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Shikotsu-Tōya NP., Hokkaido
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No lava flowed here in 2000: magma pushed upward underground, lifting the Nishiyama foothills by as much as 70 m. That movement transformed roads and reshaped the ground beneath your feet.
Old National Route 230 once sloped downhill toward the coast. Uplift turned the far side uphill, trapping water in West Shinzan Marsh; parts of the old road and tilted roadside objects remain visible.
The former Toyako Kindergarten at the trail’s southern end had 69 children when Usu erupted. It was already closed for evacuation, and none was hurt; advance warnings meant no one died in the wider disaster.
By mid-April 2000, 65 craters had opened around Nishiyama and nearby Konpira—not just on a remote summit, but amid roads and homes. This trail preserves part of that remarkable foothill eruption zone.
One ruin is the former Wakasaimo factory. Its namesake Hokkaido sweet looks like roasted sweet potato but contains no potato; ground ruptures bent the factory, and volcanic rocks punched holes in its roof.
A half-buried excavator and water pipes near the First Lookout mark a repair site where a crater opened beneath the old road. The day before, ground movement had pulled a pipe joint about 10 cm apart; the workers escaped.
After the eruption, locals built this trail using discarded JR railway sleepers, working weekends as volunteers. It opened in July 2001; 568,000 people visited during the 2002 season.
The first Nishiyama blast, on March 31, 2000, sent an ash plume up to 3,500 m high. Traces of ash were detected in Chitose, 75 km away—a reminder that this foothill eruption reached far beyond the trail.
The damaged ground is also a record of recovery: by 2018, plants were growing in road cracks and on thin ash over asphalt. Rangers and geopark members planned mowing zones to keep ruins visible while observing regrowth.
