I hadn't planned to climb mountains at all this holiday, but sitting in the bay in Utoro eating breakfast, the ridge of the Shiretoko mountain range sharp and so clear in the morning sky in the background, it was too hard to resist. I had no boots, so I climbed in runners.
The weather was good so it didn't matter.
In fact, I felt as light and nimble on the trail as I ever have. The trail itself, as Ted said, was incredibly well maintained and the day beautiful.
There's a patch of 650 meters that is littered with ants' nests. Ants taste sweet. Bears like sweet tastes. Bears like ants. The Shiretoko peninsula contains the densest population of bears in Japan. Brown bears at that. More than 650 of them at last count.
The fellow explaining hiking courses at the Iwaobetsu Hostel warned all of us potential climbers about the danger of that part of the trail. It was almost as if he was encouraging people not to go. An old couple from Chiba in Hokkaido to climb the Hokkaido part of the 100 famous mountains pulled out the next morning.
I understand why. I had the biggest case of the butterflies the night before, and that 650 meters was the scariest short distance I've ever had in the mountains. But the bell must have worked because I didn't see any bears that day. And when you're tired enough you forget about them. I experienced exactly the same thing last year on Tomuraushi, which I still consider the king of the mountains of Hokkaido.
This year, though, I was more prepared.
If there's one thing I've learned about the mountains of Hokkaido, it's this: You leave early. I was on the trail before six. 1,600 meters in Hokkaido is the equivalent of 3,00 meters on Honshu, and you don't want to be (a) caught on the mountain after dark or (b) stuck up there in bad weather. And the best way to avoid both is an early start. Storms in Hokkaido, in my experience, happen often, and always seem to happen in the afternoon. That day was no exception. The skies opened around four, by which time I was already lounging safely in the murky bath of the Iwaobetsu Hostel.
The rocks at the top of Rausu are reasonably dangerous, though nothing serious really, and the peak was crowded with a bunch of group hikers, but all in all Rausu was a beautiful bearless hike in the green mountains of Shiretoko.
My closest friend in Japan reckons my face changes in the mountains. Without wanting to sound ridiculous, I feel different there and I don't know why. Bike tours, as great as they are, will just never compare.
Photos in the gallery.
Posted by Setsunai at September 5, 2005 9:34 PM