Hokkaido 7 day itinerary next autumn

Hello everyone
I have built up a rough plan for a self drive trip in hokkaido next autumn. Would love to hear some comments or suggestions about it. Does it make sense? are there any must see's im missing?

26/9 - land in chitose and take the bus/train to asahikawa. Leave suitcase there and continue to sonkyou onsen.
27/9 start hiking in Daisetsuzan nathonal park heading toward mount asahidake. Spend the night at asahidake hut. (do i need to book in advance? do i need to bring a sleeping bag or can i rent sheets and blanket there?).
28/9 continue hike toward asahidake onsen. then take the bus to asahidake and rent a car. keep driving toward blue pond, biei, furano and spend the night around shimukappu (for the unkai terrace).
29/9 get up early for the unkai terrace and then continue driving toward obihiro. reach mashu lake for sunset and spend the night there.
30/9 drive to abashiri/notoro lake and then continue driving west toward asahikawa (or whatever gets me close to the next days' destination).
1/10 drive to toya lake and noboribetsu.
2/10 drive to sapporo to return car. spend day in sapporo/otaro
3/10 day in sapporo. afternoon flight to kagoshima.

Thanks!
Ohad

Hello there,
pretty good program! Here are just 2 personal recommendations that I would suggest though:

1 - If you can, get a car from the airport/Sapporo. Of course, you can take the train to move around but having a car will make your life easier.

2 - Spend more time in Furano, Biei: In autumn, if you like nature, these 2 are great places to be. I recommend you to sleep at hoshinoanne (http://hoshinoanne.news.coocan.jp/rooms.html), an amazing little cottage in the middle of nowhere, where you can see amazing constellations/stars (they even explain teach you the names). I would recommend 2-3 days for Biei/Furano. You don't want to rush this part as it is really beautiful and peaceful. Rent a bicycle, check around. They have great food too.

I hope that this is helpful.

27/9 start hiking in Daisetsuzan nathonal park heading toward mount asahidake. Spend the night at asahidake hut. (do i need to book in advance? do i need to bring a sleeping bag or can i rent sheets and blanket there?).

What do you mean by "asahidake hut"? If you mean Asahidake Hinangoya (Asahidake Ishimuro), this is for emergency and the official page

http://www.daisetsuzan.or.jp/enjoy/yobi/hinan/

announces not to use it except for the emergency.

You may better find accommodation at Asahidake onsen or around. If you have a car you will find many places to stay and go around.

Thanks for the tips!
I will look at extending the time around Boris and furano as suggested. It seems that 7 days is not as long as I was hoping for...
Regarding accommodation in the park - I was referring to sleeping huts for hikers. From the website I can see that there are quite slot of them along the way. Some may even have running water. I�fm planning to sleep in asahidake onsens the night before I start the crossing to sounkyo onsen

I have a feeling that your days from 29/9 to 2/10 are mainly spent inside a car.

I have to admit that I didn�ft plot it into google maps but I remember that Hokkaido is quite vast and while car is a good mode of transportation it still takes time to get from a to b.

While roads in Hokkaido are generally larger than elsewhere in Japan there are still low speed limits and stop lights.

Enjoy your trip to Hokkaido!

Thanks LikeBike!
I�fm starting to understand that now. Perhaps I will add another day to furano area on the expense of the eastern side.
I was mainly interested in lake notoro and lake mashu. Perhaps this is too much of s stretch to get to these 2 points...

Thanks everyone for your suggestions.
I have re-adjusted my schedule accordingly - Let me know if this is better...

26/9 - flight Haneda to Abashiri. Pick up car and drive to notoro lake and then Mashu lake for the night
27/9 - Drive from lake mashu to noboribetsu (this is the longest drive we have).
28/9 - drive to lake toya (unfortunately if we dont spend the night we will miss the fire works) and then to shimukappu area to spend the night (is it worthwhile to go through otaru or is it too much of a detour?)
29/9 - early morning do UNAKI terrace then spend a day around furano and biei (perhaps farm stay?)
30/9 start the morning around biei/asahikawa, leave the car at asahikawa and take the bus to asahidake onsen to spend the night.
1/10 - start trek from asahidake onsen to kurodake hut. Should we already finish the trek to sounkyo on that day? we will probably take the lift to the half point...
2/10 - finish trek early thing in the morning at sounkyo onsen and take the bus to asahidake and then the train to sapporo. Spend a day at sapporo/otaru
3/10 sapporo until noon and then go to the airport for the flight to kagoshima

Thanks again for all your help!
Ohad