Camping at Lake Toya and hiking with HIOC

Last weekend we went camping with the Hokkaido International Outdoor Club at Lake Toya.  Lake Toya is a beautiful lake in South West Hokkaido.  

Lake Toya is formed by a volcanic caldera, whose last eruption was ~1100,000 years ago.  In the center is a cluster of old lava domes.  You can just barely make out the lake and lava domes in the photo above.

We went for a short hike up a closed trail near Lake Toya.  There is a waterfall at the top of the trail.  However the trail was washed out from recent floods so we didn't get to the waterfall.

Some of the boards were rotten and one broke under my weight.  In all fairness it was forbidden to go up the trail, so I can't blame anyone for the poor conditions.

Here is Rob, one of the club members, being silly at the point where the trail is washed out.

The stream was very beautiful with a series of small falls and pools.  We saw a fish trying to jump from one pool to the next.  I was not able to capture a photo of its attempt.

At the bottom of the trail there is a little picnic area and a waterwheel.  The waterwheel appeared to be totally decorative.

I decided to try to make the waterwheel more exciting by blocking up the water and realeasing a flood all at once.  Bre captured my attempt in video.

There was some silliness involved in setting up camp.

We made a great lasagna in a dutch oven.  Bre took a video of the lasagna assembly process.

After dinner we all played Uno.  The winner got to wash the dishes!

Here is our camp in the morning.  The campsite is on the higher level with two tarps.  We slept in the two cabins to either side of the tarps.  The cabins did a good job at keeping out the rain and mosquitos.  In the morning we learned that they heat up very quickly with a bit of sunshine.  It was a very effective alarm clock.

I went down to the lake in the morning while the water was sill.  This is a better photo of the old lava domes located at the center of the lake.

There is something about a mysterious photo that I love.

Once we got up and moving we drove to Mt. Usu.  The hike started out in lush forests.  It was warm, humid, and beautiful.  I was happy when we got to the higher slopes with less vegetation.  It was cooler up there with a pleasant breeze.

Here is Leon our club leader.  He is happy to do a silly pose if you point a camera at him.

There were tons of dragonflies at the top of the mountain.  I am not sure why there were so many.  They were willing to let us get very close to photograph them.  I think my depth of field was too shallow for this photo.  Only the middle of the dragonfly is in focus.

Here are two more member of the club Aki (left) and Masami (behind the grasses).

Bre made a friend with the other American in the group, Linnea.  We all agreed that she has the most difficult name to remember of anyone on the trip.

Everyone needs a chance to be silly.

Group photo.  The row in the back (standing on the fence) from left to right is Margot, Linnea, Bre, and Aki.  The middle row is Rob, Haidee, Leon, and Masami.  In the front is Kyle.

Thanks to Rob for this photo of me.

The first photo is from near the picnic area where we had lunch.  You can see the fumaroles releasing steam and gasses in the background.

The final photo is from the other side of the mountain.  You can see the gondola on the right side of the photo.  There were many clouds blowing through.  At times you couldn't see the lake at all.

That's all for now,

Kyle (and Bre)