Week 12 - Sounkyo

For a long while, I had been studying the maps around Kitami and after talking with Mr. Bozek, the English teacher who'd done his share of touring Hokkaido in the past as well, I became convinced that Sounkyo was where I wanted to ride to. It was supposedly an onsen village in a valley right next to the Daisetsuzan mountain range, which was also the host to the tallest mountains in whole of Hokkaido. Asahi-dake, peaking at 2290 meters, was to be my final destination. So, after coming back to Kitami on a late Monday evening and spending a good while packing my stuff on the cycle bags, I was good to go and ready to sleep.

I decided to skip all my classes for that week, obviously. I just chose to leave on this particular week since the English lessons had been canceled and I didn't want to skip them any more than I already had, so it was the only choice for me until August to spend a whole week away from Kitami. That's not to say I wouldn't have been absent from the other classes, but it's just that the teaching methods of Mr. Bozek are quite spartan, especially when it comes to skipping class.

Petri was awake for one reason or another, around 7:30am when I was about to leave. He helped me carry the bags downstairs and at exactly 8 am, off I went. The morning traffic was not that bad and as soon as I got out of the central Kitami area, the cycling turned out to be quite enjoyable once again. I went about 40 km to a village called Rubeshibe, from where I bought the butane gas which I was still missing. By a coincidence, there was an English-speaking Japanese woman watering the flowers outside that shop and we had a chat for some time. It turned out she was actually a restaurant manager, but landed on a temporary job before heading for France to open a new restaurant.

I didn't make it far until taking another break, just around 15 km away from Rubeshibe, there is an onsen village called Onnenoyu, to which I had cycled before as well. In that village, I just filled my water bottle, ate a bowl of soba, the worst I'd ever had, really, and quickly escaped the tourist trap to make my way up to the mountains. I needed the energy, though - lately, I've been constantly hungry, which is due to a couple of things - cycling consumes a lot of energy and the portions in Japanese restaurants, fast food shops and even supermarkets are just too small. Sure, you can get a super size, but most likely, you can't afford it. The food is just too expensive here. On my backpacking trip a year back, there were a few 20-something English teachers who argued the exact opposite, but then again, they were working and could afford it.

After about 60km from Kitami, the steep, steep uphill started. Until then, it was all easy and even with extra 15 kg on the bike, it was no problem. However, the climbing lasted for a good ten kilometers and I can tell it was the most intense cycling I've done. I didn't time it, but from around sea level, I rose up to 1050m, to Sekihoku toge. Not stopping was hardly an option. I was all drained out of energy, just like in computer games. Luckily, I had the countermeasure, a power-up, handy. I ate half of a PowerBar, some kind of energy snack, a lot of peanuts, drunk a lot of water and I was ready to go again. On the top, I ate something with and odd resemblance to hot dogs and started the descent. In fact, all the way to Sounkyo was just that, constant downhill, occasional straight road and a tiny bump back up again.

There were some dangers on the way, though. A triplet of tunnels neatly divided the distance into something more bearable, because I knew that the next windless, completely even hole in the mountain was going to be always close enough to reach. It's just that the first tunnel, albeit short, didn't have a sidewalk at all, so it was really dangerous driving there. I had lights, obviously, but they were 100 yen lights. In euros, that would be something like 50 cents. They don't exactly provide illumination, just so that the car driver might see you, possibly. If you're lucky.

Still alive and breathing, I made it through the tunnels with ease and arrived to Sounkyo around 3 p.m. The total distance was 96 km and I had covered it, including a multitude of breaks, in seven hours. That was slow. Without counting the breaks, it would be somewhere around six. Still, the insane climb up to one kilometer was somewhat devastating for timing. I felt like not moving at all, but I never really wanted to stop, because every time I did, my muscles ached so badly that I didn't want to start moving again.

In Sounkyo, I had planned to get up to the mountain on the same day and lodge at the mountain hut, which was supposedly free or almost free. So, I went to ask around about them, but the reality hit me in the face right there - the huts were closed, too much snow. I had packed all my camping stuff with me and now all that was useless. I didn't know what to do about it at first, but a lady at the tourist information center readily suggested me to sleep in the parking center if I looked for cheap accommodation. I didn't buy it at first but the next alternative was spending 3000 yen on a youth hostel and after visiting that place, I had come to the conclusion that I didn't want to go there. So, I headed for the parking lot instead right after visiting an onsen in the middle of the resort town.

Sounkyo was really for tourists only. Some things in the city were aimed for long-term tourists, but it also served those who just stopped by while driving through the mountain range. There were restaurants, handicraft shops, other souvenirs, a post office and an easy access to all the main sights. Then, there was not much else, disregarding hotels. That's Sounkyo. It's still a nice place though and I might go there again while cycling to Sapporo in the summer. It's not like there would be much choice, anyway - the next town, Kamikawa, is even further away and who knows what kind of paths one must take to get there.

After a night of not many hours of sleep, I woke up early, around four in the morning, to climb up to the mountain, or at least as far as I could go. At least it meant going up to the ropeway's end station, up to 1300 meters. Bozek had said it would take only "a few hours" to get all the way to the closest peak, Kurodake, so I was determined to go there even if the cottages were closed. I started walking up through the ghostly, silent village to a road on the mountainside and upon arrival to where the map said the hiking path was supposed to be, I couldn't find one. All I found was a dried-up tiny stream which looked enough like a path to me to climb. So up I went and eventually, I managed to cross the real path too. I didn't know if it was the real hiking path or just a maintenance path for the ropeway towers and cables, but at least it would surely take me to the top.

I went up as fast as I could and since I had felt cold in the morning, I had put on my wind/waterproof jacket and pants. The pants were a good idea, since I didn't have any options in the first place, but the jacket was a mistake. By the time I was halfway through, I was sweating so much that the shirt I wore underneath was completely covered in sweat. Sure, the jacket was waterproof, both ways.

The path itself was really scary all the time. It was about 60 degrees elevation at times and due to that, there were ropes attached to some of the sturdier trees to help the hiker get up. Obviously, there were no fences or anything of the sort. Definitely, it was a real mountain.

By the time I got close to the ropeway station, more and more snow was on the ground. It was all solid, but slippery enough to lead a careless stride a long way down and to a certain paraplegic state. So, I went slowly and carefully for the last odd meters. It was around 6 am by the time I was almost on top, just about five meters short from the plateau. At this time, the first gondola brought the employees of the ropeway company up on the hill and I stopped too, since I didn't want to seem like struggling in the snow (which I really was). So I just stopped, leaned to the snow and holding my legs against a curved tree, bending up through the said snow. I looked around to seek for a path up. I figured out how to get there and the employees in the gondola figured out about my presence, too. They pointed at me and looked intensely, but after their gondola stopped next to the building and I climbed up at the same time, they didn't come after me or anything. So, I went to mind my own business, taking some pictures of the mountains.

Week 11 - Preparation

As it may be obvious by now, the subject of this blog has become less and less about studies and more and more about cycling. So, it is only proper to dedicate this post to list a few things required to do just that, cycle around Hokkaido and finally, all around Japan.

I spent this week looking for prices and buying lots of things. By the end of the week (that is, Sunday), I had bought two more cycling bags and a front carrier for my bike, a sleeping bag, an inflator mat, wind/waterproof clothes, a bear bell (for scaring them away), a camp cooker and gas as well as some kinds of dry food needed for camping. Then, I bought a map of Daisetsuzan area too and planned to go there on the week after. The only real important thing I lacked was a tent, but because the whole area around the mountains was supposed to be covered with mountain huts, I didn't worry about it so much. In fact, I counted on the fact that the huts would be there and didn't believe my ears when, after cycling 100km to Sounkyo, a valley resort between the mountains, the officials told me how the huts are still closed because there's too much snow. They were not supposed to open until after three weeks or so. I won't go so much into detail here though, just to point out that a person with any sense would call first and ask about it before going on such a trip.

Anyway, so, I didn't have any of this camping stuff before coming to Japan. I bought everything here, except for the big backpack. I will proceed to list some prices which may or may not be interesting for someone planning to do the same thing. The prices are in yen, obviously, and may not be exactly correct either, but should be close enough to.

Camping gear

Backback (70l) - Brought from Finland
Warm clothes - Brought from Finland
Cooking unit - 4000y
Cooking gas (butane) - from 400y to 900y, depending on the can size
Bear bell - about 1000y
Sleeping bag (Mont Bell) - 11 000y
Inflator mat (Coleman) - 5000y
Wind/waterproof clothes (Mizuno) - 11 000y
Map of Daisetsuzan - 1000y
Map of Hokkaido - gift from a Japanese man, real cost probably 500-1000y

So, the total cost here is around 40k yen, depending on how much gas you intend to spend. Here, you need to remember that the tent will be costly - from 15000y to 30000y, obviously depending on its quality and size. Since sleeping in a youth hostel costs around 2500 y/night on average, sleeping ten nights in the tent would pay its money back. However, other options like the cheapest capsule hotels might be as cheap as 1000y and on urban areas, camping is difficult (or costly) anyway, so it's a good idea to really consider if you need the tent or not.

Cycling gear

Bike - Panasonic MTB - 5000y (from a recycling shop in Kitami)
Helmet - DGK, 7000y
New tires - 7000y
Front carrier - 6800y
Front bags - 6500y
Rear bags - 6800y
New saddle - 1600y
Cycle bag (for transport in bus, plane etc) - 5000y
Bottle holder and bottle - 2500y
Tools and front/back lights - 1400y
Cycling clothes (shirt/pants) - 12000y

So, the cycling stuff is about 60k yen, including the cycle. This is still pretty cheap considering that a new cycle is actually around this price range, and you'd still have to buy the touring gear anyway, which counts for the most of this sum (my cycle has only cost about 14000y and it is still well below even the cheapest good cycles which could be considered for touring).

I only know of two good cycling shops in the places I have went to. One is in Kitami, Satou Pro Cycle Shop (or something), on the main street, about five kilometers from the Institute. The other shop, a zillion times more well-equipped one, is in Obihiro. It's called Kakouchi Velo and has all kinds of cycling gear available without a need to order anything. The prices are not too bad, either, so it's obviously a better choice of the two. However, I guess this is not a good option for most people wanting to go on exchange program in Kitami, since they probably don't have much of a reason for going to Obihiro.

In euros, the total sum for both sets of gear I currently have is around 620e, so it's still quite feasible, and I only really need the tent until being able to go pretty much anywhere. I still have to make plans about it though - I don't want to spend that amount of money unless I really can't avoid it. In comparison, just the living costs of staying in cheap hotels, hostels or even dorms can easily go above 500e in one month, not to mention the travelling expenses. So, my summer holiday is about two months, from August to end of September. Aside that, there's a great deal of free time for me to spend all around Japan during this summer and next autumn, both good seasons for travelling. So, why not?