(羅臼岳) Mt. Rausu Hike

The ultimate bear country, Mt. Rausu is the crown of Shiretoko Peninsula, and supposedly has the highest concentration of bears in the entirety of Japan. 

Budget: JPY10,300 (~USD100) from Kushiro

• JPY6,380. Train, Kushiro Station to Shiretokoshari Station (JPY3,190 one way)
• JPY3,920. Bus, Shari Bus Terminal to Iwaobetsu (JPY1,960 one way). 
• I have done this with other Northeast Hokkaido hikes, so please refer to this post for the actual costs. 

Hike Date / Difficulty (Elevation: 1,661m / 5,446ft)

• July 8, 2022
• Difficulty: 3 out of 5. 
• Route below is around 13.0kilometers, with an elevation change of ▲1450m/ ▽1450m (5.5 hours, source) 
• Map Link 

When to Go

Public transportation only feasible from April to October.

Special Notes

• Weather forecast: English / Japanese.
• When I chatted with some Hokkaido locals, they said that this is the only hike where I definitely need to bring some bear spray. However, with how popular and busy the Rausu route is, bear sightings are quite rare. If you go off trail and do the other peaks, then they said it's very common to meet a bear.  

• Trailhead. Iwaobetsu Onsen (岩尾別温泉). Google maps pin.
• Flight, Tokyo to Kushiro. 
• Bus/Train, Kushiro Station to Shiretokoshari Station (知床斜里駅), which is right next to Shari Bus Terminal (斜里バスターミナル） 
• Bus, Shiretokoshari Station to Iwaobetsu (岩尾別). Bus schedule here. The bus that stops at Iwaobetsu only runs from April to October, with the ones with ● only running in October. 
• Walk, Iwaobetsu (岩尾別) to trailhead (google maps). 3.3kms, 37 minutes. There's a free shuttle for those staying at the Japanese inn at the trailhead, JPY10,000/head ish. 

Bus schedule, Shari Bus Terminal (斜里) to Iwaobetsu (岩尾別)

• Mountain hut.
• Paid. None really, but there's a Japanese inn right at the trailhead: https://iwaobetu.com/
• Free. 木下小屋. At the trailhead. It's not free - but benefits are similar to a free mountain hut - which means no food or bedding.But this one costs JPY2,500 per person. Oh, and they have a hot spring. 
• Camping. Rausu-daira (羅臼平). Very close to the summit, and has a food locker for bears. 

Itinerary
Friday

• Train, Kushiro Station to Shiretoko-shari Station. Unfortunately, the earliest train from Kushiro Station arrives at 8:30am, which means staying at Shiretoko-shari Station area the night before is necessary. 

Saturday

• 08:10am. Bus, Shari Bus Terminal to Iwaobetsu (岩尾別)
• 09:26am. ETA: Iwaobetsu. Start walking to the trailhead. 
• 10:00am. ETA: Trailhead. 
• Start hike. 
• Camp at Rausu-daira.

Sunday

• Start hike. 
• 09:49am. Bus, Iwaobetsu to Shari Bus Terminal (assuming the buses are running, and the hike is in October).
• 10:20am. ETA: Shari Bus Terminal. 

Actual Log
I did this with a couple more Hokkaido hikes, so I will focus on just the hike itself. 

• 06:20am. Arrived at Iwaobetsu Onsen, and we had to find our parking spot. 
• 06:35am. Started our hike. 
• 07:58am. Reached the water source. 
• 10:40am. Summitted! Had a nice break at the windy summit. 
• 11:10am. Started our descent. 
• 02:21pm. Back at the trailhead.

Parking at Iwaobetsu Onsen was already full, and we had to go to the overflow.

The toilet at the trailhead + trashcan (?) for the disposable toilets. This toilet smelled really bad. 

The "free hut" right at the trailhead. The restroom here smelled awful too. 

Some warnings at the trailhead. 

The hike starts. 

...and we quickly hit our heads. This place has the worst number of offending trees that hit the head. Ugh. 

I really liked this part of the trail with the trees curving around the trailhead. 

The water section. 

One of the trees blocking the trail. This one is ok, the difficult ones are those that are around eye level, because walk and watch where you're going, and bam! you hit your head. 

A waiting spot for the disposable toilet section. The disposable toilet-restroom is about 5-10 meters to the left. 

The start of the snow section. 

Check logs before going, but this was ok overall, even without spikes. 

After the snow section was some rocky trail. Not steep enough for a scramble though. 

A flat section. We just passed the camp spot here. 

The rock scramble. After getting past the flat area in the picture above, you'll notice the vegetation in the trail thin out, and the climb up starts. This is when you should leave your trekking poles if you have them, and use your hands. 

Steep scramble up. Be safe, use hands!

Looked back for a bit, and was astounded by the view. 

The sea of clouds at the summit. 

Summit marker with a gorgeous view. 

See that little mountain to the right? Apparently that is Russia. 

Going down. 

This is not part of the hike, but we did go to the lakes near the trailhead. 

The beautiful view of the Shiretoko Mountain Range, safe in the confines of the wooden terrace of the park.