Hiking the Kirishima Volcanoes
Mar. 16th, 2019 10:27 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
cycleboy1957Last year we had planned to spend some time in the Kirishima area but, when Shinmoedake decided it was time to let off a bit of steam, we decided not to push our luck, cancelled the hotel and moved elsewhere. This year, Shinmoedake is being a little better behaved, so here we are.
A short-ish drive from our accommodation we parked at the start of a trail that led up to a crater lake, Onami Pond and then to the top of the dormant (I think) peak of Karakunidake. However, it was never our plan to go to the top but to do the circular path around the rim of the pond. From the eastern side we could clearly see the smoking crater of Shinmoedake. There is currently a 2km exclusion zone around it, but it still looked alarmingly close. Sadly, we were too early to see some of the flowers that are supposed to bloom around the pond in the spring. Indeed, in one place we could still find tiny patches of icy snow shaded from direct sunlight.
Driving up to the path we went through an onsen town, onsen being the word for naturally supplied hot water baths. I saw volcanic activity in Indonesia, of course, but I think it was my trip to New Zealand where I first saw steam emerging from urban drains and in people's front gardens. I was reminded of this as we drove through the cluster of hotels, each, it seemed, with their own private steam halo.
Along one section of toad was a red flashing light to warn drivers of poor visibility. It seems that increased activity in the 1980s had led to dangerous shifting of the road due to subterranean pressure from the steam. They'd obviously located the source of this steam and were venting it off at the side of the road. One does wonder why, with all this free heat, Japan builds nuclear power sations.
https://www.facebook.com/mark.kuramotoheadey/media_set?set=a.10212818465474545&type=3&uploaded=1
A short-ish drive from our accommodation we parked at the start of a trail that led up to a crater lake, Onami Pond and then to the top of the dormant (I think) peak of Karakunidake. However, it was never our plan to go to the top but to do the circular path around the rim of the pond. From the eastern side we could clearly see the smoking crater of Shinmoedake. There is currently a 2km exclusion zone around it, but it still looked alarmingly close. Sadly, we were too early to see some of the flowers that are supposed to bloom around the pond in the spring. Indeed, in one place we could still find tiny patches of icy snow shaded from direct sunlight.
Driving up to the path we went through an onsen town, onsen being the word for naturally supplied hot water baths. I saw volcanic activity in Indonesia, of course, but I think it was my trip to New Zealand where I first saw steam emerging from urban drains and in people's front gardens. I was reminded of this as we drove through the cluster of hotels, each, it seemed, with their own private steam halo.
Along one section of toad was a red flashing light to warn drivers of poor visibility. It seems that increased activity in the 1980s had led to dangerous shifting of the road due to subterranean pressure from the steam. They'd obviously located the source of this steam and were venting it off at the side of the road. One does wonder why, with all this free heat, Japan builds nuclear power sations.
https://www.facebook.com/mark.kuramotoheadey/media_set?set=a.10212818465474545&type=3&uploaded=1
