Having trampled the rough terrains for good 5 hours, a dip in a hot bath was a godsend - particularly such ones as this at the rustic Nonaka inn. Its wooden tub is permanently overflown with naturally heated volcanic water. Yes we deserved it!!

So here we are. At the peak of Mt. Meakan, 1,499m above sea.

Lying in the backdrop are Lake Akan, and standing on the other side is another respected peak, Mt. Oakan. (''Me'' in Japanese means female while ''O'' male. Meakan and Oakan are thought to be a pair Gods in the local Ainu people's ancient myth.)

The little pond Onneto. A popular sightseeing spot for its mysterious water that changes colours depending on the angle of the sun. Due to its high acidity, shame, there are no fish in there.

We descended on the western face admiring little alpine flowers that decorate its otherwise barren landscape.

A thick sulphur fumes rising out of the boiling pot.
A humbling sight.

The next visit of ours was Abashiri Okhotsuku museum. In their experiment lab you can walk around the fragments of real icebergs and see how the life is like in Winter.

Why 2 museums in a row you ask? Well, it was howling and raining like hell broke loose!

Mt. Meakan was our choice for the day.

Being one of the ''100 most revered mountains of Japan'' it attracts avid trekkers from all over the country.

Not a day for fishing. Obviously.

We decided to pursue another hobby of ours - mountain walking.

Abashiri river, running thru a city of the same name is a blue ribbon fishery known for XXL size rainbow (upward of 60cm!).

There were abundant population of happy little bows to greet us but none big enough to give our rods a serious work out.

Having spent the first hour or so, we walked up thru the thick forest of Ezo pines. From there up there only are shrubs of Hai pines, allowing a fine view of sprawling Akan forest.

Pheeeeww, a crazy rainy day yesterday!!

And sure enough, the rivers around were all swollen up with torrent of mud floods. Here, the same river that we fished only days ago can you believe that!?

Kitami is the biggest producer of onions in Japan (though most come from China these days).

A local restaurant was making their pride clear with these onion shaped dining cabins.

One good fish amongst many smallies was this Amemasu char of 38cm.

For the next 3 days were were to explore all corners of Kitami.

But, alas, an unseasonable big typhoon was approaching us and we could feel it in the restless sky. We hurried to a nearby stream to make the best of our stay before it gets too late.

Mt. Meakan is an active volcano. As we neared to the peak, we were to witness a huge cavity made by its recent eruption some 700 years ago.

Kitami once was Japan's biggest producer of menthol too - the soil here used to be so poor that they could only grow menthol grasses.

Visitors to Kitami Hakka museum can learn the sturdy lives of early settlers while enjoying the fresh fragrance.

Not joining the top water party of the smaller fish, he was waiting for Sayuri's chunky hare's ear nymph down on the gravel bottom.