Hello from the road! It has been a while since I have been able to say that.
Well, let's get right into it. On the 3rd of August, I went into the office for my final day. I was hoping to get out in under ten minutes, but ended up spending a whole half hour there. We had to wait a while to say goodbye to the big boss. I went back to my apartment, picked up my bike and headed off. I rode across town to the Tarumizu ferry and crossed the Kinko Bay by boat. I stood at the back of the boat and watched the city shrink in the distance.
Once I was across the bay, I continued east by bike to the town of Shibushi, about 30 miles away. I got there early enough to relax a little bit before boarding the ferry for Osaka. It was an overnight ferry on the Pacific side of the country and I slept just fine.
On the 4th, I woke up as we were nearing Osaka. By 8:30 I was off the boat and ready to ride, and some ride it was. I had reservations for the next ferry from Maizuru - nearly 100 miles away on the Japan Sea. I headed north for a few hours through the big city. It was a bit slow going, what with all the traffic lights and detours around bridges that don't allow bicycles.
Around 2:00, I got lost in the Daihatzu car factory in a small town on the outskirts of Osaka. As I was leaving the complex, the guard told me I was lost. I agreed. He gave me some good directions before sending me on my way. From there the morning's flat roads were exchanged for the mountains that seem to be everywhere in this country. I went up and down for a few more slow hours. I managed to get to Maizuru about an hour after the sun set and the rain started.
I had been hoping to have at least one 100 mile day on my three month trip, but not the second day. In the end it was only about 92 miles in nine and a half hours of actual riding. I got to Maizuru and was good and tired. The boat did not leave until after mid-night, so I had to wait awhile to board. I had to wait for the 100 or so motorcycles to ride up the ramp before I could join the 50 or so other cyclists, including one very large group of university students.
Once on board, I (along with many, many other people) went straight for the room with the baths. I got there early enough to find an open seat and had a good scrub before soaking in the big tub of hot water. After that, I was good and tired and went back to my room to sleep. The cheap rooms on Japanese ferries are big open spaces with lots of pillows and blankets on the floor. But, I did have my own little cabinet, and since the cruise was scheduled to take over 20 hours, I unpacked and made myself at home.
The next day, I spent outside reading and talking with the other passengers. The boat went at speedy 30 miles per hour and had a special double propeller system which eliminated all of the big wave that usually follows a boat. At one point, we passed a sister ship headed the other way. It was strange to see watch a huge boat zoom by at 60 miles an hour while not disturbing the sea much at all.
We arrived in Otaru, Hokkaido at around 8:00 pm. I went to the small park nearby, set up my tent and went to sleep. The next day, when it started to get light, I woke up and checked my watch. It was only 4:00 in the morning. I was excited because that meant that I would have no trouble getting early starts this summer.
On the morning of the 6th, I packed up and rode over to the big city of Sapporo. I spent the morning buying maps and looking around the city before heading north along the western coast of Japan. I rode the rest of the day and found a nice campground that night.
On the 7th, I got a good early start and continued north. It was a beautiful coast rode, except for the large number of tunnels. By the end of the day, I was riding through the Rishiri-Rebun-Sarubetsu quasi-national park. It was a beautiful empty area of beach and plant covered sand dunes. I found a nice place to camp that night and set up my tent. On the 3rd night of camping on this trip and the 8th night of actual use, my tent broke. One of the poles snapped and ripped the sleeve that was supposed to contain it. I did a minor repair as I formulated the complaint letter I intend to write to Mountain Hardware.
On the 8th, I stuck to the coast until I got to the town of Wakkanai. Wakkanai is the closest port city to Russia. Lots of Russian fishing boats visit and all of the city street signs are in Russian, as well as Japanese and English. From this very international port, I took a ferry over to Rishiri Island. I had time that evening for a visit to the local hot spring before camping. The next day, after a slow start, I started climbing Rishiri Mountain. I got to the mountain hut about 10 minutes before a big rain and only had to share the hut with one other person.
On the 10th, I finished climbing to the top of the mountain. Along the way, I got lots of nice views of Sakhalin Island in Russia. I can now add Russia to the list of countries which I have seen, but not visited. The list also includes Albania, Egypt, Jordan and China proper. This is different from the countries I barely visited. I never got off the plane in South Africa, same for the train in Sweden. As opposed to South Korea and England, where I briefly left the airport. Unlike Costa Rica and Checkoslovakia, where I actually spent a day looking around.
Anyway, I got to the top of the mountain, looked at Russia, and then started down. The trail was very muddy and slippery. Also, my pack and shoes were not so good. When I packed for this trip, I had to make some concessions to this mode of travel. I did not bring my good backpack and boots. Instead, I am using a smaller backpack that does not have a hip belt, stabilizer straps, padded shoulder straps or metal support rods in the back. And my shoes are just sneakers. So, it was a long and tiring decent back to sea level from the 6,000 foot peak. That night was another trip to the hot spring.
After a good soak, I headed out of town to look for a nice park to camp in. I did not feel like riding back up the mountain to the campsite. About five miles from town, I found a Rider House. Here in Hokkaido, motorcycle and bicycle touring is very popular. There are a large number of places to stay geared towards this sort of people. Rider Houses are usually under $10 per night and vary widely in what they offer. The one I found, had a nice kitchen and sitting room downstairs and a big loft upstairs with some pillows and blankets to use on the floor. This rider house was also free and unoccupied, I never saw another person there. For the night, I had my own house all to myself. What a great country!
On the 11th, I caught the first ferry to Rebun Island, forty minutes to the north. At the port in Rebun, I ate the local specialty - sea urchin. I had a nice bowl of rice covered with sea urchins. Very tasty. I left town on the islands only road north and went up to the top of the island town of Fundonomari. At the campground, I ran into a number of Japanese cyclists and had a nice chat.
On the 12th, I woke up nice and early (like I do everyday) and rode to the northern most point on the island. I intended to hike south for eight hours and then take a bus back to my bike at the end of the day. It only took a few minutes of walking along the coast to realize that there was no way that I was going to do that hike. My legs were sore - very sore. I could not figure out why. I knew it was from the hike up and down Rishiri Mountain, but that was days ago. Maybe the four days of riding before that wore down my reserves, or maybe it was the lack of big day hikes in the past year, or the extreme difficulty of the descent, or the shoes, or the pack. Or, maybe I am just getting old. I don't know the reason, but it was strange.
I ended up doing the four hour short version of the hike. As I was walking back to my bike I saw a tour bus parked on the side of the road. My special Tour Guide senses were alerted by this obvious sign. When I got to the bus, I saw that they were watching some seals play in the water. I sat down to watch and listen to them for a few hours. That evening I went to the public baths in town. In case my cousin Dori reads this, I want to point out that I am averaging one shower or bath every other day. Pretty incredible, huh?
On the 13th, my legs were still sore. I rode back to the ferry terminal and ferried back to Wakkanai. After doing some laundry and chatting with a French hitchhiker, I left the city for Cape Soya, the northern most point in the country. As I stuck to the coast heading southeast after the cape, I was riding with the Okhotsk Sea, a sea that freezes in the winter.
After a long day of riding on the 14th, I camped at Hi No De Misakai (Cape Sunrise). They had a nice hot spring there. The campground was too crowded with Japanese families setting off fireworks until mid-night.
When I woke up on the 15th, it was the first time my legs felt completely recovered from my first big hike. I left the coast and headed over the mountains for Asahikawa City. I got here on the 16th and busied myself preparing for a hike. On the 17th, I rode 30 miles into the mountains to Asahi Dake Hot Spring town. This town is over 3000 feet above sea level and got pretty chilly at night. The campground had a lot of foxes that hang around. They kept sniffing at my tent and around my bike. Every few hours they woke me up and I threw some rocks at them until they went away.
On the 18th, I opted for the easy start to my hike up Asahi Mountain. I took a cable car part way up and then started hiking. I passed a bunch of steam and sulfur vents during my ascent of Hokkaido's highest peak (7100 feet). When I got to the top, I was rewarded with one of my favorite views in the world. When I get to the top of a mountain, nothing thrills me more than looking down the other side and seeing more mountains!
I took a detour to Naka Dake Hot spring for a soak and some lunch. After that, I continued on into the mountains and high plateaus of Taisetsudake National Park. I did not bring a tent or stove or much food or even an extra book to read because I was worried about it being too difficult now that I realized I had to take it easy. But, I was overly cautious. The pain in my legs of the previous week turned out to be a fluke. This day was one of my typical happy days in the mountains. My legs never got tired. I never got hungry. The trails always seemed easy. I was back to my old walking all day with no problem self.
I spent the night in a mountain hut with 25 other people. The next day, a typhoon came and nobody was going anywhere. I had planned to do lots of hiking on this four day trip, so I only had one book - and that was half finished. I stayed in bed and finished my book by 9:30 in the morning. After a late breakfast, I put on all of my rain gear and ran down to the nearby campground. There were two native English speakers camped there. The wind and rain was so strong that I had to put my head right up to their tents when I shouted in to them. They had no books to trade so I went back into the hut and with nothing else to do, started my book again.
On day three of this walk, I left the hut and headed out into the cloudy, but not rainy day. Ten minutes later it started raining. It ended up raining or hailing for about ten minutes out of every hour for the rest of the day. I was well protected in my rain gear, except for my hands and feet. It was a nice walk from peak to peak with very occasional breaks in the clouds to see the valleys on either side. About twenty minutes from the next hut, the sun almost came out and I started to entertain thoughts of spending the afternoon exploring the nearby peaks. About ten minutes from the hut, the worst and most painful hail storm of the day started and cancelled all of my afternoon plans. I read my book some more. From the day before I remember enjoying the middle of the book, but for some reason, today I was finding the whole thing very predictable.
Yesterday, the fourth day of this walk, was the one I was dreading. It was six hours of downhill.
The trail was muddy from the rain. At times, I was actually walking in running water. I started the day by going up the last peak and then heading down. When I got back to the tree line, the going got hard. The brush grew to thigh height and blocked my view of the trail. I could not see the trail unless I bent over and moved the plants. On a nice smooth trail this would have been fine, but this one was rocky and muddy and slippery. The going was slow. But, eventually, the trail opened up and was just wet. I was dreading the last few hours the most because, according to the map, it lost a lot of elevation very rapidly. But, when I got there, the trail was in good condition and there were plenty of switchbacks to help me down. I finished in Ten Nin Gorge at around lunch time. I hung out at the waterfall and finished my book while waiting for the free bus back to the start of the hike.
Last night I had a good night sleep back in my tent.
Today, I rode 30 miles back to Asahikawa Town. The road was all downhill and the wind was at my back so it only took two hours. I have spent the day on the Internet and will ride for a few more hours this evening.
From here I will head back to the northeast coast and then continue southeast to the far eastern edge of Hokkaido. There is a national park there with some more hiking and I want to visit the hot water waterfall.
For those keeping track at home - I am now 20 days and 700 miles by bike into my trip. I reset my bike odometer for this summer. In the last year, on my daily commutes around Kagoshima, I went about 3000 miles. I hope to do more than that during this three month trip.
Time to ride.
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