The morning I woke up, there were quite a few locals walking their dog's around the park. Walking is maybe not the correct word, they were chauffeuring their dog's around the park. One man was holding his little dog (maybe a Chihuahua?) and carrying them the whole way, whilst another guy was wheeling a lying down dog on what looked like a small pallet mover. On the way to Aso, I instinctively decided against my route and took a right turn at one point to get off the main road. This road lef me all the way up a mountain, but I actually didn't mind that! It turns out the town of Aso is really interesting geographically. It's like one giant crater, and then inside the crater is a volcano and 5 mountain peaks which soar above the surrounding big crater walls. And then inside that volcano is another famous small crater that often erupts smoke, on a clear day you can see bright blue algae in the volcanic lake. Well that first mountain I climbed was to go to the top of that outer ring wall surrounding the area instead of cutting under through a tunnel, which gave me panoramic views of the town and volcano ahead of me. The top felt like I was in the UK or something, with rolling grassy hills. After many a video were taken, I descended into the town. I then went straight to the mountains and climbed up again with my bike. I took my bike to heights it had never gone before, about 900m altitude. The way there was even more stunning than before, those rolling grassy hills were now full on grassy mountain pastures. Finally at the carpark after lots of walking, I parked my bike and started walking up the hike to the top of the mountain where you can see inside the actual volcano. I started walking around 3:30 so I didn't have enough time to do the whole loop around which takes at least 3 hours, but I did have time to just walk to the top and back down. The hike was very steep and took me well above 1300m altitude. As I ascended I could smell the smoke and it was a little harder to breathe. The top was magnificent, one of the greatest moments I've ever witnessed. I was standing right next to a volcano billowing with smoke, I couldn't believe what I was witnessing right next to me. To say I was flooded with emotions was an understatement. Since I started the hike a bit late, there was nobody else up there with me now and the sun was lowering to golden attributes. It made for some incredible photos and videos that I'm very excited to see again. Coming back down from the hike I had to take a moment before hopping back on my bike because I was weak in the legs. I don't know if it was the hike, the air, the adrenaline come down, or all three. But once I got riding again it was an easy cruise down to the local Joyfull where I stayed until 9pm watching the documentary Grizzly Man and enjoying my dinner. I made it to my campsite around 10pm where there was already a tent of another cycle touring couple.