Noboribetsu Onsen in Hokkaido! (part 2)

The start of day 3 and we're going to walk the nature trail in the opposite direction.

On are way to the Hell Valley nature trail we pass by several large hotels.

This is where most people start their Jigokudani adventure. There's a big parking lot for tour buses, a visitors center and most importantly, there's a nice big (tour group size) clean restroom.

Okay, here is a warning for people looking at this blog post. Emi insisted that there be a lot of pictures of me in it. She said that there's always pictures of other people in my blog posts but never any of me. She said that my friends and relatives would probably like to see what I look like. I smiled and nodded my head thinking that I doubt any of my friends or relatives look at my blog. 😊

The Hell Valley lookout point. This lookout point is surrounded by a nice little park.

Guess who?

See what a nice place this is. Yes, it's me!

Onward and upward we go. We're following a younger couple. It wasn't long before they were out of our sight. 

We have arrived at the Oyunuma Pond view sight. This was a family from Taiwan.

Me with the pond in the background.

Me again! LOL

I think Emi is starting to enjoy using the camera. 

Oyunuma Pond. This place is really amazing.

Steam is pouring out of fissures in the hillside.

I thought this scenery would look interesting in monochrome.

A group of older guys touring Hokkaido on Harley-Davidson motorcycles.

I think the sign says not to go beyond this point. That must be why Emi keeps telling me to back up a little bit more.

We've arrived at the foot bath place. A young couple his going down to soak their feet. This concludes our revisit of the nature trail. Now what can we do?

We decided to go back to town and visit the Noboribetsu Bear Park. Yep, this place has a Bear Park. From the center of town it's a short walk to the ropeway 

Per the Bear Park website: Bear park website

The best way to get to Bear Park is by a speedy gondola ride (typically up to 6 people per car). Leave from Ropeway Mountain Base station every 15 seconds, and watch from above as you swiftly climb 1260 m (4133 ft) to the top in roughly 7 minutes!

So, that's what we did.

Meet the bears!

I think these were the female bears. 

This bear is catching a bear snack that one of the visitors tossed to her.

The bears are very good at catching the snacks. 

One might think why is there a bear park in Noboribetsu. From what I heard, the ropeway was originally built to bring people up the mountain to view Lake Kuttara. But there wasn't enough interest in the lake so they brought in the bears!

The view of the Lake is from the top of this building.

Yep, there's the lake. I also heard that on most days clouds cover the lake and it can't be seen.

Lucky us, we can see the lake. However, it's very windy and it's starting to rain. No problem, we can go inside the building and look around.

What the hell!

That's better!

This trick art is a lot of fun.

Well, that's it for this trip. Noboribetsu Onsen is a great place to visit.

Despite the excitement of being attacked by a bear, Noboribetsu is a very peaceful and beautiful place. Put it on your bucket list, you won't regret it!

This is what a happy visitor looks like 😺

Thanks for stopping by!

Mike

Bonus shots!