Day 36: (19 km) Saku - Mt. Tateshina
(09/03/06)
We spent most of the day at our last Nagano event, the Saku International Festival. It was a good time for a while, with various foods and some interesting people to talk to. the festival, I met an ALT from St. Paul who raved about it. When I mentioned that I would be living on Grand Ave though, he hesitantly mentioned that it was a pretty "uptown" sort of area. While I'm still happy about being there, I am a bit worried about being stuck in yuppie hell. Still, it has to be better than the suburbs.
Around four we finally made it out of the festival and headed out to the mountains. Amy had gone ahead to Toyama a couple days before and Ayako was having leg trouble so she wasn't up for climbing through a mountain pass. Down to just Mary, Chay, and me, we climbed to about 1800 meters and found a spot to camp in a little bus stop waiting area. The tent fit, but barely. The climb was tough, the first real challenge of the ride. By the time we stopped it was dark cold. I had to warm my hands just to be able to open my panniers. Sitting around the burner, warming ourselves with chili, it felt like real camping for the first time since I was alone in Hokkaido.
And it was cold. So, so cold. Even with a sleeping bag it would have been cold, but I had sent mine back with Emily nearly a month ago. We bundled up in our warmest clothes and crammed ourselves into Mary's two-man tent, but even with all our body heat and post-chili methane it was cold. Hell of a good night though.
(09/03/06)
(Anri and Mrs. Hayashi)
We spent most of the day at our last Nagano event, the Saku International Festival. It was a good time for a while, with various foods and some interesting people to talk to. the festival, I met an ALT from St. Paul who raved about it. When I mentioned that I would be living on Grand Ave though, he hesitantly mentioned that it was a pretty "uptown" sort of area. While I'm still happy about being there, I am a bit worried about being stuck in yuppie hell. Still, it has to be better than the suburbs.
(Training tomorrow's warriors today)
Around four we finally made it out of the festival and headed out to the mountains. Amy had gone ahead to Toyama a couple days before and Ayako was having leg trouble so she wasn't up for climbing through a mountain pass. Down to just Mary, Chay, and me, we climbed to about 1800 meters and found a spot to camp in a little bus stop waiting area. The tent fit, but barely. The climb was tough, the first real challenge of the ride. By the time we stopped it was dark cold. I had to warm my hands just to be able to open my panniers. Sitting around the burner, warming ourselves with chili, it felt like real camping for the first time since I was alone in Hokkaido.
And it was cold. So, so cold. Even with a sleeping bag it would have been cold, but I had sent mine back with Emily nearly a month ago. We bundled up in our warmest clothes and crammed ourselves into Mary's two-man tent, but even with all our body heat and post-chili methane it was cold. Hell of a good night though.
posted by Rob at 9:43 PM
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