day 242 - climb ev'ry mountain (2)

Ezo chipmunk. 

Tamias sibiricus lineatus.

Here it's called the Ezo chipmunk, but the same guy on the mainland is the Siberian chipmunk, easily recognised by its five stripes. It was surprising to see it at this height above its usual woodland habitat. These little buggers are quick. It was patience but mostly good luck that this one was snapped as he sprinted from the undergrowth.

Asahidake. (We only took about 40 photos of the mountain reflected in this lake!)

Fumarole.

A couple more showing alpine plant beauty and diversity.

day 241 - climb ev'ry mountain (1)

We only saw one bear.

Asahidake.

Some fit people hike to the top. We took the ropeway.

It's a bit daunting when most of the maps, tourist guides and warning signs aren't in your language...

A lake mirrors the sky.

Asahidake and fumaroles reflected in a pond.

Diverse alpine plants.

A pair of very friendly grasshoppers. (suggest you click on this one for an enlargement.)

Asahidake is the highest point in Hokkaido (2290 m). We took the ropeway and hiked up to the fumaroles (volcanic vents), but chickened out on the summit. The alpine vegetation up here is amazing. We'd been warned about bears and finally succumbed and bought a "bear-bell" - a great souvenir, but the only kuma we saw was the stuffed one in the communal lounge of the Yumoto Yukomanso Resort. We took so many photos that we'll have to split them over two days!

day 240 - going up...

Mon August 25.

Today we left Sapporo and crossed the flattish farmlands for Asahikawa, then bussed up the mountains to Asahidake. There's a spaciousness here that we haven't seen since Australia. 

It was too foggy to go up the ropeway so we hiked a few trails in the valley.

Asahidake to Asahidake.

One-horse open sleigh. This sits incongruously between tracks at the Iwamizawa Station. This whole area is covered in snow in winter, but we won't be seeing any...

Walk through a birch forest.

I'm a real fun guy...

Unidentified dragonfly on some unidentified pretty purple flower. (Can you help?)