The Samani Elementary 5^th graders hiked the Samani Mountain Path on September 5^th.

The Samani Mountain Path as built by the Edo Shogunate in 1799 as a way to pass the Hidaka Yabakei, notoriously difficult to cross sea cliffs, in order to increase security in the norther part of Japan. The elementary 5^th graders hike the Samani Mountain Path as part of their Geopark curriculum. We decided to start at Fuyushima Kotoni and hike to the Harada Inn ruins this time.

The path has many ups and downs.

The starting point at Kotoni has a small rest area with a great view of the Pacific Ocean.

Everyone is doing their best on the hike.

Since I am the Geopark's geologist, I explained to the students that the Samani Mountain Path crosses a plate boundary and that the different plates can be distinguished by the difference in the rocks. I pointed out that the first stream we crossed featured blue-green stone, while the last stream featured red stone.

Many of the students found various insects and kept asking the Geopark staff about them.

The Mimikomori (Parasenecio kamtschaticus) plant that deer refuse to eat.