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Akan-Mashū NP, Hokkaido
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In just 2.5 km, this nearly flat trail passes from forest into alpine plant zones at only about 150 m elevation. Volcanic gases and acidic soil create a high-mountain ecosystem in the lowlands.
In June, tiny white Ezo-isotsutsuji blossoms gather into rounded clusters across a natural flower field of about 100 hectares. The familiar pink azalea look is nowhere to be seen here.
Crowberry is among the first plants to flower after the snow melts, with delicate red blooms; by autumn it bears dark berries. Ainu people used the juice to dye clothing, and the berries are now gathered for local jam.
Japanese stone pine usually grows low and wind-shaped on high mountains. At Tsutsujigahara, the gentler lowland conditions let this alpine plant grow upright—some reach more than 2 m.
Sulfur from the volcano at the trail’s end was hauled 41 km to Shibecha on a railway built in 1887—in just 8 months. Local history describes it as Hokkaido’s second railway.
Some bright-red flecks on the volcanic ground look like tiny flowers, but they are lichens, and the red parts are fungal spores. These lichens are thought to help keep volcanic ash from washing away.
The volcano at the trail’s end is Atosa-nupuri, an Ainu name meaning “bare mountain.” Local history also records that Ainu people used its native sulfur as kindling before commercial mining began.
The steaming mountain is more than a dramatic trail endpoint: hot spring water flows from beneath Mt. Io to Kawayu, where it supplies the baths of the town’s onsen resorts.
The mine’s growth relied in part on convict labor. Teshikaga’s local history records that sulfur dioxide and dust caused eye injuries and blindness among prisoners sent to work there.
After snow buries the path, deer tracks crisscross Tsutsujigahara and can look like tempting shortcuts. Rangers mark the route because soft snow can hide and damage the shrubs beneath it.
