Tour de Hokkaido - Trip and Route Details for Cyclists
Original route as planned before itinerary changes, skipping a few side trips in Shiretoko Park, reroutes due to road closures, and elevation as calculated by RidewithGPS (which does not account for the existence of tunnels) clocks in at 624.9 miles and 47,049 ft of elevation gain.
We have recorded the actual route in Strava with GPS while riding. We actually rode 545.0 miles and 28,617 ft of elevation. The largest benefit of this comparison for you if you are thinking about doing this ride is being able to plan your ride using the actual elevation. Not accounting for tunnels in the route planning can add thousands of feet to a ride falsely. RidewithGPS doesn’t register tunnels when calculating elevation.
I created our route from five sources. Rob Thomson’s 14 Degrees Hokkaido Cycle Touring Routes Blog Post (good notes on camping/lodging as well as RidewithGPS files on actual routes), Alee Denham’s ‘The Japan Long Haul’ Blog Post, Spice Road’s Highlights of Hokkaido Route, Cycle Tourism Hokkaido’s Online Brochure, and finally we brought a paperback 2018 Mapple for Hokkaido (a publication created for motorcycle touring which contains lots of details on road conditions, closures, lodging/camping and support useful for both motorcyclists and cyclists) as back up and supplemental guidance. This Hokkaido Road Closure website proved to be the only one which listed our route between Nukabira and Shikaribetsu (highway 85) as closed (RidewithGPS, Google, and even the 2018 Mapple had shown it as open).
Alee’s CyclingAbout website here also contains the most useful information in one single place on the logistics of cycling in Japan. Check it out.
The purchase of the KIT L80 Trailer from Aevon Trailers in France based upon Alee Denham’s glowing review is what allowed us to bikepack the majority of this ride (camping in lieu of hotels) despite having road bikes. This was a game changer in that we don’t really need or want additional touring bikes beyond our road bikes. While my Trek 1000 aluminum frame bike can accommodate panniers, Justin has a carbon fiber frame Cannondale and cannot get by with more than a few liters in tube packs and a seat post pack. The 85L trailer attached to his seat post and is what allowed for the capacity to carry camping gear.
Actual Strava routes are below and RidewithGPS files are also linked (the RidewithGPS links contain the points of interest for camping, onsen, and restaurants).
Lessons Learned
The next trip of this length/duration I plan, I will consider the prevailing winds - I went the opposite of the Spice Roads direction and we face head winds most days. Live and learn.
Hokkaido in July has daylight at 3:20 am! If you have a long day you can start EARLY. (Japan is long diagonally and it is all in one single time zone… Nagoya at the same time of year isn’t light until 5:20 am.)
Bear mace CANNOT be carried even in a checked bag with a safety lock on onto an airplane.
long sleeve / long pants with lightweight and loose in fit would have been good for the very mosquito-y camp sites.
All onsen with showers have towel service for about 500 yen extra (and free soap). Auto campgrounds with coin showers do not provide soap, shampoo, or towels.
Japan sells body-cleansing wipes in all conbinis and drug stores - carry a package as backup in case you arrive after the reception building (with the shower inside of it) closes.
Japanese crows will get into anything. They are gigantic compared to American crows with beaks like machetes. They consumed all of our dinner, beef jerky, noodles, everything when we left camp to go to an onsen once.
Most convenience marts have hooded electrical outlets out front for emergency charging.
Have plenty of 100 yen coins for coin showers and coin laundry… Most showers were 200 yen for 10 minutes and a stray shower was 200 yen for 5 minutes… And that was the same shower that the freezing water took more than a minute to heat up… We ran out of coins. Also coin showers are BYOS and BYOT (towels and soap are not provided like they are in onsen).
June would be the ideal month for this ride. July was crazy hot (usually just hot). June is less busy and May is still cold and sometimes snowy (per long term residents and former owner/operators of the Land Cafe, Kayoko and Stefan). August is too hot.
We (I?) prefer ‘boring and featureless’ campsites in Japan over campsites created around land marks or bodies of water - where all the crazies and partiers congregate. We just want a nice place to wash our laundry, shower, and sleep - we’ll take an entire day of cycle touring beautiful scenery and not need to see it at night so we can sleep well. The auto campgrounds are full of solitary motorcycle tourers which seems to, more often than not, be done by all of the unmarried Japanese men, middle aged and beyond. They are delightful people to camp with. They are quiet. Nijibetsu Auto Camp Ground was glorious this way.
Day 1 - Abashiri to Shari
Notes:
Sugimoto-san of CSS Cycle Shop in Abashiri received the boxed shipment of our bikes and assembled them for us to pick up and roll away on our ride. LOVE THIS GUY - if you are in the area, I highly recommend him.
We dined at Kihachi in downtown Abashiri the night before departing… Fresh King Crab legs and yakitori by the yard. HIGHLY recommend.
We replaced the bear mace confiscated at the Nagoya airport (you cannot have it in your checked luggage), and picked up our fuel canister for making coffee/oatmeal at the VERY conveniently at the brand new Montbell Store in Koshimizu.
Incredible pizza, pasta, and red wine at Polaris Italian Restaurant in Shari Town at Polaris to cap off our first day of riding!
Day 2 - Shari to Utoro
Stopped to have coffee and chocolate cake at a very homey (and easy to miss!) coffee shop overlooking the Okhotsk Sea run by two super sweet ladies.
Day 3 - Utoro to Rausu (Shiretoko Pass)
We had HORRENDOUS weather over the pass and abandoned camping and the Kuma no Yu (Bear Onsen) in favor of escaping the rain in a hotel to maintain the body temperature of a living person…
Day 4 - Rausu to Nijibetsu
Notes:
GLORIOUS camp site at Nijibetsu Auto Campground (best of the trip?) - had coin showers, coin laundry, and beautifully maintained camp sites. The other campers were single men traveling alone and it was blissfully quiet as a result (not the case with many waterfront or other special location campsites). The tent area was only maybe 500 yen for a tent but if you wanted, you could have your own auto camp site for ~3600 yen which included an outlet.
Gorgeous sea side riding day.
Day 5 - Nijibetsu to Lake Kussharo
Notes:
Natural Sulphur Hot Spring Park right on the route - cool! Mount Iou
Lovely little wood carving shop en route - great place to buy very small, light weight, hand made souvenirs (the owner was sitting on the sidewalk carving when we road by and 180’d back to the shop)
Stunning views of Lake Kussharo
Another gorgeous campsite at Kussharo with coin laundry and coin showers! No restaurant open nearby though - so get food on the way in.
Day 6 - Lake Kussharo to Abashiri
Notes:
pretty good (free) camping on Lake Abashiri (no shower or coin laundry, though, just public sinks and toilets on site)
great day-use onsen at Abashiri Royal Hotel
Returned to Kihachi for more yakitori…
Day 7 - Abashiri to Lake Saroma
Notes:
DELICIOUS lunch at the hip and cozy Salt&Sun in Abashiri on the way out of town - one of the top experiences of the trip.
“To-go” dinner from 7 Eleven eaten at Wakka Flower Park while watching the sun set over Lake Saroma
Forgettable, mosquito-ridden campsite at Lake Saroma. Large brush covered the majority of the views of the lake. The office (and showers) closed before we arrived and so we showered with 5 towelettes each, getting off as much of the layers of sunscreen, bug spray, sweat and dirt as we could. Learned our lesson about knowing when a campsite closes and carrying spare packs of body wipes with us…
Day 8 - Lake Saroma to Onneyuonsen
Notes:
Free camping again at Tsutsuji Park Camping Ground - nothing fancy.
Nearby hotel and amazing onsen (with coin laundry inside!) at Hotel Oe Honke which allows day use - we nearly had the biggest onsen we have ever been to entirely to ourselves.
Great, cozy ramen place for dinner nearby in town.
Day 9 - Onneyuonsen to Nukabira
This leg was the huge question mark in our minds after Shiretoko Pass (25 miles and 2500 ft of gain rendered much worse by heinous head and side winds, driving rain). This ride would be MUCH longer at 65 miles, with significantly MORE elevation gain (RidewithGPS had 6,200 ft of gain - some would be tunnels likely but there was no guarantee how much). There was just no where else to stay and this day needed to be a longer one when we planned to make the overall schedule work. As this leg drew nearer, the weather forecast hung over these days and was much worse than had been forecasted in Shiretoko Pass… There were no trains or other things to really fall back on if things went awry. To mitigate these factors as best we could, Justin looked ahead and booked a ryokan that had great reviews. What happened? It was sunny. We killed it riding up Mikuni Pass and had the best lunch at Mikuni Pass Cafe. The ryokan was BOMB, right up there with our favorite from Kyushu - Yamamizuki. Beyond serendipitously the road for the following day (Day 11) had been closed for YEARS due to a typhoon destroying it (nowhere to be found on any of our route resources OR Mapple 2018) and we ended up with two days at Nakamuraya Onsen and a rest day that we had originally not planned but wanted… THE LUCK!
Notes:
Hokkaido Road Closures - the ONLY site with any indication of our mysterious Nukabira to Shikaribetsu Highway 85 road closure. If you are like me, from America, road closures of the nature Japan experiences are more than you’d be able to anticipate or believe. Typhoons/mudslides and earthquakes cause long term closures almost yearly. No matter what Google or Mapple says you need to check this website or similar. We are now 2 for 2 on experiencing a huge reroute during a major touring ride in Japan.
Mikuni Pass Cafe - a cafe listed on Hokkaido cycling routes as cyclist friendly. We had an incredible tonkatsu rice curry lunch in a cozy little wooden cafe building with swing-open glass windows looking out over the mountain scenery. After the climb it was like walking through the gates of heaven. They also have a tire pump on hand for cyclists’ use in the restaurant/shop. DO NOT pass by this cafe if you ride this pass.
Nakamuraya Onsen - there are no words for this eclectic, relaxing, and delightful hippie outpost in a tiny town in Hokkaido. The food, the attention to detail, and the artistic, delightful features throughout make it a treasure of a find. They now have one staff that speaks English. The non-English speaking staff knew a few words and were very eager and welcoming to Justin and I - being very curious how we found the place and wanting to have more western tourists. It is near a ski hill also and would be DELIGHTFUL in the winter as well. They welcomed us in with open arms in our sweaty bike stuff and insisted that we store our bikes and trailer in their own private work area for safekeeping.
Day 10 - Nukabira to Sahoro - Reroute Day Due to Road Closure
Today is where our original route planning Days 10 and 11 were shortened in to one riding day. We originally planned to ride Highway 85 - Pearl Skyline Road through Horoji Pass. Routing around this we were able to go downhill instead with minimal additional mileage in the combined route. Lucky.
Notes:
Karikachikogen Campground - was desolate and free when we arrived. The toilets were open and there was water but no showers. The Sahoro Resort hotel just across the road allowed convenient day onsen use (a beautiful indoor and outdoor onsen), coin laundry AND had a French restaurant. We onsened and had dinner while our laundry was washing. BOOM! We opted to return the next morning and pay for their breakfast which was one of the best hotel breakfasts I had experienced before heading out.
Bear Mountain was worth a visit. The bus driver said he didn’t speak English but he had English brochures/information and spoke enough that we got a lot out of the bus ride/tour and was worth our time seeing the grizzlies. The signing for Bear Mountain is all in Katakana/Japanese - so we walked right past it without realizing it…. (ベア マウンテン).
Day 11 - Sahoro to Lake Kanayama
(RidewithGPS Route Link)
Notes:
Kanayama Campground seemed nice online… After having quiet and beautiful campsites all to ourselves, at this point in the trip, the campsites with beautiful views and other big attractions had lost their luster and then some (because of the noise and big groups they attract). Japanese groups at campsites can rival America’s best spring breakers. No thanks. If we did it again, I’d pick the (likely) viewless auto campground on the other side of the street and pay extra to just have the quiet.
We used this onsen to clean up just across the street from the Kanayama Campground. Cheap, no frills, effective.
Day 12 - Lake Kanayama to Minami Furano
Notes:
unpleasantly bumpy road out of Kanayama Lake area (unusual in Japan)
Furano Delice Bakery - AMAZING cheese cake (beat out the chocolate cake I defaulted to and the roll cake) and iced coffee with heart shaped ice cubes made of coffee. The owner is a cyclist himself and there is a nice bike rack out front of the shop. Worth the STEEP short climb up for the delicious factor and also gorgeous view. Beautiful seating area outside when it is cool enough.
Ride also passes right by Furano Burger - worth timing your ride to stop here and have burgers, beers, and look out over the beautiful fields.
Hoshinitenotodokuoka Camping Ground - had delicious-smelling mutton BBQ restaurant on a porch overlooking the valley. They had a coin shower which turned out to be me giving a nice guy 200 yen so I could shower in the shower located inside the restaurant kitchen telling me to “imagine how long 10 minutes is.” HAHAHA! Note - they allow camping guests to shower starting when the restaurant closes at 6 pm. Not before. The ride up this hill was merciless in the sun and the grade was unrelenting. Shower was not optional. Oh yeah, and they have a ‘bunny zoo’ here. A large pen with bunnies hopping all around that you can go inside. Who doesn’t want to jump in and pet some bunnies?
Day 14 - Minami Furano to Furano
Notes:
Sections of this ride had grades over 11%… Not for the faint of heart. We rode in a heat wave with no wind to speak of (at least we didn’t have a head wind heading up the pass if I must look on the bright side ;0) and the route had very little shade. So little shade that I broke and rode on the wrong side of the road which had some shade. Even a car driver stuck his hand out the window and gave us a thumbs up (usually only the motorcycle tourers did this).
Shiroganesozen Camping Ground - shocking to find what resembled a mini soccer field in how perfectly flat and grassy it was at the top of a mountain. But that is Japan. Also not a single tree at the campsite. BUT the neighboring hotel had a great onsen and relaxation area for day use and vending machines with beer.
There are very well-known open air hot springs nearby and some hikes - we were too zonked to bother. Hear they are good. Lots of people (everyone else) who drove up the mountain to the campsite went and did these things.
Day 15 - Furano to Asahikawa
Notes:
Stayed the night after our last day of riding at Dormy Inn Asahikawa. Gorgeous, clean, reliable, with great rooftop onsen. My favorite chain hotel in Japan.
Yamato Staff packing our trailer up for shipment back to Nagoya. Love YAMATO!
Fujishoukai Cycle Shop in Asahikawa received our bikes and packed them up for shipment back to Nagoya.
Yakitori dinner to end all yakitori dinners at this INCREDIBLE Izakaya in celebration of pulling off this crazy and amazing ride (Yakitori Professional Gin’neko). Nothing beats celebrating completing a long ride in Japan quite like dinner and beers in a buzzing, homey, shoebox-sized izakaya in a small town in Hokkaido. Quintessential Japan.
