On our fourth day we traveled to Noboribetsu Jigoku Valley, or “hell valley”, which is usually the name for places with lots of volcanic activity in Japan. But this place was very surprising, as it was also the home of tons of … demons!
There were statues of demons everywhere, with big spiked clubs, some of them with books, or couples… so interesting! I became a real fan of the Noboribetsu demons XDThe demons are part of Hell Valley, an otherworldly landscape of volcanic activity, and tons and tons of hot spring hotels and spa’s. Some of the puddles were of a boiling temperature and we saw an unfortunate and cooked dragonfly floating in them…It always smells like rotten eggs, so you know XD But I really love volcanic landscapes, because of the weird colors, shapes and formations.
We had a delicious lunch in the small town and did some souvenir shopping (we both got a demon spiked club keychain for good luck haha)
We also hiked a bit in the surrounding forests, and found some fantastic insects.Ward is not afraid of any insect o_O
We also found something a little more disturbing….
Yes, this is the claw of a bear. Suddenly we felt a bit uncomfortable in the forests (and again, no one around), so we made our way back to our car quickly XD I still don’t know where the nail came from, was it from a bear scratching a tree? Was it part of an old souvenir? Weiiiird and creepy! We drove up to Lake Kuttara, which is ofcourse a volcanic lake and it is not only incredibly deep, it is perfectly round. And that marked the end of our time in the Lake Toya area! It was time to pack up our stuff and make the long drive of 4 hours to our next destination. We made a lunchstop at one of the most amazing cafe’s I’ve ever been, the “bird watching cafe”:
The cafe is basically one long window that looks out over a forest and there is some birdfood so you can observe birds, how cool is that… Their signature icecream is one that looks like our beloved Hokkaido Snow Faery :D
After this lovely break we continued driving through misty mountains until we reached our next cottage in the forests. It was very close to Furano, which we would visit later on during the holiday and is famed for its flowerfields, so we got a little preview of that :)
Our next stay was in a wooden cabin, made by the owner himself, in the middle of the forests and it was soooo beautiful. We walked around in the evening ( bringing bearmace!) and saw a lot of wildlife, foxes, deer and even a tanuki.
We heard some realllly weird and creepy sounds, I thought it might be foxes, but it turned out that it was the deer making those strange noises. And there were tons and tons of deer around, so it kept me up most of the night XD
I have to make a small tribute to the delicious Hokkaido deserts: Prin (it is actually pudding, but in Japanese they write it as “purin”)
Every area makes their own kind, but all of them are delicious. We bought them at every stop!
In the morning I went out with a basket to get some bagles at the nearby bakery. Little red riding hood XD Unfortunately the bakery was closed so I had to red-ride my way back with an empty basket.
So, we packed up our stuff and traveled further on. The next two days, we traveled north-east of Hokkaido to Akan-Mashu national parks and its surrounding lakes.
This area is very wild with huge primeval forests, volcanoes, crater lakes and it also has remnants of the Ainu culture (Hokkaido’s original inhabitants). Tons of butterflies and in the back you can see the two volcanoes Mount Meakan and Mount Akan, believed to be a married couple! The whole area is magical, with tons of viewpoints, walks and hikes, and quaint villages. We spent two whole days exploring the area. This gorgeous lookout point had these seats that we found out were meant for starwatching! At night it must be so dark around here, and being on a mountainridge you would have an amazing view! Gorgeous valleys and volcanic lakes, but it was time for a visit to Mount Io, a place that showed more of the rotten-egg side of volcanic landscapes…Very cool though, those bright yellow crystals, but wow it does smell! And the smoke is very warm haha. I brought matching clothes, and so did Ward, as he blended into the environment:
We did some souvenir shopping at Mok Mok Base, as you could buy Mount Io bathsalt, and I’m really curious if it smells like rotten eggs haha.
It was time to leave this smelly area behind and head to our lodge in the middle of the forests.
The loooovely Subaru Lodge is run by an old couple and they made a fantastic dinner for us, made with local products. The highlight were the sake-steamed oysters!
Now I don’t have the photos, but the lodge had a fantastic private onsen. We bathed outside underneath the stars, and in the morning when we went again, we were surrounded by butterflies…sooo nice! After a really nice breakfast and went on our way again, this time heading towards the Sounkyo Gorge.
