MOUNT MASHU TRAIL (摩周岳) , Teshikaga (弟子屈), Hokkaido (北海道), Japan, 2019.06.19

Day 5 (2/3).

After a few hours of sleep, we returned to Lake Mashu to seek for another way to enjoy the crater lake and its surrounding landscape. This time, we took the 14.4km trail along the crater rim up to the top of Mount Mashu or Mashu-dake (857m) in a 4-6 hour walk. We read from guidebooks and online research that the scenery of Lake Mashu from the top of Mount Mashu would be very promising. At the onsen village of Mashu, we stopped by a bento takeout restaurant (ほかほか弁当) to order two rice dishes for breakfast, then headed over to Lake Mashu’s Viewpoint 1 to begin our hike.

A terrain model at the visitor centre of Viewpoint 1 gave us a rough idea of the hike, from the trailhead at the south of the crater lake to the peak of Mount Mashu east of the lake.

Soon after the trailhead, we reached the first open lookout of Lake Mashu.

The trail took us along the crater lake on one side, and open plains and distant volcanic landscape on the other.

Most of the trail ran along the rim of the crater lake with little shades.

From time to time, wooden signage indicated how far we were from our destination.

There was pretty much only one trail for most of the time. It was almost impossible to get lost.

Near the peak, we could fully appreciate the volcanic landscape of the area, including the lush green forest in a caldera next to Lake Mashu.

After the steepest section of the trail, we finally reached the summit of Mount Mashu, a small lookout that offered wonderful panoramas of the area’s volcanic scenery.

From the top, the volcanic scenery of Lake Mashu area was fantastic.

Looking west, the ridge of Mount Mashu led to the eastern edge of Lake Mashu.

Clouds were getting in with the wind but we still had blue sky for most of the day.

Looking north, we could see the eastern tip of Lake Mashu.

With a circumference of about 20km, Lake Mashu is one of the most famous lakes in Hokkaido. We stayed for 20 minutes or so at the summit all by ourselves, and began the descending journey when another couple followed our footsteps and replaced us at the peak.

Claimed as the clearest water in the world, the beautiful blue colour of Lake Mashu was simply stunning when viewed from above.

The wind was mild and the air was dry, such a perfect day for us to hike at Eastern Hokkaido.

From afar, the tiny island in the middle of Lake Mashu looked funny.

The hike would offer a different scenery if we were to visit in the autumn.

The beauty of Lake Mashu never cease to impress us, despite we were a little tired near the end of the hike.

Finally back to Viewpoint 1, the colour of Lake Mashu had changed due to the constantly moving clouds. From dawn to mid afternoon, we had fully experienced the sheer beauty of the famous caldera lake. After about 5 hours of walking, we returned to Viewpoint 1 and treated ourselves with local chocolate milk and a slide of Yubari melon (夕張メロン) , the king of Hokkaido fruit which just broke the record in May 2019 with a pair fetching 5,000,000 JPY (47,000 USD) in auction.