Poison Canyon

Onsen (Hot Spring) Canyoning in Kusatsu

Last week a couple of us new comers (been away from Minakami for 5 years) headed over the Kusatsu on our day off to check out Poison Canyon for the first time. This very unique canyon holds many surprises, even for experienced canyoners.

The course starts of slow and easy with several climb down sections but its not long before you start to see the onsen water seeping out of the walls and bubbling up from the bottom of the river. The temperature of the water varies from cold spots of 10 deg C to hot spots of 30 deg C+. After never having experienced hot water in a canyon before, it was quite a bizarre sensation as we waded through sections of warm water.

Below: One of the first climb down sections

As we continued down the canyon things gradually started to become a little bigger, descended a few 3-8m waterfalls. As the grip was extremely good most of these could be climbed down without the use of a rope. As it wasn't the sunniest day, the mix of warm water and mist in the air made it both warm and mysterious.

Below: Looking back at the first few waterfalls through the mist

When we reached the third waterfall it was our first chance to pull out the rope. The 15m waterfall was a good warm up for the grand finale of the course.... a 50m vertical rappel.

Below: Rappelling down the 3rd waterfall.

After a little work setting up ropes we soon found ourselves rappelling down a 50m onsen waterfall. What a feeling! This very well may be the only onsen canyoning trip in the world!

Above: Looking back up at the last 50m waterfall.

If you are looking for something very different then I highly recommend checking out Poison Canyon.

Check out the Canyons website for more info or to book a trip to this extraordinary canyon.
http://www.canyons.jp/Canyoning_F.html

Note: The course takes its name from the fact that there are no fish or insects that can live in the water because of the high concentration of sulfur.(onsen water)