Adventure

The place for extreme hiking, Daisetsuzan is Japan's largest and wildest national park. Unlike most Japanese national parks, Daisetsuzan is one unbroken mass covering over 800 uninhabited and unspoiled square miles. Located in the center of Japan's northernmost island of Hokkaido, it encompasses a massive cluster of volcanic peaks, rolling highlands and scenic gorges. Its dense forests, pristine meadows and volcanic landscapes surround Japan's highest - and very active - volcano, the 7513-foot Asahidake (Sunrise Mountain). Cold Siberian winds create an alpine environment normally seen only at much higher altitudes or more northern latitudes. Plants and wildflowers bloom spectacularly against a backdrop of dark cinder volcanic cones.

I visited Daisetsuzan on my first National Geographic assignment in 1979, and it was undoubtedly the most distinctive landscape on Japan's least developed island. It was truly "Japan's Last Frontier," as the story was called. On that trip, I backpacked with a group of summer skiers in search of snowfields melting slowly between blankets of wildflowers. We soaked daily in natural hot springs churning with steaming mineral water bubbling up from the ground. Winter was just as spectacular, with steamy vents billowing white smoke from around the base of the cone-shaped Asahidake.

I often dreamed of going back to Daisetsuzan, and last year I finally got my chance, shooting a new story for the Geographic, this time focusing on just the park itself. And I am happy to report that things haven't changed at all! Well, perhaps the trails are now better marked, no longer necessitating the need for a guide, and maybe there are a few more people on these trails on the weekends. And certainly, my legs are not quite as strong, nor I as nimble a hiker, but the experience was total joy. A Rocky Mountain high, and most important for a photographer, as photogenic as the first time I visited, almost 30 years ago.

This time around I had six weeks and three seasons to wander every trail and photograph every feature. We camped in rustic mountain lodges (yamagoya), staffed by park employees. From the brilliant scarlets and golden yellows of autumn foliage in Sounkyo gorge, through the steaming natural stone baths (rotenburos) of Asahidake Onsen and the spring wildflowers of the alpine moor, Numa no Daira, the photographic opportunities didn't disappoint.