Asia

[Visited: June 2001]

Daisetsuzan National Park is the largest national park in Japan and it is not surprisingly located on the northern island of Hokkaido, the island of the great outdoors. Sounkyo is a small village on its northern borders, and a perfect location to explore the area. Here, you can rent a bicycle and explore the canyon or just walk around. From here, you can also start hikes in the park, and in winter you can go skiing. In February, Sounkyo is the stage for a famous ice festival.
When I rented a bicycle, the weather was fine and I happily started off for a nice cycling tour of the canyon. Already after a few kilometres, I arrived at the Milky Way and Meteor Falls, two high water falls who come directly from the plateau high above the valley. Although small in amount of water, the waterfalls are attractive because of their graciousness. From here, you can only continue on bicycle or on foot, and you can see the high rising cliffs of the canyon.
In between the dense vegetation, you can see strange rock formations and colours. Unfortunately, part of the bicycle path is completely closed, so I had to return to the road and enter a long tunnel where you are allowed to cycle on the sidewalk. From here, I climbed to the artificial Daisetsuzan Lake after which the road becomes less interesting. When I returned, I enjoyed the peace of the canyon at Obako point. From here, it was a pleasant ride back to Sounkyo village.

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