the information center spoke English. When asked to put us in a Minshuku, she put us in the one named "The Captain's Home", which turned out to be a low-priced, high-volume Minshuku with only one bathroom/shower despite having 6 rooms. Since we were early enough to explore the town, we opted out of the fixed menu dinner.

Surprisingly enough, many of the restaurants were closed, so when all was said and done we walked quite a while before settling for Oyako Donburi with Salmon and Salmon Roe, which turned out to be excellent, if not 100% filling, something easily remedied by ice-cream and snacks at a convenience store.

We realized that we had only about a week of touring or so left, so we got out the map and started working backwards from Sapporo to see if we could make it., By assuming that we did 100km days, we had just enough time to revisit Yubari Forest Youth Hostel (which we loved and still had fond memories of) before heading over to Sapporo airport, provided we made it over the pass to the East side of the peninsula tomorrow. The forecast was for poor weather tomorrow but since the other side of the peninsula was but 40km away, we felt quite certain that we could do so with plenty of time to spare.

97.9km, 472m

Bihoro to Lake Kusharo

We woke up in the morning to a standard Japanese breakfast. We moved slowly, partly because of the long day the day before, but also because we knew that today would be a short one --- into Akan National Park. The morning was very clear, but as we rode onto 243, the safety warnings flashed Low Visibility Ahead. I wondered how bad it would be, since at the bottom of the climb it was actually warm enough to take off our jackets for the climb. As we entered the Park, however, the fog indeed set in, so much so that by the time we reached the top of the pass, we could barely find the visitor center!

A leisurely lunch at the visitor center (which turned out not to have a staffed information booth) and the fog lifted so we could finally see Lake Kussharro beneath us. Despite the fog, the lake looked gorgeous --- serene as though it had always been there. The descent was as usual gentle and easy, even on wet roads --- I joked that you could start a Japanese tour with 1mm of rubber left on your brake pads and not even wear out half of that after 3 weeks. We first saw a large swanky western style hotel, and then took the turn off to Wakoto Peninsula to see how the lodging look as it started drizzling on us. Despite the drizzle, however, we did not like the looks of the lodging in that area, and turned back out to head towards the Youth Hostel.

The Youth Hostel was OK, but wanted 6000 yen a person, at which point a hotel for $20 more a person started to sound attractive. Sure enough, as we followed Kussharo Road around the lake, we soon came to the Ainu Museum at the Kotan, and past that a hotel that looked more than reasonable when we saw the rooms. They offered an Ainu meal as part of the dinner service if you were willing to pay more, and given that I hadn't had one already I chose it! The map also said that the free open air bath was nearby, and indeed just around the corner I spotted the sign that said open air bath! Well, a soak in the bath was just what we needed to warm up a little bit, so after I read the rules we stripped down and went in. There was already someone in the bath, but I guess the Japanese don't make a big deal out of public nudity in the bath, which while segregated by gender, was completely exposed to the lake.

Mark wanted to ride around (or hike around) the Wakoto peninsula, so we rode back there and did a loop around. While the first and last sections of the trail circumnavigating the island were ridable and even fun, the mid section was not --- it wasn't just that the trail was steep in sections, it was also that the bridges were slippery even when walking in mountain bike shoes, and there were many stairs in some sections. To make things worse, there were quite a number of blood-sucking mosquitoes, and I felt eaten alive. After a while, I just went for the fastest possible speed and got off the Wakoto trail as quickly as possible.

Having explored enough for the day, we went back to our hotel to enjoy its wonderful views of the Lake. The baths inside the hotel were wonderful --- set on the second floor and overlooking the Lake with grand views all around, along with music and verses extolling the virtues of open-air baths.

Even the baths, however, did not adequately prepare me for the quality of the meal. Mark and Yana, who did not choose to upgrade, got a magnificent Jingus Kan. I got a 14-course meal, starting with a hot-pot of cabbages and tofu, and with a new course arriving every 3 minutes. Each individual course was quite small, but the presentation and flavor was as you might expect of the Japanese --- just about perfect. Here's a picture of the venison dish, for instance. The portions were carefully controlled so you couldn't over-indulge in one and then not have room for the next delight, yet by the time I finished the meal I was quite satisfied. Yana remarked, "Not only is the food great, it is so incredibly healthy. No wonder we don't see any obese people around." Indeed, all through our trip, everyone looked like they did not spend their days sitting in cars and offices. Then again, in Europe, that's true as well.

69.3km, 680m

Sounkyo to Bihoro

We woke up to cloudy weather that nonetheless was not raining, unlike the forecast provided to us the night before. We thanked our lucky stars, ate a quick breakfast, packed our bikes and proceeded to ride down to the 4km tunnel that had a sidewalk. The tunnel was extremely loud, especially since it also had big blowers to keep it ventilated, so we rode as quickly as we could through that tunnel, only to be faced by another two tunnels in rapid succession as we rode past Daisetsuzanko, a lake that we might have stopped to inspect if it didn't start raining then.

As it was, the rain was only mildly annoying. Fortunately, despite the general climb to 1050m that we were promised, the grades were level (or close to level) inside the tunnels themselves, so even though they were annoying we didn't have to live with them for very long. The Sekihoku pass was nothing much to look at, and we passed up the Ramen shop in favor of eating from our saddlebags.

The descent on 39 wasn't very exciting either --- even in the rain, it provided no challenge whatsoever, and actually had several retro-grades to slow us down. We rode past pretty Birch forests, but most of the road was filled with tourist traps (like a fox farm) and various Hot Springs. We finally stopped for lunch near one of the Hot Springs at what appeared to be a food court, where I had some super-sized Soba (seriously, the amount of food you get at lunch isn't enough for a cycle tourist otherwise), and we used the bathroom. Looking at the map, I proposed that we push on to Bihoro for the night instead of staying at Kitami, but Mark and Yana looked at me skeptically.

Then began the long boring slog into Kitami. This wasn't bad, since we had a tail-wind, but I started this section with a flat tire with no apparent cause --- while I found the hole in the tube just fine, there was no corresponding one in the tire, and Japanese roads were in general so clean that it must have been some chafing at the interface between the tire and the tube. Secondly, as we approached Kitami proper, not only did the traffic get worse (we tried to use some secondary roads but the attempts proved short-lived and served only to slow us down), the traffic lights got more frequent as well, so despite the tailwind assist we were not making good time.

By the time we got to Kitami city center and found the tourist information center, Yana was definitely ready to consider riding to Bihoro. We were clearly now out of the usual touristy areas, since no one at the information center spoke English. I did, however, get a list of lodging for Kitami, and after we looked at them, decided to push on! I called the Bihoro Youth Hostel and made reservations, since I did not think we would make the information center there before it closed. I was informed that while we could stay there, there would be no dinner tonight. We then made a quick stop at a 7-11 for some snacks before riding over to 122 to Bihoro.

Getting off of Highway 39 was great, since now the traffic, while not exactly light, was no longer composed exclusively of heavy trucks and 18-wheelers. Furthermore, there was at least some rolling hills, so the monotony of the Kitami area was soon forgotten. We got into Bihoro at around 4:00pm, but took until almost 5:30pm to find the Youth Hostel because of an unexpected surprise: the town was having a street fair! We found it while searching for the hostel, lost and wandering through town center. I missed a turn and that took us into a closed street where the smell of food filled the air, and we could hear singing. We were directed to park our bikes, and when we asked where the Youth Hostel was, the parking lot attendant shrugged and told us he wasn't from around here either.

Since we were hungry, we bought some food and wandered around. Mark and Yana, being obviously foreigners (and dressed in bike clothes to boot), got lots of extra attention, including gifts from some vendors. When they tried to order Crepe, the stall had to find an English speaker, and the combination of flavors they asked for caused no end of amusement! By the time we were ready to leave, we determined that this was the place to have dinner tonight, and asked when the fair was closed. The response was that it was open till 10:00pm, so that was great! Furthermore, while we were wandering around, the parking lot attendant had asked around and then drew us a map to the Youth Hostel!

We still managed to get lost anyway, but once at the hostel, quickly took showers, changed into street clothes, and walked back for a pick-and-eat dinner which included fried noodles, some roasted chicken, crepes, and (of all things), an Naan made by an Indian --- the only other obvious foreigner we saw.

By the time we were full and ready to to back to the hostel (and to bed), we were quite pleased that we had gone the extra 20km to Bihoro.
120km,670m

Biei "Tomato" Minshuku to Sounkyo Hot Springs

We got up early in the hopes of beating the morning traffic on 237. The easiest way to leave early is to eat breakfast in your room with food you bought from the supermarket last night, so that's what we did. By 7:30am, Yana, Mark and I had paid the Minshuku (which was a very well-equipped one) and left, though not without having to explain that Brooks was going to stay another night, and would be paying separately. We had consolidated all our equipment the night before, deciding what to send back with Brooks and what would continue with us for the rest of the trip.

Riding on 237, even if we knew it was only to be for 8km or so, was still an unpleasant experience --- there was enough traffic to be annoying, and it was definitely noisy. Fortunately, we soon spotted the 7-11 just before the turn-off we wanted, and stopped there to pick up more food and use the ATM.

Once we turned off of 237, we had a completely different ride. First of all, it was a lot quieter, even though the route took us right around an airport! There was a lot less traffic as we routed around the outskirts of Asashikawa city, and the directions provided by the woman at the information office yesterday was correct and easy to follow. When the road finally started uphill, we realized that we had finally gotten through the city, and stopped at a golf-course/rest area to use the rest-room and eat our snacks.

Unfortunately, it chose that moment to start raining as well, so we now had to put on our rain-gear and resign ourselves to wet roads. Wet roads uphill aren't bad, since you're not going fast enough for your fenders to thoroughly wet your legs, and fortunately there wasn't enough traffic to splash us with water from tires, and what traffic there was was polite enough not to come close enough to do so. As we approached the Ishikari river, I sighted a bike path on the bank and sighed, "What a pity it's not going our direction." Well, after the bridge, I spotted the bike path on the other bank and it was indeed going in our direction. We debated a little bit as to whether the bike path was really going our way, but decided to bet on it. Sure enough, we soon saw signposts every kilometer that included Sounyko Hot Springs as a destination, marked off in kilometers. Not only that, those distances were lower than we had estimated the night before!

We had gone on the bike path long enough to raise our hopes that it would indeed take us all the way to Sounkyo Hot Springs when it ended as abruptly as it began, at a very well-built and brand-new restroom facilities and map indicated where the bike path would go. Explorations indicated to us that the map was indicative of future plans rather than of the current extent for the bike path, so back onto Highway 39 we went. Highway 39 was quite busy, and the traffic was fast, so it was with relief that we found the turnoff to 640, a little country road we had spotted on the map the night before. 640 went around the other side of the hill from 39, which meant that while it was a bit of a detour, it didn't actually add any climbing to our route, and escaping the noisy National Highway was a relief.

It was with sadness, then, that we had to rejoin the highway again after half an hour or so, knowing that this time there was no respite from it until we reached our destination. With only a brief stop for snacks 5km from Sounyko Hot Springs, we did the rest of the ride as quickly as we could. What we had not counted on was that the ride from Biei to Sounyko Onsen actually climbed to around 600m! There was a 1050m pass the next day, so it felt good to get that part over with. We arrived at Sounkyo Onsen at 12:30pm, which left us with a choice: either stay here for the night as planned, or do a bit of sight-seeing and push on over the pass and hit the next set of Hot Springs for lodging. A little bit of asking around yielded the answer that we were another 60km from the next set of lodging. I was undeterred by this, but both Mark and Yana had had quite enough of riding for the day, so we decided to explore the area instead.

First, we went over to the youth hostel to drop off our luggage. They informed us that they didn't have an actual hot bath, but could give us coupons to use the hot baths from either of the hotels next to the hostel. We then headed down the hill to have some Ramen for lunch. The food was delicious, but what was more remarkable to me was that this was the first time I had actually heard Japanese pop on the entire trip!

We then rode down to the gorge itself, which was a little touristy area that actually did not have much to see but a couple of waterfalls. When we rode to the end of the parking lot, however, we saw a gate across what must have been the path that visitors used to use to see the rest of the waterfalls. Being law-abiding bicycle tourists, of course, we did not hop over the fence with our bicycles and ride on the now-abandoned road. Nor did we explore the no-longer used tunnels that now looked like a scene from a post-apocalyptic movie. We further did not see the waterfalls that were now declared officially closed by the tourist board, and we most definitely did not see the gate that sealed off the actual landslide that caused the entire place to be closed. That fence would have been too high to hop anyway.

We then returned to the hostel and took a coupon to pay the 500 yen day-use fee for one of the hotels Onsen. This was definitely a Hot Spring as might be seen in a Hollywood movie: set on the 7th floor of the hotel, it granted us views of the surrounding mountains shrouded by fog. The outdoor portion was a narrow strip that while being outdoors, had enough of a roof and walls around it that it didn't feel very exposed. Nevertheless, I enjoyed it thoroughly, though it highlighted the blister I now had on the arch of my foot from the hike 2 days ago.

It also turned out that the hotel had no less than 3 Hot Springs, so Mark and I navigated the halls to find one of the other ones, a very nicely secluded one with its own lawn for the outdoor portion. It was a delight --- you had to go down one set of elevators, go to another set of elevators reserved for that wing of the hotel, and then climb a set of stairs to get to it, but it was seldom used as a result so we had the place practically to ourselves!

By the time we were finished with our baths and gone back to the lobby, huge tour buses full of students and tourists had showed up at the front door. The Japanese with their short vacations (10 days a year) are big fans of organized tour groups. Whenever an organized tour bus shows up, the tour guide would jump off the bus with a whistle, and guide the bus in using a coded series of whistles. It's amusing and fun to watch --- once. The tourists are then herded by the white-glove wearing guide (almost always a woman). Then again, this appreciation of uniformity is why the Japanese can board a plane and leave the gate in 10 minutes.

Dinner was hearty --- each of us got an entire fish on our plates, in addition to Miso soup, etc. I was also amused that the hostel had Totoro dioramas, and I took photos of my stuffed Totoro next to them.

98.9km, 802m

Asahidake to Biei "Tomato" Minshuku

I woke up early and used the onsen before breakfast, discovering that while the hot-spot on my foot was still there, the skin had amazingly not blistered. At breakfast, I persuaded the French lady to join us in conversation. She was a lawyer for the fisheries department of the government in Paris, and was visiting a Japanese friend in Tokyo. Since the Japanese are one of the few people in the world to have even less vacation time than Americans (10 days a year!), she was on her own in Hokkaido while her friend worked. Now she made us jealous, since as a government employee, she got 10 weeks of vacation (50 days!) a year, topping even the most generous employee policy in the US. As breakfast proceeded, however, we realized that she really did not like Japanese food, and was foisting off much of hers onto us. Needless to say, I shamelessly asked her for her Nori once that became apparent.

The others wanted to visit Tenninkyo Hot Springs on the way to Biei, but as a matter of principle, I dislike out-and-back rides, so agreed to push on ahead and head to town to get us lodging and meet up with everyone else later. The descent from Asahidake was lovely, with the gentle 5% grade just pulling us along at top speed. Since the speed limits were quite low, we were able to stay ahead of all motor traffic during the descent, and could tuck easily to achieve terminal velocity.

At the Tenninkyo junction we parted ways, I headed back down towards the Dam. Since I had plenty of time today, I rode on the dam itself before turning towards Biei, trusting my GPS unit to get me to Biei eventually. This method of deliberately getting slightly lost has served me well in the past, and it did very well this time as well, getting me onto a lovely country road and then directing me onto an unpaved forest road. Unfortunately, the last 200m was on gravel so deep that I had to get off the bike and walk. On any other day this would have posed a problem, but with the hot spot on my foot complaining it was sheer agony to take every step.

I eventually made it back to pavement and discovered that my unit had routed me onto a series of gently rolling hills that eventually led me back to Biei and the visitor center. Along the way, I encountered a Japanese gentleman shooting pictures from a hill top. I stopped to chat and discovered that I was one of his subjects as I climbed over the hill! I gave him my card in the hope that he would e-mail me some of those pictures, but I had no confidence that I had made myself understood.

Once in Biei, I found the woman who was so helpful two days ago, and we began a series of transactions. First, I wanted to know if there was a sidewalk on the 4km tunnel. She didn't know, so she called the visitor center at Sounkyo Hot Springs, where they confirmed that there was indeed a wide sidewalk through the tunnel. Then she proceeded to help me book the youth hostel at Sounkyo Hot Springs the next day. I then discussed various routes to get to Sounkyo Hot Springs from Biei, and she brought out a series of local tourist maps and proceeded to give me detailed directions through Asahikawa!

We finally wrapped up everything by booking a Minshuku in Biei tonight. Not only did she book us something really cheap at 3000 yen per person, she also offered to hold my luggage for me while I went off on my tour of the Biei area, and also to tell everyone else what to do when they came by the visitor center. I was so impressed by her helpfulness that I gave her one of my cards and asked her to look me up if she ever visited California. I was further amused that here in the Biei area, we were running a constant theme of agricultural products for the names of our accommodations.

I then proceeded to find a supermarket that she pointed me at, buy lunch and desert, and then start riding out of town to explore the Biei hills. The rolling hills in the area was very reminiscent of England, and indeed, by the time I got to the Shinzo Maeda gallery, I was not surprised to turn the pages of one of his photography books and discover him comparing the landscape around Biei to that of England. In the heat of the afternoon, the gallery was both a respite and very much worth a visit for its repeated views of the area in all seasons, something a casual visitor is unlikely to be able to do.

After the gallery, I followed signs to the four colors hill, which I could see as I approached the area to be quite the tourist trap. But as tourist traps go, this one was quite pretty --- they seemed to make money by selling food, drinks, and rides, but admission was free! I walked around, looking at various perspectives and trying to capture the moment, but the truth was that harsh mid-afternoon light just doesn't cut it for great photography. I did end up taking some photos for traveling Chinese people before riding back to Biei.

My front wheel had gone a bit out of true, and after a while I ended up at a local bike shop that had one of the more interesting truing stands I had seen. They were more than happy to let me borrow it to tension and true up my front wheel, before I headed over to the Tomato hostel, where I had enough time to take a shower and read some before Mark, Yana, and Brooks showed up, reporting that Yana had a flat tire. It turned out that one of her old patches had blown off.

Dinner was at the local Japanese BBQ place, where we had an excellent meal for a very reasonable price before repairing once again to the supermarket for our post-dinner dose of ice-cream and loading up for the next day's trek to Sounkyo Hot Springs.

69.5km, 567m

Biei "Potato" Hostel to Asahidake Hot Springs

Breakfast was served late this morning, so I took the opportunity to do a loop around the area before breakfast, taking in more of the sights. It was foggy in parts, but once we headed down into the valley it was sunny, a change from the Bay Area, where usually the fog is low and climbs took you up into sunny parts. I was very pleased to see that Japanese kids rode their bikes to school.

From Hokkaido

Unlike their ferried-by-SUV American counter parts, I never saw a single obese (or even slightly chubby) Japanese kid going to school --- they either walked or rode bicycles (and usually without helmets).

After breakfast, we headed to the local view-tower and then headed back through Biei to Asahidake Hot Springs. The road was well-signed, so there was no navigation difficulty at all. We rode past some gentle hills and a dammed lake before getting to the climb itself. The sky was clear and the weather warm, but the road was very well shaded and traffic was light. Given how polite Japanese drivers were, I felt justified in removing my helmt and throwing on my cycling cap instead.

Unlike Tokachidake, the climb here started out on the steep side but then quickly eased up. Having had one climb under their belt and starting out the day fresh from yesterday's rest day, nobody complained at all, and we easily made the hostel by noon. We had an opportunity to climb the tallest peak in Hokkaido (also called Asahidake) at 2291m, so we hustled and made it up the ropeway to start the hike around 3pm. The last ropeway descent was at 5:30pm, so despite the bravado and bragging about how they would rather miss dinner than not make the peak, I knew the clock was running.

Given the beautiful weather, I was surprised to find the path up revealing clouds, until I realized that steam emitting from volcanic vents permitted the mountain to generate its own clouds! The path from the ropeway to the peak was only 3km each way, but the trail was strewn with scree and loose rock, the worst possible condition for unsuitable footwear. Having learned my lesson from the day before, I had opted out of my Vibram Five Fingers in favor of my mountain bike shoes, which made the climbing much faster.

I am not in general a fan of mixing hiking and cycle touring, and this hike demonstrated why. It's difficult to carry suitable hiking shoes on the bike. Now, I'm undeterred by dirt roads, even if I have to carry my bike up, since I am at least assured of an easy descent. But hiking is tough on feet both up and down hills. We made it to the peak by 4:00pm, meeting a fireman at the top who said he saw us at Tokachidake yesterday just as he was starting on his multi-day hiking trip! He was considerably better equipped for the trail than we were, as every person coming down the mountain commented on Mark's flip flops if they noticed them. My feet were also getting rather sore, but the scenery was spectacular.

The descent was treacherous, however, as Brooks slipped once and Yana twice. I took it very slowly, given the hot spots on my feet, but knew that there would be hell to pay the next day. On the descent, we caught up with a mother-daughter pair who were on the tail end of an overnight trip in the area. Satomi was a teacher in Tokyo, and they were headed for the ropeway where they would catch a bus to Tenninkyo Onsen for the night. Regardless, it was a gorgeous walk down.

From Hokkaido

It was only a short trip from the ropeway back to the hostel, where the hostel onsen soaked up our soreness before dinner. For the first time in Japan, we ran into other foreigners: a German couple, and a French lady who was having an unfortunate time with both chopsticks and Japanese food. After dinner, I was waved into the common room by a Japanese couple who then proceeded to allow me to practice my Japanese --- it took me over an hour to communicate what I did, where we had been, and where we were going, but it helped my Japanese considerably.

It was then time to take out our Touring Mapple to figure out what to do next. Looking at the exits around Asahikawa, it was clear that there were no roads through Daisetsuzan National Park, which meant that we had to detour around the park. The road through Sounkyo Hot Springs looked promising, but there was a nearly 4km tunnel right after that resort which made me nervous. The hostel staff told us that while traffic on 39, the road through Sounkyo Hot Springs, was light, it was also very fast. Brooks did some mental arithmetic and realized that he had only a couple of cycling days left before he had to make it back to Chitose, which meant that it made no sense for him to go with us past Biei. All things considered though, Biei was not a bad place to end the tour, with a train station in town and an English-speaker at the visitor center who was very helpful.

As had happened before to novice tourists on my trips, Brooks had forgotten that I usually timed my vacations to span holidays. In this case, Brooks had ended up returning the day before labor day, making his trip a day shorter than necessary.
52.3km, 1772m (some via hiking)

Tokachidake Hot Springs to Biei "Potato" Hostel

Mark wanted to climb to one of the local peaks, but after climbing the 13% grade to the trail head at 1200m, we found overcast skies that had started to put rain on us. As we walked up the trail, I saw at an intersection that much of the area was closed anyway, but the path to some of the volcanic vents was still open. I had practiced quite a bit with my Vibram Five Fingers before starting the trip, but not enough to toughen my feet for a rough rocky trail, so it was slow going for me.

By the time we got to the vents, the weather had turned extreme, with cold rain soaking us to the bone. The vents themselves provided us with ample warmth, but once we left them to begin the descent, I was chilled. Japan is a very forgiving place for outdoor types --- even though I was freezing by the time we got onto our bikes and went back down to our onsen (where we had checked out but left our luggage behind), a word with the staff produced fresh towels so we could sit in the baths to warm up.

It was 11:00am before we felt sufficiently warmed up to leave the onsen, but fortunately by then the rain had also stopped. Getting back into wet bike clothes was wince inducing, but no longer something that risked hypothermia. As a precautionary measure, I stuffed some advertising literature down the front of my jersey. That turned out to be unnecessary, though, since once we got to 966 the road turned up a little bit, and once I had to work against a hill I warmed right up.

We stopped here and there, including a short detour for views, but then began a spectacular descent with lovely views but grades and curves so gentle that we did noot touch our brakes at all! Once at Biei hot springs, we stopped at the visitor center (which did not speak English), made a reservation for the Biei "potato" hostel (recommended by Lonely Planet's guide). We then stopped for lunch at a hotel which served Korean-style hot-pot just like bibimbap, but without the spicy sauce.

On the tourist map there was a listic for a potato-chip factory, which Mark and Yana wanted to see. Since the way there was on an interesting-looking road, and the connecting road (237) to Biei was marked as a designated scenic road on the Mapple, I assented and we made our way to 824 and Bibaushi, which my Chinese-trained brain translated as "beautiful horse cow". The riding was glorious: the day was sunny, forcing us to ditch layers and put on sunscreen. The minor roads rolled gently up and down. It seemed at times that we were surrounded by nothing but lovely fields and rows of farms, neatly arrayed.

By the time we got to the intersection with 237, however, there was no sign of the potato chip factory whatsoever. We thus rode to Biei on 237 instead, which turned out to be an exceedingly busy road with way too much traffic. Once at the visitor center at Biei, we found a lady who spoke English and had an extremely helpful attitude. She explained that there was no such thing as a potato chip factory, and that the map had led many visitors astray! We asked about the next day's destination (AsahidakeHot Springs), and she immediately gave us a list of lodging. After we made a decision (mainly based on price), we asked her if she could make a reservation for us. She said she wasn't supposed to, since it was another town, but then proceeded to make the phone call for us anyway!

In any case, having her make the reservation was a good idea for us, since when we eventually rode through the local hills to get to the potato hostel, I discovered that our reservation had not been recorded at all! Not only were they unprepared for us (though they did have a room available), but they would not serve us dinner and the local restaurant was closed, since this was the first day of September. Eventually, one of the hostel staff members was roused up --- he turned out to speak fluent English (having worked for Japan Airlines in San Francisco), and after consultation with the kitchen, he declared that they could feed us dinner as long as we did not expect cyclist-type portions. Clearly, previous cyclists had emptied out their kitchen in a big way!

While doing research for the trip, Mark had found that there are gardens in the area that are really pretty year round. However, the gardens had a strict closing time, and I really didn't want to miss dinner either, so we compromised by setting a strict turnaround time. Heading from potato hill back towardds Bibaushi in the evening light introduced me to the best riding that Japan had to offer on this trip. The rolling hills were lit up with a lovely golden light, and if not for the impending darkness I would have had a hard time sticking to the turnaround time.

As it was, we got within 3km of the 4-colors hill and then turned around into a fading headwind, but not before I became determined to come back to Biei for more riding. Dinner at the hostel indeed included a potato. Our English speaking friend then explained that except for a very few items (tomorrow's orange juice being one example), everything served at the dining table was sourced and made locally. The ultra-fresh produce tasted great, and after dinner we made another laundry run before going to bed in our bunks.
72.3km, 1001m climbed (some hiking included in these stats)

Furano to Tokachidake Hot Springs

Waking up early once again gave me a chance to walk around in the forest around our hotel/onsen, and then take in the onsen again. The Highlander Onsen was unique in that overnight, it would swap the male and female baths, which meant that the morning bath would be a different bath than the evening one.

Since the day was going to be a short one, we decided we would visit the cheese factory to see what they have. We arrived too late for the cheese-making class (which took 2 hours and started promptly at 9:00am), but enrolled for an ice-cream making session. It was my first time making ice cream, and all the utensils in use were very cute (tiny bottles of milk, for instance), and we got to even make the waffle cone as well as eat the ice-cream.

After that delicious morning, we headed back to town where we had to find a drug store for Yana's contact solution. After that, we prepared for the afternoon ride by eating at the cheese Ramen place in town, and then stuffing ourself with pastries at the local pastry shop.

Mark wanted to visit the Rokugo highlands, which looked real close on his tourist map, but didn't look very close at all either on my GPS map or the touring Mapple. Nevertheless, we had ample time, and arriving late was not an issue since we had reservations. I plotted a course in the GPS and soon we were on another gently rising road. Rokugo was featured in a well-known Japanese TV series, but since we neither saw it or read about it, all we saw were signs in Japanese pointing at interesting set locations during our ride.

Once past Rokugo proper, at about 400m, we started seeing beautiful views which needed no knowledge of Japanese to appreciate.

From Hokkaido

I recognized a signboard from Mark's tourist map and pulled into the publicly available spring, where car drivers filled bottle after bottle of what was billed as the best tasting spring water in the region, complete with regular testing to prove it.

From Hokkaido

We then descended a fast but straight road back to the North end of Furano, where after a short flat section we started climbing to Tokachidake Hot Springs under cloudy skies.

Like most gentle Japanese climbs, Takachidake's grade changes subtly, until at 700m or so, I found myself in my granny gear for the first time on this trip. At the intersection with 966, I dug out the brochure to show to the Inn at the corner, and the receptionist's desk pointed me up the hill, past the 13-14% grade sign. I was familiar with similar grades from years of touring, but this was everybody else's first tours, so there was no shortage of declaration as to the steepness of the climbs by the time we arrived at the Onsen at 5pm.

Any complaints faded away, however, when we saw the outdoor onsen which looked down from 1100m into the Furano-Biei valley. Lit up by evening light, it was a sight to behold, sitting in a lovely and well-constructed Japanese bath which we practically had all to ourselves.

From Hokkaido

From Hokkaido

Dinner was a self-administered BBQ, with lots of toppings and additional food.

From Hokkaido

69.1km, 1272m climbed

Yubari Forest Youth Hostel to Furano Highlander Onsen

We woke up again at 5am, still slightly jet-lagged. I walked around while Mark went riding, looking for a place to shoot the valley with fog rising from the bottom.

Breakfast was at 7:30am, and the food was again wonderful, but light. Seeking to get the 100km day over, we left at 8:30 to ride up 452. 452 was billed as the loneliest highway in Hokkaido, since apparently you could ride it from one end to the other without finding any food and water. We expected a fairly rural ride, but at the intersection saw a super market and a half dozen camping cycling tourists in front of it enjoying breakfast. Whhat I did not realize at the time was that the summer vacation season was winding down, and this would be last of the camping cyclists we would see for quite some time.

Past the supermarket, 452 lived up to its reputation, offering us rural but not lonely riding, first along Yubari river, which led to a dammed lake, and then a series of rolling hills punctuated by an occasional tunnel.

From Hokkaido

Near the second lake, we stopped for a snack and were captivated when a fox came out of the hills to beg us for food. It was so tame and fearless of people that Mark was able to get several shots of it almost eating directly out of his hand!

From Hokkaido

At the intersection with 116, traffic started getting heavier, with cars and tour buses coming past us at regular intervals. Yet Japanese drivers were so polite that it was never uncomfortable --- most drivers would use the oncoming lane to overtake, and buses would do likewise. When it was unsafe to do so, they would wait patiently for an opportunity without honking or otherwise behaving aggressively. Japan indeed lived up to my expectation as a mountainous country with polite drivers. After a series of tunnels, the road took a big dip and dropped us onto rest stop with a 3-sectioned water-fall. We took that opportunity to take a rest break and eat the rest of our food.

From Hokkaido

Not long after that, we hit highway 135 and turned off, beginning a brisk descent into Furano. Once in Furano, we found the visitor center, where the helpful receptionist provided a list of onsen in the area to choose from. We picked a cheap one but that required backtracking. Thinking ahead, we also booked an onsen at the Tokachi-Dake area, not the most expensive one, but one just below that.

Highlander onsen wasn't all that high, around 200m or so, but it had both indoor and outdoor onsen looking towards the mountains we would be riding the next day. Dinner was typically Japanese, accompanied by a glorious Alpenglow over the hills around us.103km, 886m of climb.