Mt Tarumae

Our fifth and final hike on our Hokkaido road trip was to Mt Tarumae (樽前山, tarumae-san). Near the port city of Tomakomai, it's only a 1041m elevation peak, yet the effort-to-views ratio is pretty darn good. After a short climb through the forest, you'll get to do a crater loop around the rim of the volcano with some great scenery. Your first chance of a view once you pop out above the trees is down to the nearby Lake Shikotsu (支笏湖). It's the second-deepest lake in Japan. We drove part past of it on the way in, and actually it was still pretty underdeveloped, as far as lakes go in Japan. Within 40 minutes we made it up onto the crater rim of Mt Tarumae. From here, we took a right towards the official peak. This is also your first opportunity to get a view of the lava dome in the middle of the crater. After a short walk along the ridgeline, we reached the peak marker for Mt Tarumae. The official elevation for Mt Tarumae is 1041m, which is at the top of the lava dome in the centre (which…