Great view especially during sunrise or sunset moments.

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The North Gate to this beautiful area is reachable by frequent Donan buses coming from Toyako Onsen or from Toya JR railway station (Nishiyama Yuhodo Bus Stop). Going south from that gate and leaving a small pond to your left, one can see and feel the power of Mount Usu which tilted and uplifted the road and the area, leaving a dramatic landscape hopefully made easily walkable by wooden paths. As it gently climbs over the little col marking its highest point between Lake Toya and the ocean in the distance, one discovers a beautifully decaying cluster of buildings and broken road sections, amongst various natural remnants, before it reaches an abandoned school where it ends. In early November, I met there a few locals picking delicious berries from small trees lining the abandoned roadside. This exemplifies that Nature always has a way to give back what it takes, in sheer beauty or in edible gifts, here both at the same time. Often, but not always, volcanic terrain is the most fertile.

An interesting short trail (easy for everyone) seeing a beautiful nature reborn after a recent volcanic eruption.

A crater formed by the eruption in the year two thousand. The volcanic earthquakes before the eruption were unbearable. The shaking continued constantly, as if you were standing on a giant piece of konnyaku.

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The observation deck at this site is near the old National Route ２３０, in a spot where the ground repeatedly subsided and rose. You reach it by going downhill from the ２nd observation deck. Looking around, you can see a crater and Nishiyama, with a water-filled crater beside the national highway in the center. You can really tell that an eruption occurred right on the highway. Looking farther to the right, you can see what looks like an excavator arm, probably left behind on the left side of the ２nd observation deck. Both the １st and ２nd decks require walking, so choose your footwear carefully. From either parking lot🅿️🚗, the walking trail goes up and down and has poor footing, so caution is needed☺️.

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