Japan's Backcountry Wild Hot Springs


Kirifuri Plateau
 
 Japan has the most hot springs in the world. With over 3,000 developed hot springs alone, you can throw a stone and hit one anywhere in the country. Whole towns known as 'onsen towns' spring up around sources throughout the country. The key word here is developed. The Japanese love hot springs and have wasted no time monetizing them. If you can reach it by road, it probably costs money. There are exceptions of course. Scattered around the country are free or abandoned hot springs that can always draw a crowd. What is extremely rare are undeveloped backcountry hot springs. Usually so remote and difficult to get to, no one even bothered trying to develop them. These are often not easily found on maps. They tend to be loosely spread throughout internet hot spring fan sites or word of mouth.

 The hot spring I set out to visit was just such a hot spring. I had heard about it from a local driver. Why the secrecy? People bringing in trash and damaging the delicate natural features are one reason. The main reason is that the original trail in has been completely destroyed and walking on it could cause further collapse. People are very guarded about these places, and it is important to show proper respect.


Much of the trail had collapsed
 There were a series of sources spread throughout a steep canyon. At the very end, was a hot spring geyser with a hot waterfall that mixed with the cold creek's waterfall to form a natural hot spring oasis. I spent time researching it online, pouring over google map data looking for the best route. There had been a trail going to it, but it had long since been completely collapsed and closed from multiple landslides. This hot spring was also not completely unknown. Every once in a while a rare adventurer would brave the collapsed path to make it out to the stunning natural features in the valley.

 My plan was to stay at the first hot spring source about 3/4 of the way up the valley and visit the large hot spring geyser the next day. I was going to hike along the canyons original path and find creative ways around the collapsed cliffs. On the opposite side of the canyon, a small mountain road had been built. Unfortunately, it terminated about halfway into the valley, leaving you stuck on the wrong side, in the middle of nowhere. I would come to know this well.



 I set out from the trailhead a bit disconcerted by the large red 'CLOSED' and 'DANGEROUS' sign tied over the old trail marker. Usually in Japan this is used to scare away novices and unseasoned day hikers like in the instance of off season Fuji. I found in this case, it was quite a needed warning. Every few hundred meters, a new section of the steep canyon had completely wiped out the trail. This left dangerous scrambles and overhangs that threatened the valley's stability as a whole. Much of it had to by bypassed by bushwhacking. Bushwhacking in early summer Japan is not nearly as fun as it seems. The dead, open forests of winter quickly become overgrown like a jungle. Poisonous insects and snakes love to hide in the bushes waiting to strike. I almost got a poisonous hairy caterpillar right in the face. At one point, the discernible path was completely gone and left me to hike right up the river for about a kilometer.


I built my own pool
 I had a topographic map and could pretty accurately tell I was getting close to my first camp spot.I could smell a strong sulphur odor in the air. I knew I was close. When I rounded the last bend, I was greeted with a beautiful site. A white sulfurous waterfall was bubbling out of a concrete tomb into a natural rock pool. A sandy shoal nearby was perfect for a small campfire. Up the valley about 100m was a flat forest camp spot without threat of a rock slide from the canyon walls. Everything had come together!

 This hot spring had an uncomfortably high temperature. The recommended method was to bring a blue tarp and line your own dug out hole to create a pool. You could do this a bit closer to the creek so you could mix in some of the cold creek water. Some generous soul had hiked in a long pipe to connect your self-made pool to the bubbling hot spring source. Sadly, this also meant careless people had just left their tarps as trash. Several areas of this remote valley had ragged blue tarps wrapped around trees or rocks. Remember to always leave no trace, and take as much extra trash as you can carry!


A small hot spring creek
With my hot spring pool dug and camp set up, it was time to relax. I spent the rest of the day soaking in the sulfurous milky waters and starring up at the stars. This hot spring was a blue and milky white sulfur hot spring. Strands of sulfur particulates floated around in the water. Around the fountain is a large calcium buildup that encases the rocks around it. The source is quite hot, so this would be a good hot spring in winter as well. There were clear signs of bears in the area, so it was important to hang a bear bag. I found out the next day a wild boar had been through camp and was circling under the bag.

 A new day is always best begun with a long soak. At the crack of dawn, I warmed up in the hot spring and packed up camp. Today I was going to do the last push to the natural geyser hot spring at the end of the canyon. As I walked up the valley, the smell of sulphur became stronger. I noticed another concrete encased source emitting a milky white stream. Further up, a whole hot spring creek was trickling down the side of the mountain.

 I finally made it to the last section. A massive rockfall had taken out the trail, leaving a dangerous scramble down to the source. When I finally scrambled around down into the narrow rock canyon, I was speechless. I felt like I had found a natural heaven. The clear blue water flowed down the rock pools over waterfalls on the left. On the right, a colorful, gaseous hot spring was bubbling out of deformed mineral deposits. These were swirling together into a natural Jacuzzi. The wild rainbow colors of the various hot spring mineral deposits contrasted with the deep swirling blue snow melt creek. It was simply stunning. I took a good long while, just staring in awe and being thankful I had made it to such a place. A quick dip was in order!

The geyser is right of center and a large mixing pool is on the left

 I could not stay for too long. It was a long walk back. The gorge was also extremely unstable and felt like it was ready to collapse at any moment. I said goodbye and began the hike back. At the first camp, I picked up my gear and set out in earnest.

  A little ways down, I noticed a diverging point. There was the way I came in down the river, but someone had put up flags going off into the brush up the mountain. It looked like a small trail had formed. I took a gamble and decided to follow this new path. There was no mark of it on the map, but it was clear someone had been through here. I was guessing it would meet up with the mountain road I mentioned earlier. This way, I could avoid much of the dangerous rockfalls I had gone around on the way in. I was in luck. This path was exactly that. A much safer route had been marked out from the road. Perhaps a forestry crew had marked it, but had not had time to come build the trail yet. It was some real off trail bushwhacking! I always get a little nervous walking through tall uncharted grass in Japan due to the risk of vipers. I had seen their distinct shed diamond skin around. Overall, the new route was much safer. The last gap to the road had a pretty good landslide, but was still passable.

 The road back would loop around to the next valley over and I could then walk along the main road back to my car. Some sections of the road had been destroyed by rock slides, but it was quite passable. I waved hello to a bewildered construction crew that saw me emerge from the dense brush and went on my way. After a quick bath in the river, I got in my car and left down the winding mountain roads back to civilization. 

 

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