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| Yokohama-machi |
One of my most interesting summer adventures this year was a long-distance bicycle trip my friend and I embarked upon. We took the trip in mid-August, starting in Aomori City and riding northward along the edge of the beautiful Shimokita Peninsula (下北半島, Shimokitahantou). Our main stops included Noheji, Kayataira, Mutsu City, Kawauchi, Sai, and Hotokegaura (see map). The whole trip spanned just three days since we had to fit it in between our work days. But in that period we managed to cover about 250 km (155 mi), before hopping on a train for the last leg of our return trip. My friend, Patrick, rode a blue single-speed road bike; I rode a black 24-gear mountain bike--neither of which were ideal for the type of geography we encountered but it worked for us.
Day 1
On the morning of our first day, the weather was fantastic. The sun was shining bright, the skies were deep blue, and it wasn't terribly hot. Both Patrick and I don't have any panniers or bicycle-mounted racks for our gear, so we simply used hiking backpacks. This turned out to be okay for us, but I certainly wouldn't recommend it for such a trip. Despite trying to pack lightly, there were just too many essential items we simply had to bring, such as multiple liters of water, bike tools, clothes, etc. The two of us were in good physical shape but going up mountains with a heavy bag wasn't very fun. Nonetheless, we prepped our bikes one last time and got on our way.
Our first main stop was Noheji Beach (野辺地海水浴場, Noheji kaisuiyokuba). One of the observations I made about this area was that fishing seemed to be a really big part of people's lives. Approaching the beach, there were vast amounts of glass fishing floats, nets, and small fishing boats. Anyway, it was a good rest spot. We put our feet in the water to cool off, ate some snacks, and chilled out for a bit. Once we felt re-energized, we set out on the road again.
A couple hours later, we came across an amazing shrine in Kayataira, Yokohama-Machi. This particular shine is called a Hachiman Jinja (八幡神社), which is a specific type of Shinto shrine. From my understanding, it is dedicated to a god believed to be a protector or guardian of warriors, Japanese people, and Japan in general. The atmosphere there was incredibly peaceful; I felt like we entered an entirely different world.
After relaxing there for awhile, we took off again until we reached Mutsu City. By this time the sun was setting so we decided to stay there for the night. We discussed some different options regarding where to sleep, but since we were drenched in sweat, exhausted, and hungry for real food, we quickly decided to just split the cost of a nearby hotel room. We went to a local okonomiyaki restaurant for dinner and then stopped at a quiet bar for a beer and a couple rounds of darts before returning to the hotel for the night.
Day 2
The next morning we slept-in, and although we got a bit of a late start, the long rest was nice. Once on our way, we unexpectedly spotted a variety of military ships and planes just outside of the city. It turns out this was the Ominato Guard District (大湊警備府), a major Japanese navel base used extensively around the time of World War II. The base is currently used by the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force (海上自衛隊). Interestingly, we saw the Japanese "rising sun" flag being flown on some of the ships. This flag is considered offensive to some people, so Patrick and I were a little surprised to see it there. Nevertheless, We took some pictures and continued towards our next destination, Kawauchi (川内町, Kawauchi-Machi).
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| Kawauchi Beach |
In Kawauchi, we stopped at a great beach in the center of town. We relaxed and refueled here for awhile and then continued on our way. But just as we got out of the city and into the middle of nowhere, it started to rain heavily. There was really nothing we could since we didn't have rain suits or shelter, so we simply keep going until we reached a tiny little village called Ienobe. We were soaking wet by this time, but still took cover by a little shop until the rain subsided. A half hour later, we were on our way again.
Our main goal for the day was to reach a small fishing town called Sai Village (佐井村, Sai-Mura). It's not too far from Ienobe, but the mountainous terrain slowed us down substantially. Thankfully, we were still able to reach it by nightfall. There, we checked out the local port, grabbed some snacks and beer at a convenient store, then went to a nearby campground. We had our own sleeping bags but we were hoping to rent a tent. Unfortunately, they didn't have any such rentals, so we had to sleep under a camp pavilion. It covered us from the rain, but didn't protect us from the annoying mosquitos buzzing around our heads all night. So althought we couldn't sleep much, we did catch a spectacular lightening show in the distance. We departed the campsite as the sun was rising.
Day 3
The morning was a little grey, and cool--not particularly pretty but good for biking up and over big mountains. Our destination was Hotokegaura (仏ヶ浦), a scenic area of naturally-carved rock formations beside the sea. The empty road leading there was surrounded by nothing but mountains and trees. There were certainly no shops or rest areas; only nature. Japanese macaques actually live in these mountains, and we even came across a group of them sitting by the road. They were very shy but happily I was able to get one decent photo.
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| Wild Japanese Macaque in northwest Shimokita |
Ascending the mountains on our bikes was tough. Some of the inclines were very steep, but even the more tolerable inclines seemed to keep going and going forever. However, once we did reach the peaks, the ride down was awesome. We continued going like this for awhile. We began to get very hungry since we didn't have anywhere to eat breakfast until that point. Our water also ran out. But with nothing around, we had to keep going and hope that our destination had a small shop to refuel ourselves. Past the halfway point, the clouds broke open and the sun revealed itself. We used the opportunity to capture some photos of the gorgeous terrain.
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| Shimokita's beautiful terrain |
Eventually, we reached Hotokegaura. After a pretty exhaustive bike ride through the mountains, it felt great to arrive there. You can get a good view of the rock formations from above, so we took a view snapshots there and then zoomed down the rest of the mountain to see the formations up close.
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| Hotokegaura in the distance |
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| My friend, Patrick, walking next to one of the massive rock formations |
Hotokegaura translates to, "the coasts of Buddha." It's called this because Japanese people believe that the various rock features resemble Buddhist figures or other imagery. Many of the formations even have names referring to their representations. Although personally I didn't always perceive this kind of imagery in all of the rocks, I did manage to see some of it. One such formation was called, "eagle." Aside from the typical imagery, I also perceived certain figures of my own. For instance, I thought one particular formation looked like a creepy, monster-like, screaming face (see picture below).
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| Left: "Eagle"; Right: Screaming face (?) |
We spent some time relaxing by the sea--the weather was lovely, and we could feel a refreshing breeze while listening to the waves crash against the boardwalk on which we were laying down. But our time walking near the actual formations was cut short as thousands of pesky bugs seemingly came out of nowhere and started attacking us. We tried to use bug spray and walk swiftly but doing such didn't seem to phase the crazy bugs. It quickly became unbearable and we literally sprinted out of there and ran back up to the road.
At this point, we were really thirsty and hungry. The only thing we could find was an old faucet attached to an abandoned, rusty shack. We hesitantly filled up on water as a precaution, since we didn't know how much farther we would have to ride until we would find a safer source or water or food. At one point the road split and we had to decide which way to go. I made the decision and it turned out to be a very good one, as the rode was mostly gradually downhill and provided tree cover from the sun. I really enjoyed this section or riding; the geography was very pretty with lots of trees and valleys, and then later rolling hills and grasslands. Eventually we did come across a nice visitor's center which had cafeteria-style restaurant. There, we practically had a small feast and drank liters of water. It was a truly fantastic rest.
Rested and refueled, the rest of the bike ride felt easy and fast-paced. We made excellent timing as we made it very quickly to the our next rest point, Kawauchi Beach. We had been there before just the previous day, but now we wanted to swim and really enjoy the beach. We spent a lot of time swimming and relaxing in the water. We each also used the nice shower facilities they have available there, then grabbed dinner at a nearby supermarket.
The final part of our ride was straightforward and before no time we had returned to Mutsu City once again. There, we bought cheap blue tarps, wrapped up our bikes, and boarded a train for Aomori. By late night, we had returned to Aomori. Our bike trip had gone by quickly but I feel like we gained many great experiences. Doing a long trip like this is really interesting. It gives you lots of opportunities to see many new things and explore new places, and perhaps most of all, it feels like a great accomplishment that few others can claim.
