Rishiri

Access: To get to Rishri you'll need the ferry

2:15 am, August 2^nd 2007.

    Alarm goes off. Time to get up. The basic instinct of wanting to roll over and go back to sleep was quite fierce to say the least. The thought of a 4-hour drive to Wakkanai from Asahikawa was not very appealing.   But the lads would also be waking up and looking forward to the trip - apart from Steve who might just be getting back from the bar.

    We left at 4 am. Everybody was on time even Steve. So far so good. About an hour outside of Wakkanai the heavens truly opened. The ruts in the road filled up with water causing the car to hydroplane all over the place.  We had to make the 7:50 ferry to arrive on Rishiri at 9:30. We arrived in good time and had to find a place to park the car. Right opposite the ferry terminal there is a small car park (privately owned). The basic fee for a day is 1000 yen but for longer trips you can haggle over the price for 3 nights 4 days we paid 3000 yen.

    Still pouring with rain we unloaded our bicycles from the car. Taking bicycles to Rishiri and Rebun is a great idea, although you can hire there.  Around Rishiri there is a great cycling path which goes a third of the way around the island. The road is fairly decent.  Once around the island is about 60 km.

    We arrived on Rishiri. The rain stops, but for how long? There are a couple of camp sites on the island about 4 kms from the port. There are 2 near the entrance of the mountain - one a really well maintained and manicured site directly opposite the spa 2kms from the entrance of the mountain. It is also on the cycle path and you can stay in a cabin from about 1000 yen per person - min of 4 people. The toilets are really good.  The spa opposite cost  600 yen (If you put money in the lockers you will not get it back) It is a great spa and you can also do laundry there.  The 2^nd site is right at the entrance of the mountain and it has a bio toilet.  It is a more natural site with a lot of trees.

Rishiridake (The Mountain)

    This was a great climb.  All in all it took us about 10 hours to complete - that was starting the hike 2 km from the entrance of the mountain and about 1 hour at the peak.

The climb itself was very eventful - walking across many different types of terrain in lush woodland up until about the 8th level - then a short rocky patch and from the 9th level scree from which point you are able to use the ropes that have been set up for you. (I strongly recommend using gloves)  The ropes are not there because of the steepness or danger of the climb, but more to stop you sliding on your backside every 2 minutes.

    The top is staggering in its beauty. We were so lucky on the day that we climbed.  When we started our climb we were in cloud but by the time we reached the 6th level the clouds started to clear. Then at the top the clouds had cleared just leaving a few wisps of cloud - enough to daydream on and there wasn’t a hint of wind.  It was a little hazy out to sea but we had a clear view of Rebun in a slight cloud cover made it look like Camelot. We could also see up and down the coast of Hokkaido. Truly magnificent.