Walking Trails - Rakudayama (Camel Mountain)
The Minami Aso Visitor Center is the starting point for a number of hiking trails in the area where visitors can enjoy a natural landscape molded by historic volcanic activity.
On one of the hiking trails, visitors can enjoy views of Rakudayama (Camel Mountain), so called because of a 5 m-by-10 m rock in the shape of a camel’s back. It is thought that the tabular rock was formed when magma was forced up through a crack in the bedrock caused by erosion of the softer stratum. The magma quickly cooled and solidified forming these rocks which, with a little imagination, resemble a camel’s humps.
There are many points of interest along the route, including the pure natural waters of the Tsukimawari spring, where water gushes up from 60 m below ground. This spring is surrounded by the same type of tabular rock as found at Rakudayama. From here there is also an impressive view of Mt. Nekodake, a volcano pre-dating the mega eruption that caused the formation of the caldera. The trail also passes a small shrine, Bakuchi Iwa Shrine, created from a hollow in a rock that people subsequently filled with small stones and statues.