“Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower.”
– Albert Camus

Traveling for more than 3 hours by car from Obihiro, we arrived at the Hoheikyo Dam area of the Jozankei part of Sapporo. It was the peak time of the autumn leaves, so there are a lot of people enjoying the amazing view of the park.

Hoheikyo Dam is an arch concrete dam measuring 102.5 meters tall located at the Shikotsu Toya National Park of the Minami-ku area of Sapporo. Completed in 1972, it is used for hydroelectricity and to control the flooding of the Toyohira river.

The Hoheikyo Dam is an environmentally protected area, so it can only be accessed through walking from the entrance or by their electric car. We used the latter to save time. We cross the two tunnels, the Hiyamizu and Hoheikyo tunnels. And between them is the Kudan Falls which we saw aboard the electric car.

Surrounding the dam are steep rock slope formations where the autumn foliage looks like a magical painting brought to life. In contrast to our last momijigari (autumn leaves viewing) we did at the Fukuhara-sansou which is more focused at each individual tree, we enjoyed the sight of the fall foliages at the Hoheikyo Dam as a whole. It is a collection of trees interweaving with each other to create a picturesque landscape.

Aside from the amazing autumn leaves, the view of the Jozan Lake with the reflection of the sun is also whimsical and mysterious.

We finished our momijigari at the Hoheikyo Dam and decided to eat our very very late lunch at the indian curry inside the Hoheikyo Onsen (It was already 3 pm). As it was the peak of the autumn foliage, we were caught in a traffic jam but the view of a jay hopping on the trees make our pause worthwhile.