Hokkaido Bikepacking Journal

Ohhhhhh, Hokkaido. If Shikoku was rugged and Kyushu was wet, you were as smooth and dry as a good Italian white wine. When we arrived in Sapporo we had already set some dates for things we planned on doing in Honshu (off the bikes) so we knew we had a deadline and couldn't do the entire island. We planned the entire route from Sapporo to Hakodate in advance, and for the first time in a few months we had everything mapped out.

We were worried about bears since encounters have gotten less rare in the past few years and we had no experience with them, so we got a couple of bear bells and stuck to camping at private camps where there were some more people and locals could let us know if it was safe. Only thing about this was that it left us with less last-minute opportunities because these camps required proper check in and that was usually limited between certain hours.

Shakotan, Mount Yotei, and Lake Toya

We went northwest from Sapporo around Shakotandake along the coast, the way was quite flat, and there were tons of tunnels which would usually be a downside, but in this case it maximized the wow effect of exiting the tunnel into the most dramatic yet extremely peaceful sea view. We quickly saw tons of campers and more than a few bikepackers which was neat! Then we went around Mount Yotei, which we honestly rate as the most beautiful mountain we cycled past in Japan. From there to Lake Toya and around it as well, which was where we were offered a bowl of ramen with bear meat (we respectfully declined, you can blame growing up in the Brother Bear supremacy era).

Around lake Toya we took a day off to spend some time by the water, and of course for more day drinking and card games. We found a campsite that had an onsen and a restaurant which were ingredients for a perfect day without much movement. Our hamstrings thanked us dearly.

We were kicking 90-100kms per day by then and glided along the coast all the way south, and we basically ate everything we could everywhere we were, because we knew how famous Hokkaido was for ingredient quality. It might be overhyped by every chatgpt/gemini/whateverbot out there, but honestly the chicken katsu from the hot chef in the back of SeikoMart really is that good. Listen to the bots. The milk ice cream is also nice, but beware, it does kind of taste like McDonald's soft serve (which is good, so...).

Along the way we saw more wildlife than anywhere in Japan. Eventually we reached Hakodate where we hopped on a bullet train to get back to Tokyo.

More about how to take a train with your bike is detailed here.