The 'how' of Reignition Hokkaido
About the walks and talks (hiking)
We have around 6 half to full day hikes within our itinerary. I thought it would be good to say a little more about each of them and what the options and alternatives are.
walking and talking
It's about walking and talking
It's about walking and talking
It's about walking and talking
First of all, a reminder (to me, to you) that Reignition trips are about walking and talking. Or walking and wondering. Or walking and inhaling, absorbing into the everythingness of where we are. Or walking and just being.
Hiking/ trekking / wombling, whatever word we use, is a short hand for this movement through and with the natural world, alongside or not so far from each other, alone with our thoughts or chattering and listening with new friends.
Movement is all
It's about walking and talking
It's about walking and talking
The movement is the key. I have long found that just moving – slowly, quickly, dancing, striding, bumbling, it doesn’t matter – but moving in non-urban surroundings gets my mind, emotions and sensations moving too. It gets me out of whatever ’stuck’ my over-thinky brain has landed on. It lets the aggravations and irritations of being me in a world of overlapping pushes and pulls flow through and away. It opens up my creative imagination, often bringing new understanding, sometimes new ideas and excitations! Occasionally it even nudges me to understand what it is I want and to seek out my big-girl-brave-boots to ask for that. Movement is all.
Moving from the inside-out
It's about walking and talking
Moving from the inside-out
And that’s the premise on which we set out on Reignition hikes. It’s not about huge climbs and gnarly weather – although they may come into it now and then. It’s not about pushing hard to attain a ‘summit’ – although we may decide that’s what we want to focus on. We likely will exert ourselves, breathe hard, heat up… but more from a place of curiosity than of ‘grit’ or striving to ‘tick it off’. We move from the inside-out and the outside-in. We move to be in tune with our inner worlds, our energy, our spirit and of course the place we are in. Sometimes this means moving slowly, sometimes bouncing, sometimes with bursts of vigour…. always attuning.
Flexibility
Jingle all the way
Moving from the inside-out
Whatever we do when hiking-trekking-hill adventuring is about movement of the inner world. It’s about being and becoming. Turning our attention outwards, it’s also about noticing and being moved by beauty, magnificence, softness of light, wind on the skin……. About the renewed flexibility that comes from moving attention inwards and outwards……..listening well, stepping up, putting in, stepping back again. Such mental-emotional flexibility is a brilliant capability to have in any part of life. Reignition walks and talks are a beautiful way to practice and build these ‘muscles’.
Jingle all the way
Jingle all the way
Jingle all the way
Moving in Hokkaido is also about jingling and jangling, making a wee bit of noise so as to not surprise any bears! We provide you all with bear bells and we’ll be wearing these whenever we hike
Questions?
Jingle all the way
Jingle all the way
If you're unsure about whether the walks and talks are for you, please have a look at the details below. Look at all the options for shorter, gentler walks, or to just do something else instead.
And if you've specific concerns, please do get in touch and we can have a chat to find your best way to be.
facts, figures, descriptions
Mount Apoi
Mount Kurodake
Mount Kurodake
Mount Apoi – wandering forest trails, zig zagging upwards, crossing sparkly streams and popping out to a ridge for views and big horizons. It’s a steady ascent with some cheeky steep ish sections. We go up and down the same way so easy beans to stop and enjoy – we can pick you up on the way down!
Total of 800m elevation (climb) and descent over a 10km trail.
Mount Kurodake
Mount Kurodake
Mount Kurodake
Mount Kurodake - the first part of this ascent is by two cable cars (ropeway) to get us to a viewing platform on the edge of the central range. From here there’s a good path, with quite a lot of steps taking us steeply up to the summit. It takes around 90 minutes to two hours to ascend at a steady chatting pace. We cover 580m of elevation gain. We expect the descent to the ropeway station to take around an hour. The Ainu people call this place “Kamuy Mintara,” which means “the playground of the gods” – expect to be impressed! Kurodake is one of the most accessible summits in the Daisetsuzan range and is especially popular with locals in the autumn for the rich colours.
We go up and down the same way so easy beans to stop and enjoy – we can pick you up on the way down!
Asahidake loop
Mount Kurodake
Kamifurano & Takachidake
Mount Asahidake and loop – again we take advantage of the uplift facilities, hopping onto the ropeway to a height of 1600m. Asahidake is a straightforward uphill plod past the steaming vents and pools of the volcano all the way to the summit at 2291m. Asahidake is Hokkaido’s highest mountain so expect to be walking with many natives. If the weather is clear and we’re feeling fine we’ll descend off the backside of Asahidake summit and loop around the calderas via several smaller summits and a wild hot spring at Nakadake. We’ll stop here for a foot refresh! Again, there are options to stop at the top of the ropeway or stop at the summit if the weather is inclement or we’re not feeling energised.
The loop walk will take a whole day (8 hours ish) and covers 11.8km with 813m ascent and descent.
Kamifurano & Takachidake
Kamifurano & Takachidake
Kamifurano & Takachidake
Mount Takachidake and Kamifurano horseshoe – starting from the parking at Tokachidake onsen at 1260m we swing gradually around and out of a side valley to begin the ascent up through the bush towards the summit of Mt Kami Furano at 1893m. It’s a steady pull up the stony trail with increasingly vibrant views across to the smoking slopes and multicoloured rocks of Tokachidake’s stub. Reaching the ridge we then stay high, dipping up and over the intermediary summits, taking a peak into the Kamihoro Mountain Hut, until the final short climb to Tokachidake’s summit at 2077m. We descend off the northern flank following a trail down to the Shirogane Onsen at 950m Bogakudai trailhead where we meet out vehicle.
The full horseshoe is around 11.5km with around 1100m total ascent. It’s a good day out so we expect to take around 7 -8 hours for our excursion.
Options here are to stop at Mt Kami Furano and turn around, a round trip of around 9km with about 650m ascent / descent. Other choices for this day are an opt out of mountain climbing, instead spending time at the open, wild onsen near to our start point, and maybe take the contouring path across from Fukiago onsen to Shirogane. A shorter climb is to ascend the 1748m Mount Sandan and drop back to Fukiago onsen. There are many options!
Mount Tarumae
Kamifurano & Takachidake
Mount Tarumae
Mount Tarumae: There are no trees on Tarumae’s conical slopes so the views on a clear day are massive! This is a 7km walk with around 400m total ascent. The way up should take around an hour to 90 minutes going super slowly. !
Onsen option
Kamifurano & Takachidake
Mount Tarumae
You could always hang out in an onsen instead
four domains in the 'how' of reignition
a sound basis
Our reignition approach is grounded in the principles behind outdoor therapies . In Western thinking we consider the potential for shifts, release, joy, wisdom and activation come from the interplays of these four aspects:
Physical
Working with and in our bodies, the physicality of what we do is essential. From 'getting our hands dirty in the farm or the kitchen, stretching and unfolding in daily yoga, to pushing lungs to open and hamstrings to activate as we venture up and down trails...................... all of this is beneficial. Not just in the physiological aerobic, muscle building kind of way but also in the relocating of sense of self from mind. The un-scrunching and opening up of how we are in the world from hunched-over-laptop, knowledge worker to looking out and upright. The awakening of fascia and re-connection with parts of us normally dormant or compressed. This is the physical domain reigniting.
Social
Connecting and being alongside others whether over a third space, planting seeds out in the field, chopping tomatoes for lunch or admiring a crisp ocean morning together. Or walking side by side chattering on, or just sitting silently knowing there are others nearby should you wish to interact.......It might be about remembering how and why we can interconnect beyond the often transactional, functional day to day of busy lives, being with others without holding responsibility for a while, changing pace in conversation. Allowing interconnecting and sense of belonging through choosing when and how to connect (and when not) is also part of the reignition mix.
Eco
Reignition Hokkaido comes in bursts of natural colour, seasonal fragrances that shift and change as we head up and down mountains, salt in the sea breeze, softly immersing forest light, the visceral 'shock' of volcanic landscapes .................... we are in and of the natural world as we tootle within this magical island. It's a playground for the senses and of the imagination - and this does something!
Psycho
By putting your brave boots to sign up you're already half way there in making the change you want to happen. Stepping up, ready to be surprised, to try something new, be with different people in a whole new language. Remembering how to play! Letting go of some of the daily routines that hold us helpfully or unhelpfully. All of these can create a huge psychological boost! New movement, new places, new experiences catalyse different emotional flows and the (re)emergence of new or forgotten states: stuff that can get buried in the day to dayness of busy lives. Sometimes the stuff that matters...........
The courage to immerse in Hokkaido and the group, of trying things differently, is not easy. And it's this courage-vulnerability, as uncomfortable as it can be, that is an essential part of the reignition mix up. As a softening of the earth allows the seeds to grow, a softening of the habits and routines that hold us allow new choices. Especially when with supportive, trustworthy fellow travelers and hosts.
and in other worlds
In the West we tend to particularise, chopping things down into smaller components to make sense of them - hence the four domains above. In other ways of knowing we work with the whole, understanding that our permeability to where we are is part of how we are and who we are!