A hike through stormy Daisetsuzan, Hokkaido: Japan's largest national park

South China Morning Post

03-06-2025

I squint into the fog, my eyes streaming in the cold wind that whips over the mountain.
Did that rock just move? I give the bell hanging from my backpack a shake, wipe the tears from my eyes and look again at the dark shape 50 metres away. Jingle jingle. Nothing stirs; indeed, it is a rock and not a bear.
We continue up the mountainside while keeping an eye out for movement.
My partner and I are in the middle of a multi-day, 50km summer trek through Daisetsuzan National Park, in the mountainous centre of Japan's northernmost main
island of Hokkaido . Like the weather, bears are an ever-present danger.
The flowers of the Aleutian avens turn into white featherlike seed pods in late summer. Photo: Cameron Dueck
Daisetsuzan, which translates as 'great snowy mountains', is the largest national park in Japan and boasts 16 peaks higher than 2,000 metres, several of which are included in Japan's 100 Famous Peaks (the Hyakumeizan) ranking – a bucket list for many hikers.
We are attempting a section of the Daisetsuzan Traverse, which snakes along the north-south spine of the mountain range, the route cutting across exposed alpine meadows and craggy peaks, all under an expansive sky.