The first part of the hike was through a heavily wooded area. We just followed some cross-country skiers' tracks.
We left the wooded area and found ourselves in a big frozen river bed. It was beautiful at first, but then the wind picked up and the visibility quickly dropped to less than a hundred feet.
At the top of the river bed, there was what looked like a vast frozen wasteland. On a sunny day, I'm sure its quite a sight, but on my first trip in an unfamiliar place, the wicked wind chill and the low visibility made it a rather daunting place. I don't know how tall these pine trees were, but judging from the height of other trees further down the mountain, we guess the snow to be near 30 feet deep. It would be an easy place to get into some trouble.
At last, we found a row of long bamboo poles stuck in the snow which led us to refuge.
The cabin was already being warmed up by some Japanese cross-country skiers. We warmed up and ate some chow...then went outside to "look around" a bit.
Warmed up with a full stomach and knowing where the cabin lies gave us some comfort of mind to go explore a little bit. Unfortunately, the visibility was still too low for us to wander off too far.
The cabin we stayed at was called Sennentai Cabin. It was built in the 1980's by local enthusiasts. Anyone is welcome to stay as long as they share the space with anyone else who may be staying there. The cabin is basically an open room with three levels of bunks. I guess that it would sleep 15-20 fairly comfortably. It has two large kerosene stoves for public use. When Dan and I arrived, there were 6 or 7 old Japanese men already staying there. Although they spoke pretty much no english, they were friendly and hospitable. Judging from their knowledge of the facility, I think they may be part of the group that built the cabin. Throughout the day, they were busy installing new bamboo trail markers and replenishing supplies in a room located below the main cabin.
Me with Shojiabo on the right and Jimol Hanga on the left. Shojiabo was being very generous with his Sake and Jimol Hanga was doing his best at communicating with us as he knew the most English out of the bunch. All of the Japanese men were incredibly friendly and helped us out with the basic tasks of staying in the cabin (i.e. melting snow for drinking water!). I hope I run into them on future trips.
There was a sulfur field at the bottom near the end of the hike with steam coming out of it (the Hakkoda mountains were formed by volcanoes).
Me with Shojiabo on the right and Jimol Hanga on the left. Shojiabo was being very generous with his Sake and Jimol Hanga was doing his best at communicating with us as he knew the most English out of the bunch. All of the Japanese men were incredibly friendly and helped us out with the basic tasks of staying in the cabin (i.e. melting snow for drinking water!). I hope I run into them on future trips.
There was a sulfur field at the bottom near the end of the hike with steam coming out of it (the Hakkoda mountains were formed by volcanoes).
Overall, it was an exciting trip. Being my first winter hiking trip, I did come up with some "Lessons Learned."
Lessons Learned:
1. Don't use Camelbak bladders...the tubes freeze and you're left without water until you find a place to thaw out.
2. When using a new camping stove, make sure you test it fully prior to the hike. I have a new Coleman Fyrestorm Ti stove which I decided to use for the first time. It uses an inverted butane canister. I couldn't find the recommended Coleman butane, so I used another brand. It worked fine for a few seconds, but then the butane valve suddenly froze over and started leaking butane. The ensuing fireball scared the crap out of everyone and nearly lit one of our Japanese hosts' ass on fire.
3. Gear that works fine for years will not necessarily work as well in the snow. My trusty Magellan GPS's clip holder got ice jammed in it and broke when I tried to stow my GPS. My trusty Mountainsmith walking sticks were a total failure. The snow disk fell off of one rendering it useless...it is now simply a long stick which completely sinks in the snow. My other stick got ice jammed in the locking mechanism and kept collapsing on me.
4. You need tinted goggles...but not those ones you got free from military issue for Middle East sand storms. Goggles keep your eyes from freezing and prevent snow-blindness. Good ones won't fog over.
5. Bring more bourbon!
Well, we decided to take the trip up Oirase Gorge to Lake Towada again...this time on foot. The view was different as winter has hit and all of the trees were bare. We were hoping for snow, but it was all melted. Maybe we'll try again in a month.
We had planned on eating up at Towada and found only one restaurant open. The waitress spoke no English and the menu was in Kanji. Dan simply pointed at the menu and...
this is what we got! It was delicious as always and also pleasant to the eyes. Remember how I said Japanese food is always supposed to look as good as it tastes?
