Summer vacation 14 - Water, old stones and a taste of hell

The route for this day was relatively short, a bit more then 120 km. so a lot of time for activity. And this is good because the weather cooperated. So I first had to catch up with the Oirase stream. Taking the bike to go down a bit (the street follows the stream as the hiking trail does) and hike back up. 

On the way out of the crater a nice overview over the lake.

Next stop should have been the Hachimantai area, where there is a lot of volcanic activity. But on the way there a sign caught my eye: Oyu stone circle

Quick investigation int the internet: this is another Jomon related site. So I did the little detour and watched it. It is dated for about the same time as Stonehenge and also was oriented for the summer and winter solstice

On we go from sun to hell. The next stop was an Onsen on the foot of Hachimantei mountain, which has a very active volcanic area behind, Goshogake. There are spitting mud volcanoes, mud pools, that are bubbling, steam vents and hot streams all around. The water is highly acidic with a PH around 1. 

No time to visit the adjacent onsen, as dinner in my next Ryokan is waiting. This one has a nice onsen with a great outdoor pool in which I can shortly relax before dinner (here the starters)