Hiking Hakkodasan

Angelica and I decided to make an overnight trip into the Hakkoda mountains. When we first arrived, it appeared that the forecast of rain was wrong. But, alas, we learned soon enough what rainy season in the Hakkodas was all about.

The first part of the trip was kind of a suffocating mix of vegetation, humidity, and bugs.

While not technically "above the treeline", the more acidic soil apparently thins the vegetation towards the top.

Some of you may recall my blog about my snowshoeing trip up this same trail. I wrote about the estimated 30-40 feet of snow judging by the tops of the gigantic conifers barely peaking through the tops of the drifts. I was also briefed this in a winter safety brief. Now, seeing these "giant" trees in the summer time, I believe my estimations of winter snow depth to have been off by 20-30 feet:) Still a pretty impressive sight in the wintertime.

A fresh water well near Sennentai Cabin. The water tasted great and I'm sure we would have enjoyed it much more had the weather not been chilly and wet.

The Japanese apparently have an insatiable appetite for trivial facts. Would you believe that this pond is the most elevated location in Aomori Prefecture where amphibious creatures spawn? Fascinating.

A Shinto shrine near the Ohdake summit.

Apparently, the Shinto gods accept cash or sake.

Our main goal...Ohdake Summit, the highest in the range at 1584.6 meters (5199 feet). From the map, it appears that this summit is actually the edge of a large volcano crater. I'm sure it would have been quite a sight, had the clouds allowed it. But, as you can see, we were still quite excited about the feat. The high winds and low visibility made it feel all the more exciting (especially for an 8-year old).

Our home for the night...Ohdake Cabin. The dense cloud cover and constant rain kept us from exploring too much. Before hitting the sack, we took the opportunity to summit Iodake. This is the crest near the summit. While the cloud cover and heavy winds added to the sense of adventure, I really wish I could have seen down the sides.
MMMM....freeze dried eggs. Most of the second day was spent crossing these marshes. Actually quite beautiful despite being soaked and wet the entire day.

Tanabata Festival

Sunday, we went to the Misawa Tanabata Festival. This was pretty much the view for me...following the women up and down the street.

As far as I could tell, the festival was pretty much a bunch of vendors and these paper decorations hanging from the street.

The highlight of the evening was the hip-hop show. For those of you who follow the Misawa Hip Hop scene, the Misawa Hood Boyz were headlining.

One of the more bizaare booths was selling these giant beetles for rather high prices.

Camping at Tanesashi Coastline

We went camping again this weekend, only this time to Tanesashi Coastline. We paid $8 for parking and the camping was free. Overall, a pleasant stay.

Angelica & Helen feeding Pringles to the seagulls.

There was a crazy old guy on the beach who was doing some odd ritual...think Mr. Miyagi doing the crane thing on Karate Kid, only in a green Speedo. I couldn't figure if he was doing some interpretive dance or worshipping the seagull gods. I wanted some better pics, but felt it safest to keep my distance.

Camping at Towada

We went on our first car-camping trip last weekend with our next door neighbors, the Herrons. We chose a spot up on Lake Towada which just happened to have a fireworks show scheduled for the night. The firworks were quite nice over the lake and lasted for about 45 minutes.

One thing I couldn't figure out was that the maps all had "no swimming" posted at all the waterfronts. I asked a man at the information center where we could swim and he said that there was no safe place to swim on Lake Towada. In limited English, he explained to me that the water was cold, deep, and the cause of many, many deaths. I thought about his warning....and swam anyway. The water temperature was perfect, although it got deep quicker than any waterbody I've ever swam in. Throughout the 2 days, I noticed that myself and a small handful of other young american men were the only ones getting in the water. I'm still trying to figure out if the lake is really dangerous, or if there's a peculiar difference between the Japanese culture and ours. Since I've been here, I've yet to see a Japanese person bathing in a natural water body. They also seem to dress warmer than us for the climate...i.e. wearing sweaters on the beach in the summertime (and of course, not swimming).

There were hundreds of these paddleboats on the lake. I'm not sure what the Japanese's fascination with swans is, but their likeness is used everywhere.

This "lesbian" statue, as called by all of the Americans around here, is the trademark landmark of Lake Towada. After seeing it in person, next to the gorgeous lake and the many shrines, I fail to see the significance.

A beautiful rock with some sort of shrines built atop.

One of the many Shinto shrines of Japan.

Shimokita Peninsula

Today, we took a road trip around Shimokita Peninsula. It is a bit of land that shoots out between the Pacific Ocean and Mutsu Bay. Beautiful and sparsely populated, its definitely a place I'll visit again.

Aomori prefecture is known for the high quality horses they bred during the Samurai days. Our first stop was Cape Shiriya where you can still spot the "wild" horses of Japan.

This little fella walked right over to us and clearly made Helen's day.

Another new and interesting treat...apple ice cream! I love Japanese apples, and this frozen treat wasn't too bad either.

One of the many sights on Shimokita is Hotokegaura. This is a coastal area with lots of tall rock formations.

"Hotoke" apparently means Buddha and the Japanese apparently think these rock formations remind them of praying Buddhas.

Can you see the Buddha resemblance?

An interesting thing about the sight, along with several buddhist alters, were these man-made mounds scattered around the beach. I'm not sure about the meaning behind them, but I couldn't help to remember finding these same phenomenons in my back yard in Italy. Of course, this was usually after a night of drinking and impressing my friends by showing them how my obese Labrador would actually eat rocks. Come to think of it, Lily kind of looked like a big Buddha...hmmm

One of the really nice things about Japan is that, despite thousands of years of humans living here, they have managed do a pretty good job of preserving the environment to include both grizzly bears and the black spectacled bear (not too shabby when you consider we almost killed off every one of our black bears in a couple of hundred years). While most tourists try to steer clear of the bears, many of them do take a trip up to Shimokita to see the snow monkeys. This is supposed to be the northern-most spot to see them. But, they often prove to be pretty elusive, so many tourists settle for a glimpse at some roadside monkey zoos. We had about given up on finding wild monkeys and I was having a hard time finding the roadside zoo when...

we happed upon this fella. He didn't run off and allowed us to take several pics. But, he refused to eat any of the bananas Rose threw at him. I still can't believe a monkey would refuse a banana, but it was still a neat experience. I've seen many animals in the wild during my lifetime, but wild monkeys are just so much more exotic.

About 5 minutes down the road, we saw about 15 of them to include some mothers carrying their babies hanging from their midsections. I wasn't quick enough on the camera to catch them all, but I did get to capture a shot of this little fella...