This route is a connect-the-dots style route, based on gravel road sections marked in the Japan bike-tourist’s bible, the Touring Mapple (ツーリングマップル | Amazon Japan). As such, it ignores most logic regarding efficiently getting from A to B. Instead, it seeks out Hokkaido’s most remote blocks of forest and wilderness accessible by bicycle. Until the typhoons of 2015/2016, many of the more remote routes here (such as the Penkenikorobetsu Rindo near Tomuraushi) were popular with trail-bikers and 4×4 explorers.

Now, extensive washed out sections mean that anyone venturing onto some parts of the route will be completely alone. You’ll see nothing but deer footprints. If anything goes wrong, the only rescue will be on foot. For this reason (and others), the worst-affected parts of the route are now roped off, accessible only by authorized personnel. At Hokkaido Wilds, we do not recommend entering restricted areas of the route. If you do find yourself on a closed part of the route, please make sure you have some means of emergency contact. Gravel roads in Hokkaido are, for the most part, out of mobile reception, so you’ll need a SPOT PLB or similar.

This route overview is best understood simply as a record of the existence of these backcountry gravel roads. Fingers crossed they are repaired soon, so that access to these beautiful areas can be restored.