#2: [23-Sep-03]

22-Jun-2003 -- Mitch, his girlfriend Krista, Katherine and I attempted this confluence. We rented a car to get us out 10 km past Josanke, a popular hot springs resort area less than an hour's drive from Sapporo. At that point we were 4 km from the point. This approach requires a rugged hike walking in a stream.

We spent 4 hours walking through the stream to a point where it became gorge-like with powerful rushing water. Then we decided to make our way up a steep, vegetated hillside which resulted in some minor injuries! From there we found an overgrown trail which was much easier walking and made the approach easier. It eventually led to the stream again for more stream walking. After about a half km more of stream walking people were exhausted so we decided to turn around. I went up a little further making it closest to the confluence at 2.15 km.

We came back for a nice hot springs bath. Now that we know about the trail we can cut off 3 hours of hiking. We’ll attempt this one again in the coming weeks.