Well, one trip I'd been planning for months was a summer backpacking trip with Angelica. I wanted it to be 4-5 days and decided to head up to Daisetsuzan National Park in Hokkaido. I did the entire traverse of this park with Ryan Connell last August.
It started out with an 8 hour train ride to Asawikawa and a 1-hour taxi ride to Asahidake Onsen. We camped our first night at the base of Asahidake (Mount Asahi).
Now, that's a badass shemagh. If you don't know about the shemagh, you probably don't have a need to know. Not even Chuck Norris ever wore a shemagh. That's right, not even Chuck Norris.
On the lookout for Hokkaido Brown Bears on our way up Asahidake.
While I expected to see more snow being up there a month earlier than last year, I was really impressed by the size of the icefields remaining in July. They made for some challenging traverses.
Angelica was a trooper the whole trip...
Pretty flowers...
Beautiful mountain vistas....
Late on the first day, massive cloud formations started to break over the horizon...
We spent our first night at the Hakuun Dake tentsite. After a whole night of heavy rain and winds buckling our tent over, we decided to head towards the edge of the park. The second day was much more challenging than I could have imagined. We spent the whole day working towards Ishimuro Cabin which is the most comfortable cabin in Daisetsuzan and has the easiest escape route out of the park. I just had no idea how difficult it would be to get there. The entire day, we were confronted with stinging rain and wind gusts nearly capable of knocking you off your feet. The normal route from Hakuun Dake to Ishumuro Cabin normally takes only a couple of hours. But, about 20 minutes from the cabin, we found the trail ending at a collapsed snow bridge, about 50 feet above an angry river. Because of poor visibility and extremely slippery snowfield conditions, we were forced to make a 5 hour detour along a safer route. Even the safer route got the better of me. At one point, I lost my footing and took a 50-meter tumble with my 50lb pack down a 30-degree snowfield. Luckily, I escaped with a bruised leg and a broken backpack strap. About an hour later, we arrived at Ishimuro Cabin, cold, wet, and tired. As can always be expected, the Japanese folks at the cabin took care of us and ensured we got warmed up and fed. Due to the weather, we were forced to spend 2 nights at Ishimuro Cabin. On day 4, we hiked out of the park under sunny skies. We spent our 4th night at a cozy youth hostel in Sounkyo Gorge. Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures after the morning of day 2 due to water getting into my camera lens.
That's right...not even Chuck Norris.....
It started out with an 8 hour train ride to Asawikawa and a 1-hour taxi ride to Asahidake Onsen. We camped our first night at the base of Asahidake (Mount Asahi).
Now, that's a badass shemagh. If you don't know about the shemagh, you probably don't have a need to know. Not even Chuck Norris ever wore a shemagh. That's right, not even Chuck Norris.
On the lookout for Hokkaido Brown Bears on our way up Asahidake.
While I expected to see more snow being up there a month earlier than last year, I was really impressed by the size of the icefields remaining in July. They made for some challenging traverses.
Angelica was a trooper the whole trip...
Pretty flowers...
Beautiful mountain vistas....
Late on the first day, massive cloud formations started to break over the horizon... 
We spent our first night at the Hakuun Dake tentsite. After a whole night of heavy rain and winds buckling our tent over, we decided to head towards the edge of the park. The second day was much more challenging than I could have imagined. We spent the whole day working towards Ishimuro Cabin which is the most comfortable cabin in Daisetsuzan and has the easiest escape route out of the park. I just had no idea how difficult it would be to get there. The entire day, we were confronted with stinging rain and wind gusts nearly capable of knocking you off your feet. The normal route from Hakuun Dake to Ishumuro Cabin normally takes only a couple of hours. But, about 20 minutes from the cabin, we found the trail ending at a collapsed snow bridge, about 50 feet above an angry river. Because of poor visibility and extremely slippery snowfield conditions, we were forced to make a 5 hour detour along a safer route. Even the safer route got the better of me. At one point, I lost my footing and took a 50-meter tumble with my 50lb pack down a 30-degree snowfield. Luckily, I escaped with a bruised leg and a broken backpack strap. About an hour later, we arrived at Ishimuro Cabin, cold, wet, and tired. As can always be expected, the Japanese folks at the cabin took care of us and ensured we got warmed up and fed. Due to the weather, we were forced to spend 2 nights at Ishimuro Cabin. On day 4, we hiked out of the park under sunny skies. We spent our 4th night at a cozy youth hostel in Sounkyo Gorge. Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures after the morning of day 2 due to water getting into my camera lens.
That's right...not even Chuck Norris..... 
