To receive the honor of visiting the Shiretoko Goko (Five Lakes) in Northeast Hokkaido, you need to follow a process. First you buy an admission ticket from a machine for 250 yen (~ $2). Next you fill out a registration form. Finally, you attend a 15-minute briefing session, geared towards disseminating proper trail behavior – especially in the event of a bear encounter.
Bears, apparently, are VERY common in this park (and throughout Hokkaido in general). As you amble along the 90-minute, five-lake trail, it’s your job to clap and holler whenever you’re in a secluded area. After all, preventing a bear encounter is far better than actually experiencing one. Should a “kuma” (bear, in Japanese) block your path, don’t run away. Don’t try to pet it. Just back away slowly and, if needs be, lie down on your tummy and play dead. Studies show that you have a better chance of minimizing injury and avoiding death if you do this.
In the event you do sight a bear (and survive), the briefing suggests, retreat down the trail and take along with you any other hikers you come across. At that point, the park officials will then shut down the trail – for the day, anyway. In the case of a trail closure, you’re more than free to enjoy the nearby, 20-minute, electrified, wooden walkway trail, which is completely bear proof and offers a nice view of one of the five lakes.
Did my friend, Adam, and I wind up actually seeing any bears during out time in Shiretoko? Alas no. In fact, we never even view the five lakes.
You see, towards the end of our bear safety briefing, a ranger inexplicably hustles the two of us back to the front desk, returns our money, and herds us toward the entrance of the wooden walkway. What happened? Some kind of prejudice against foreigners? (“You want bears? You can’t handle the bears!”)
After strolling to the end of the walkway and back, a lovely, green walk I must say, we return to the park headquarters and find a sign indicating that a bear had been sighted that afternoon and all forest paths are closed! Ah, that explains it! Apparently, the word of the trail closure came down right during the end of our briefing.
Am I disappointed? A bit. I really did want to see the other 4 lakes. But the experience raises a larger question: Why on earth are they letting people explore a wild, untamed forest – unescorted — where a bear encounter is not only common but in fact likely! (Note: two weeks prior, a hiker higher up on the mountain was killed by bear.)
If this were a safari in Eastern Africa, you can bet we’d be confined to a vehicle and accompanied by an armed guide – with a rifle. Not in Shiretoko, though, oh no. “Go ahead, folks, take a walk in the bears’ living room! You’ve attended a briefing. You’ll be fine!”
Can I recommend Shiretoko Goko for my fellow travelers? Sure! The drive up to the park is very scenic. There are waterfalls to visit right off the highway. The wooden walkway path affords excellent views of both ocean and mountain.
Just don’t come looking for bears. Because they just might be looking for you!
(Sometimes we travel to a location for a specific sight – and we get it. Other times, all we take away from a place is a story, and that’s okay, too. I would argue that the stories linger longer in the mind and the heart than any pictures or videos you might capture for a future Powerpoint presentation. Cherish the stories; tell them gleefully; enjoy the embellishing. Perhaps we all need to shift our mindset from a “bucket list of locations” to a “bucket list of experiences.” Or better yet, toss out the bucket lists and just be open random, spontaneous stories, which will surely find you when you put yourself out there.)