I set off around noon, after the morning rain passed. The temperature was probably about 10 degrees Celsius (50 degrees Fahrenheit) at home. So I put on my long sleeves and long tights under my shorts. Which would turn out to be a good thing - though a pair of gloves with fingers would have also been a good idea. After Lake Eniwa, I passed a spot in the road that had caused a three week closure - apparently when the remnants of a typhoon dumped a lot of rain on us, a pretty major section of road washed out. Just on of those things living in a mountainous country that gets a lot of rain, I guess.
One thing I'll never fully get used to: a short way after the repaired wash-out - I was passed by 6 tanks. OK, not technically tanks - but very tank like vehicles that run on 6 wheels (with tires). Yeah, we have a self defense force base here in town.
After making it to the Sapporo-Shikotsuko highway, I kept climbing, and, while the weather was nice and clear, in the mountains there are lots of shadows. Which means that my hands, in my fingerless cycling gloves, were really cold. Not quite frostbite cold - but approaching that territory. I decided to make a detour up to Lake Okotanpe, a small lake up about the much larger Lake Shikotsu. Okotanpe (an Ainu derived name) feeds into Shikotsu, via a small stream around Mt. Eniwa - which happened to have a small amount of snow up on the peak. The neighboring peak, Mt. Izari, had a bit more due to the difference in the types of peaks. Mt. Eniwa is an active volcano, which means that the peak is very rocky. Mt. Izari, which sits a good 100 meters (330 ft) lower, is not volcanic, and as such is covered by forests all the way to the top.
The descent from Okotanpe to Shikotsu is a fun one - you drop better than 400 meters (1300 feet) in about 7 km (4.4 miles). But on this day, it was really chilly, what with the breeze created by zipping along at very high speeds without warm gloves or any covering for my ears. By the time I got down to the shores of Lake Shikotsu, I stopped at a parking area to shake some feeling back into my hands before continuing around the water's edge. The ride back from Lake Shikotsu to my house was rather uneventful, which is always a good thing when you're doing approximately 100km.
Mt. Eniwa from the initial climb.
Lake Okotanpe
Mt. Eniwa from the back side, near Lake Okotanpe
The road to Lake Okotanpe
Lake Shikotsu from the scenic overlook on the descent
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