Trails in Daisetsuzan if ropeway is closed

Hi, my family and I are planning to go to Hokkaido in mid Oct and will be going to Daisetsuzan National Park. We were originally planning to hike the trail that starts from Sanroku station to Sugatami Pond.

However, it seems that the weather has been quite unpredictable and I'm unsure if the ropeway to Sanroku station will be suspended that day. My family will also not be driving. Are there any easy trails that are accessible via public transport?

Thanks in advance!

Are there any easy trails that are accessible via public transport?

There is a rather short network of trails around Asahidake Onsen. But under normal circumstances, the weather forecast should be clear enough about whether the weather is suitable for hiking or not. I recommend to skip Asahidake Onsen in case the weather looks bad, because there is not much to do in bad weather.

Probably you mean Sugatami station, not Sanroku Station (base station). From Sugatami (the upper) station it will take 30 pleasant walk (if the weather is fine) to Sugatami pond from where most tourists are going back to the Sugatami station. Actually we went there this July and spend 1.5 hours, but some group tourists have only 40 min to stay on the Sugatami area.

As far as i searched the only public transportation to the Sanroku Station is this bus from Asahikawa city (including JR Asahikawa station).

https://www.asahikawa-denkikidou.jp/asahidaek_line/

As you see it runs only three times a day meaning the demand is not so high: most tourists go by self-drive or tourist bus.

Honestly I don't reccommend Hokkaido in October if you don't drive. Public transportation is quite poor especially in the country side. Of course you can take train to the nearest train station and take taxi, or you can concentrate on the cities such as Sapporo, Asahikawa and Otaru.

Of course you should take care the weather as Uji posted. It bigins to snow in October, and once it snows it can be very cold and dangerous.