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Daisetsuzan NP, Hokkaido
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Asahidake’s sulfur once entered the gunpowder trade: a small horse-drawn railway carried mined sulfur down the slope, and the interpretive guide says faint traces of its route remain.
Sugatami Pond fills a crater about 90 m long, blasted by steam after the older Jigokudani crater formed. It is the largest in a cluster of small explosion craters—not simply a hollow left by rain.
Kamikawa Ainu revere Daisetsuzan as Kamuy Mintara, “garden where the gods play.” Since 1959, Nupurikoro Kamuy Nomi at Asahidake’s foot has sent flower arrows toward the peak to pray for safety.
That white “smoke” by the pond is mostly water vapor cooling into tiny visible droplets. The same vents can leave small yellow sulfur crystals on the ground—a living chemistry lesson along the loop.
Chinguruma looks like a carpet of tiny flowers, but it’s a creeping dwarf shrub. After blooming, its feathery seed heads fan into little wheels—like a child’s pinwheel, which inspired its name.
The loop passes 3 large ponds: Suribachi-ike and Kagami-ike form Meoto-ike, the “husband-and-wife ponds,” before the path reaches Sugatami. On still days, the pools can mirror Asahidake.
In valleys around Sugatami Station, orange blocks mark an ancient flank collapse on Asahidake. A layer of ash from the explosion that formed Jigokudani lies directly above them, preserving a volcanic story in the rocks.
Autumn colors reach this trail ahead of nearly everywhere else in Japan: the Environment Ministry calls it a place to see Japan’s earliest foliage, and Hokkaido’s official guide says Sugatami colors in September.
By early September, alpine berries and seeds turn the loop into a snack bar: local nature stewards have reported Ezo chipmunks and nutcrackers feeding around the Sugatami grounds.
