Mt. Apoi Geopark
licensed photographKoda6029 / CC BY-SA 4.0

South Hokkaido · SamaniNo.895★★Open in map →

Mt. Apoi Geopark

— Mantle rock at the south end of the Hidaka range

natureOff the trail — and worth it

A whole coastal town inside a UNESCO Global Geopark, built around a low mountain of peridotite, rock carried up from the Earth's mantle. The free visitor centre at the trailhead reads the ground for you before you climb.

  1. FromSapporo Station
  2. ~4 hrJR Hokkaido Bus, a few runs a day
  3. Get off atApoi Sanso stop (JR Hokkaido Bus)
  4. On foot
  5. Mt. Apoi Geopark
Directions ↗

The sweet spot

Mt. Apoi is not obscure. It is a UNESCO Global Geopark and a name Japanese hikers know. It stays quiet because Samani is awkward to reach: there is no train, the buses are few, and most of the people who do come are climbers who start at first light and are gone by mid-afternoon.

Where it is

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What to look for — in walking order

Fifth-station hutKoda6029 / CC BY-SA 4.0
  1. Geopark Visitor Centerfree exhibition hall at the trailhead, with a 1:14,000 relief model of the whole geopark and live notices on flowers and bears
  2. Mixed forest on the lower trailbroadleaf and conifer woodland where the climb begins, with herb layers worth slowing down for
  3. Fifth-station hutthe point where the forest gives out and bare peridotite and creeping pine take over the slope
  4. Uma-no-se ridgeopen ridge with the flower field, the Pacific spread out below and the Hidaka range along the skyline

How to actually get there

  1. Sapporo → Samani (JR Hokkaido Bus, Erimo-go highway coach, about 3 hr 30 min; reservation required).
  2. Samani → Apoi Sanso (local JR Hokkaido Bus toward Erimo).
  3. Walk a few minutes from the stop to the visitor centre and read the day's flowering and bear notices at the desk.
  4. Climb from the trailhead beside the centre, or stay low and follow the geopark's coastal sites around Enrumu Cape instead.
Erimo-go coach from Sapporo
Sapporo →(JR Hokkaido Bus, Erimo-go highway coach)→ Samani, one round trip a day and around three and a half hours; seats have to be reserved. At Samani change to the local JR Hokkaido Bus running toward Erimo and get off at Apoi Sanso, which the geopark lists as the stop for the visitor centre.
Back toward Sapporo or Urakawa
The Erimo-go coach makes one return a day, so a night in Samani is the easy plan. Otherwise take a local bus to Urakawa Terminal and pick up the Pegasus coach for Sapporo there. Both services are thin, so settle the return before you leave the city.
Directions from my location (Google Maps) ↗

About the place

Mt. Apoi stands at the south-western end of the Hidaka Mountains, the range that the geopark and UNESCO both call the backbone of southern Hokkaido, in the coastal town of Samani. The summit reaches 810 metres, which for a Hokkaido mountain is nothing at all. What makes it matter is what it is made of. The Horoman peridotite body belongs tens of kilometres down in the Earth's upper mantle, and a plate collision drove it to the surface more or less whole. Soil formed from peridotite is heavy in nickel and magnesium, thin and quick to dry, and conifers cannot take hold in it.

How to enjoy it

The visitor centre runs April to October, nine to five, and shuts for the rest of the year, so the geopark has a season whether or not you climb. If you do climb, the geopark council puts the return trip at four and a half to six hours, which makes an early start sensible. Ask at the desk first, since the staff post which flowers are out and where bears have been seen.

Background & history

The Eurasian and North American plates collided here about 13 million years ago, and the pressure pushed part of the upper mantle up through the crust to form the Horoman peridotite body that Mt. Apoi is cut from. The mountain's name is understood to come from the Ainu language, and the Ainu association in Samani still works with the geopark. Samani was named one of Japan's first Japanese Geoparks in 2008, and UNESCO recognised it as a Global Geopark in 2015.

Before you go

Cash
The visitor centre charges no admission and its car park is free, and climbing Mt. Apoi costs nothing either. Highway coaches into Samani need a reservation, and local bus fares are paid on board, so carry cash.
Before you go
The visitor centre opens from April to October and closes for the whole snow season. This is bear country, and the trail leaves the trees early, so wind and fog arrive fast; the centre posts the day's warnings at the desk.
Another way
From Obihiro, take a Tokachi Bus to Hiroo and change there to the JR Hokkaido Bus for Samani. By car the geopark council reckons about two hours from the Obihiro-Kawanishi interchange by way of the Tenma-kaido road.
After you get off
Apoi Sanso is the stop for the geopark. From the roadside it is a short walk to the visitor centre, and the Mt. Apoi trailhead begins beside it.