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posted: August 31st, 2009 |
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This page starts with August 7th and goes through the end of the day on August 9th - all on Hokkaido. Click on any thumbnail to begin.
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| Begin August 7th |
Now it's August 7th. The first shot is the "Field Inn", the place where we spent the night. As I mentioned on the previous page, it is in the absolute middle of nowhere, as this photo shows. The 2nd shot is a bus stop we passed as we hiked from the Field Inn to Cape Sukoton - on the northern tip of Rebun Island. The 3rd shot shows you a small cove with a house in the middle of nowhere - looks like a dangerous place to live to me!
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Right in front of you is Cape Sukoton. I don't know the name of the island which you can see out there. Now we are going to proceed from Cape Sukoton to Cape Gorota. Again, I hope that you have a good map! The 2nd shot is a lonely stretch of shoreline, as is the 3rd photo. Note the lack of trees on this part of the island. The weather is just too severe for any kind of trees to be able to survive. The grasses do just fine though, as do some various kinds of annual flowers.
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In the first photo in this row you can get an idea of the variety of flowers we saw as you look back across a grassy slope towards a rocky shore. In the next photo you can see more grass and what we assume to be some sort of agricultural experiment. In the 3rd shot you can see a tiny rose type plant. Note how small and fragile it looks. All of them which we saw were like this. Note the hostile environment in which it grows.
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Here is one more shot of that rose plant which you saw in the previous row. The 2nd shot is at Gape Gorota. Obviously we did not go down to the shore here. The 3rd shot shows a group of hikers - also from the Field Inn. In fact, virtually the only hikers we saw on this day were from the Field Inn. There are several Inns and even a Youth Hostel on the island, but we certainly didn't see many of those people hiking around anywhere.
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This is now getting to Cape Gorota. The first 2 shots are part of the Cape Gorota scenery. The 3rd shot is taken from Cape Gorota and looks back towards the Cape Sukoton area and the offshore island there. Note that there is now some fog or else some low clouds moving in.
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Oops! What did I say about clouds or fog just above? Well, it looks like it has surely moved in on us now. Oh, but wait, it disappeared just as quickly as it appeared! The 2nd shot is another one looking at Cape Gorota. The 3rd shot is looking south from Cape Gorota and from this point you can see the Pacific Ocean on the left, or east side of the island and the Sea of Japan on the right, or west side of the island.
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In the first photo here we are now south of Cape Gorota and here is a telephoto shot looking back at the geology of it. The 2nd shot is a normal shot - the final shot of the Cape Gorota Area. The 3rd shot is a scene as we hiked from Cape Gorota to a bus stop at Hamanaka. We had planned to go further along the Sea of Japan coast, but we got too interested in flowers and scenery and ended up not having time if we wanted to catch the bus. There are only 3 buses per day there, so if you miss the one you want, it's a long wait until the next one.
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After we took the bus from Hamanaka to Kafukai we intended to hike this trail which supposedly has a kind of Edelweiss growing along it. We were in some doubt about the accuracy of the reports, but we found the reports to be true - this is a species of Edelweiss (Leontopodium discolor) which is found in several places, but Rebun Island is famous for it; so famous, in fact, that their noon bell is the famous Edelweiss song! The 3rd shot is another photo of Mt. Rishiri on Rishiri Island.
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Here are 3 more shots of Edelweiss (Leontopodium discolor). The 2nd shot clearly shows you how prolific it is at some places. I'm sorry that I have given you so much Edelweiss when there is so much more that you might like to see, but you've got to understand that this is just about my favorite plant of all time. This and Bleeding Heart (Dicentra peregrina) (flower pictures on August 10th) compete for being my favorite flowers.
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Here is a final shot from the Edelweiss Area. We found this flower in many more places than just the one spot which is famous for it. We assumed that the local people kind of like to keep some of the places a secret so as to have some undisturbed areas for themselves. In the 2nd shot, I don't know the name of this rock, but it was photogenic. We were on the way to the Inn at this time and didn't have much time to loiter around and try to get closer to it. The final shot in this row, and the final shot for this day is this moonlight shot of Mt. Rishiri and Rishiri Island. It just happened to be a full moon this night!
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| End August 7th, Begin August 8th |
On August 8th the weather was great when we started out, but by the time we got to the first "scenic" place it was totally clouded in. This first photo shows you some flowers and behind and to the right you can see a hint of a large rock in the not so far distance. This is the way it was during most of our hike this day. The 2nd shot is one final Edelweiss shot - in yet another different place. And the 3rd and final shot here is another of Mt. Rishiri and Rishiri Island.
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Here is the final shot taken on Rebun Island - a last shot of Mt. Rishiri on Rishiri Island. Note those tall plants shown in this picture. If you know what this plant is please let me know. The 2nd shot is regarded as the northernmost point in Japan - at Cape Misaki (Cape Soya) although the true northernmost point under Japanese control is a small deserted island called Bentenjima, 1 kilometer northwest of this point! This monument is located at 45 degrees 31 minutes and 22 seconds North Latitude. The 3rd shot is the same monument, but the photo was taken from a nearby hill. From Wakkanai we took a bus here as we had a couple of hours to kill on August 8th. It was interesting, and worth the hour long bus ride.
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| End August 8th, Begin August 9th |
On August 9th we woke up and got ready for the day and went to Wakkanai Train Station for the start of yet another day of travel. We headed back south for some more adventures on the way. The first shot in this row is a huge salmon shaped piece of bread which we bought at Otoineppu. When we came north we stopped at Otoineppu (Page 1, Row 11, Center Photo) and waited there for about 30 minutes while some fast trains passed us. So, this time when we stopped there we got off the train and walked through the town. The salmon shaped bread was the one interesting thing we found, in addition to a newly paved Main Street with no cars! The next shot is the Youth Hostel we stayed in at the base of Mt. Asahidake - the Daisetsuzan Shirakabaso Youth Hostel. We took the train back to Asahikawa (See Page 1, Row 9, Photo #1), got off the train and took a bus to this place. The 3rd shot is a Mt. Asahidake panorama near sunset time. We'll be climbing this mountain tomorrow. The image which I can show you in the lightbox does not do this photo justice - if you'd like to see a larger size please CLICK HERE.
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| End August 9th, End Page 2 |
| Thanks so much for taking the time to look at this page. Now, please go on to Page 3 for the continuation of this month's adventures. |
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