After reaching camp I started to set up quickly. It wasn’t the best spot due to high wind, but the view was great. I got the ground sheet down and the tent up. The tent is really old and not trustworthy enough if it rains so I also brought a large blue sheet to cover the tent and give us a small place to sit outside and cook if it does rain. It worked great as a wind guard too.
After the tent was up I went off in search of a good stick to prop up the front of the blue sheet, at the same time I looked for a place to hang the bear bag. It was getting close to dusk so before cooking we hung the bear bag line.
Dinner consisted of individual curry packs with plain rice balls. We had a different kind each. I had the Indo Curry, which was pretty tasty although a little runny. We also had coffee and hot chocolate with that. It was a good hot meal!
Once the dishes were done we hung the bear bag with all of our food packed in it as well as the dish soap, toothpaste, and snacks. Let’s hope it’s still there in the morning!
The night was very windy and the blue sheet was constantly whipping against the side of the tent for a bit of a noisy night. At one point the tarp knocked 5 times against the tent so perfectly that we were sure it was a large animal. We both jumped! Xavier and the dogs slept soundly after the big hike, but mommy couldn’t sleep well because of the bad sleeping pad we were using. I only have a very thin foam pad, which is comfortable but does not insulate well from the cold ground. That will be next on the gear list!
At 4:00 I woke straight up. I could hear large animal sounds nearby. It sounded like animal snoring while breathing. I decided to get up and check the perimeter. I got outside and checked all around the camp, but couldn’t see anything. The sounds continued and at dawn I got up again to see the sun rise and take a better look around the camp. I found a lot of old scat, and one fairly new pile, which seemed to be from a bear!
Well after getting down the bear bag and having a couple cups of coffee I started packing up some of the camp, Xavier was still sleeping. The morning was sunny but the clouds were moving really fast. The radio said there would be chance of rain so we got Xavier up and made breakfast, Oatmeal with Maple Syrup. After washing up and getting the packs together we were off.
I was running around picking up small items for our trek. I was looking for small water tight containers for things like sugar, coffee, matches etc. I finally made a great score at the Max Value camera shop… old film roll containers. I used them a long time ago in Canada. They work great for sorting and keeping things water tight. They can hold anything from coffee to matches. I used them on this trip for three things, one for our instant coffee, another for fishing line and hooks, and one for the extra caps for our bear deterrent cap guns.
I looked everywhere in Odate for good rain gear for kids and of course I did not find any. I knew I wouldn’t before I started, but decided to try anyway. If there is one thing you can rely on in Japan it’s that there is nothing decent for kids except in specialty stores. I wish they sold good quality shoes, boots, and gear for kids, but it seems you can only find really low quality anpanman items. So we took an afternoon drive to mont-bell in Hirosaki to get rain gear for Xavier. We got a great rain gear set for him so he’ll be as cozy as a bear in the woods if it rains. We also decided to pick mommy up some good rain gear, and daddy needed some cool gear like climbing rope, push clips, and a camp towel. Oh, we also grabbed a snake bite kit for the first-aid kit.
Mont-bell had some wonderful staff. The first day we went there I was surprised to hear a “May I help you?” in English. They were very friendly even after I had them opening up all sorts of sleeping bags just too see the difference. When we returned today for the rain gear they helped out a lot sizing up a good one for mommy. Takeru who had spent some time in New Zealand told me the difference between some of the Gortex rain jackets. At the end I almost forgot to ask for a photo. Luckily we got one! He also offered to take us up Iwate-san. I am looking forward to that!
Now it is time to sort the gear and prepare the packs for Xavier’s first trek tomorrow!