Hotakasan Campground

Ten of us set off from Misawa for the 8+ hour drive down to the Gunma Prefecture. Specifically the Minakami area in search of this amazing time Europeans call "Canyoning" and Americans have coined "Canyoneering." Details on that in a post to follow.

Our home for the Columbus Day weekend would be the Hotakasan Campground which turned out to be one of the nicest campgrounds we've ever stayed at. It had concrete pads setup randomly along a hillside in a dense birch forest with running water to wash dishes, cooking grates if you so chose, and an abundance of fire pits. My only complaint was that the bathroom smelled like a zoo. I guess that's an acceptable trade-off when next to it is a ¥200 hot shower.

As always, everyone packed enough to feast at every meal. From seasoned ribs, to the jambalaya, steaks, and smores in the evening and hash browns, bacon, eggs, steak, and Starbucks Coffee for breakfast. (Starbuckscourtesy of me of course)

About a 30 minute walk, or 5 minute drive, from the campground was a beautiful waterfall too.


Then the greatest benefit of all...the Takaragawa Onsen. Approximately a 20 minute drive from the campground, this three bath, open air, and all natural coed onsen hit the spot after a full day of banging up the body on rocks, waterfalls, and ropes. The actual bath names are Maka, Hannya, and Kodakara. Our favorite being the Maka bath which is one of the most famous onsens in all of Japan.
It is the most frequent bath featured in TV shows, magazines, and advertisements. The whole area is actually very public. While you're enjoying the onsen there are people...tourists even...walking within 10 or so feet of you along the trails. Interesting to say the least.


All in all, great accommodations with plenty of luxury nearby from a camping perspective. Sure wish we could head back and do this again!

Yagen Valley in the Fall

As summer turns to fall and our time here in Misawa comes closer to an end, we're getting our fill of travels, sights, and activities. Having had a great time on our last visit to Yagen we decided to get a large group of people together and head up for one last trip. Only difference in this trip was that the air was a little cooler and the leaves had just begun to turn.

Setting up near the main fire pit this time, the perfect weather made for a relaxing evening as the sun set behind the hills. Everyone had a chance to enjoy cold drinks and grill up their steaks, dogs, and eventually smores.

The rest of these pictures are from the valley and surrounding areas. On Sunday Sandy and I just headed off with no particular goal but the guarantee that the GPS would lead us home
eventually.



We're both going to miss the Shimokita Peninsula...especially in the Fall.

Sea Kayaking on Lake Ogawara

So in the process of researching things to do around Langley AFB in Virginia, I came across a website dedicated to sea kayaking. Reading a bit more I found myself becoming quite interested in the idea of a relaxing paddle in and around some of the channels that feed Hampton Roads.

Not having the first clue about what it takes to go Kayaking, off we went to Outdoor Recreation and signed up for the Sea Kayaking course here on base. While not an official course in any way, it's a prerequisite to being able to rent a kayak or participate in any of the kayaking trips offered by Outdoor Rec. Even though we don't have much time left to enjoy kayaking here, we figured this would be a good way to learn the basics of kayaking so that when/if we decide to buy our own we won't be starting out from absolute scratch.

After 3 hours in the pool on Thursday evening, it was out into Lake Ogawara for a leisurely paddle. A little history here, Lake Ogawara was used by the Imperial Japanese Navy to practice the attack on Pearly Harbor. The lake was chosen based upon its resemblance of Pearl and the depth of the water allowed pilots to practice launching torpedoes in conditions they could expect in Hawaii. Anyway, back into the water...

Since nobody had anything pressing to do today, we went for it all and set off to completely cross the entire lake, return back towards a northern point, and then follow the coastline all the way back to the base beach. It looked a little something like the map below and covered about 5 miles by my rough measure.

We were fortunate enough to have perfect weather throughout the morning. No wind, plenty of sun (too much sun for me), and a water temp that was quite refreshing when we ended up playing around with the different rescues. Below are some pictures of our trip around the lake.








At the end of the day we were plenty exhausted but we're both eager to see what the Virgina waters will have to offer us...oh, and Thailand too...I've read about some beautiful kayaking/canoeing trips that we can take advantage of in December.

Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles Game

Professional baseball in Japan is nothing close to what it is in the US. I think there are very few ballparks that carry the level of passion for the game as they do here in Japan. Our second year in a row attending a game over Labor Day weekend, we got started early Saturday morning on the Shinkansen.

The Japanese E2 Series Shinkansen. Traveling up to 170 miles per hour and providing a comfort level far beyond any bus, car, or plane. Well plane that you and I can afford anyway. After about two hours on the train we arrived in Sendai, walked about 6 blocks to our hotel, The Holiday Inn, and then made our way down to what is officially known as "Kleenex Stadium Miyagi." Home of the Rakuten Eagles.

Pregame festivities include everything from kids playing catch in the outfield, cheerleaders running up and down the foul lines, and a giant stinky fish fry outside the ballpark. With the game underway, the entire stadium was chanting each players custom fight song which I've yet to fully comprehend...even when the American players are up to bat.

Throughout the game we had rain showers come and go, saw some good baseball, ate "interesting" ballpark food, and participated in the 7th inning stretch custom of releasing these red balloons following a Japanese equivalent of Take Me Out to the Ballgame.

While the Eagles couldn't quite pull out a win in extra innings, we were both happy to be back in Sendai over Labor Day weekend and keeping with what seems to be our Ryan and Sandy standard for any trip...we enjoyed a solid downpour on the walk back to the hotel.

Hakkoda Mountains Hike

Labor Day weekend we set out to duplicate our travels from last year. So happens the weather was feeling festive as well and decided to treat us to the same cloudy rainy Labor Day weekend as the year before. Not deterred, we set off for the Hakkoda mountains for a trip along the ridge lines of the three peaks. Rather than make the hike up this year though, we opted for the Gondola ride. Something Sandy has yet to experience here in Japan.

By contrast, this is the same area in the dead of winter.

Reaching the top we set off to make the best use of the 4 hour window of exploration. Following a narrow path, overgrown with evergreens and other plants, we made our way along a planked trail towards the first peak.

After about an hour of trekking we made it to the top. The next group of pictures is a random spattering of the views we had while walking from peak to peak. In some ways I wish we would have had clear skies, but in others, the low lying clouds crawling along the mountain tops made for interesting pictures. Enjoy.





Our total time on the mountain was cut short though. About half way through the hike we heard what sounded like faint thunder. Not second guessing ourselves, we tucked tail headed back to the Gondola. On our way back it became very obvious that it was, in fact, thunder that we heard from a distance. The last 15 minutes of our return trip was a total downpour with cloud to cloud lightning making it all the more unnerving.

But, we did make it back, we did survive, and these are some of the pictures we have to show for it.

Tomorrow we change gears and hit up a Japanese pro baseball game in Sendai.