Hiking in Japan: Shirouma Dake to Ogizawa, North Japan Alps

[Rockyroad]

Wow, what a fantastic trip. Thanks for posting.

I was curious where in Japan this was so checked it out on a map and found a very strange feature.
http://www.mappingsupport.com/p/gmap4.p ... &z=15&t=t1

Do you know what this is? It is a deep vertical square hole about 0.25mile on a side and at least ~5500 feet deep. It is about 1/2 mile east of the Five Dragons Inn and about 4.5 miles WSW of the town of Hakuba. Google Earth satellite also shows this hole.

[Ikan Mas]

I would call that "hole" a GPS glitch! Perhaps a mountain that is upside down. I know little about these things, but I'm sure there is a mapping expert of some sort that could explain this.

[Fly Guy Dave]

Nice! A really great report and pics. Thanks for posting. There are a few species of trout unique to Japan that I would like to catch someday and I believe some are found in the region that you trekked. Nice to have an idea what the region looks like. The ryokan you stayed in looks almost identical to the one we stayed in when we were in Kyoto. Good times!

[Wandering Daisy]

Very beautiful and lush, even above timberline. What was the elevation? The Japanese are big in Himalayan climbing so I suspect, in comparison, the chain up rocks is not considered difficult. Good to see that tenting is also allowed. We are spoiled in the Sierra with less rain than most mountain ranges. But all that rain sure makes for lush conditions!

[TahoeJeff]

Great report! I think I would probably detour around those chains...

[windknot]

Wow, great pictures of an amazing looking place. Thanks for the report.

Don't suppose there are any high lakes up there stocked with trout...

[TahoeJeff]

Ikan Mas, I know you are an avid fisherman. Did you contemplate any fishing? Like FlyGuyDave said, there are some unique species of trout in those Japanese mountains. I would love to try for some of those fish with a Tenkara rod and a few sakasa kebaris!

[Ikan Mas]

I have contemplated fishing in Japan, but not on this trip. The trail was pretty much a ridge runner. Didn't see much water. You are correct that there are some interesting species of trout in Japan. Akita and north is the area that trout fishing is most prominent.

[giantbrookie]

I was curious where in Japan this was so checked it out on a map and found a very strange feature.
http://www.mappingsupport.com/p/gmap4.p ... &z=15&t=t1

This is clearly a digital data gap. There is no feature like this on Earth.

Late edit: I examined the satellite photo and you can see from the photo that there was a problem with the digital data. The program drapes the satellite photo on the topography--you can see in the satellite photo that very ordinary features were hugely stretched to drape on the bogus hole-in-the-ground. If these features were 'unstretched' to a normal aspect you'd get pretty ordinary topography there.

[ofuros]

Love eyeing other countries mountains, greenery & culture.....enjoyed.