MOUNT HAKKODA WALK

7th April 2007

My 2nd trip to Mount Hakkoda, with the Takahashis again! Back in summer, they brought Wade and I there for a hike & picnic. This time, most of my ALTS are at a futsal tournament in Aomori. Thus I asked Kaoru if I can bring Felicia along as I knew she was interested in going for the Walk. My ever-so-kind nihon-no-mama (Japanese mum) agreed readily so Felicia took a bus to my apartment early in morning and from there, the Takahashis and Kaoru's friend came to pick us up.
It was a lovely day, not too hot nor was it very cold. As we drove closer towards Mt Hakkoda, the fields gave way to snow walls that were a few metres tall!

We stopped by the road to climb up the thick snow just to see what's the view like on top...The stairs leading up the slope can barely be seen so we had to literally climb up the stairs. Wow! Check out the pic on the right! The thick snow even covered the toilet so we could only see the roof! That's the entrance of the toilet! So you can imagine the amount of snow we were stepping on! We also managed to get a beautiful view of the snow-capped mountains opposite. Climbing up was ok but after we were done snapping pictures, the climb down was so difficult! I was the last to go down the stairs and unfortunately, I slipped & slided down the stairs, hitting Felicia who was in front of me. Luckily, all of us were uninjured! heh heh...

We had lunch at a small soba shop before we started the hike. Mr Takahashi whipped out these "snow shoes" (I don't know the actual name of the equipment but Kaoru calls it "snow shoes" so I'll just follow ママ...) from his car. Since he owns a sports equipment shop, he has many pairs of these interesting shoes that requires one to strap one's shoes to the "snow shoes" as a base thus making it easier to walk in the snow. He also had snow poles for each of us. After we finished strapping our shoes to the "snow shoes", we trodded towards a small stream where Mr Takahashi explained that it is a small spring from the mountain so after some processing, this water is drinkable. Must be really fresh!

On our way back, we stopped by an onsen where all the ladies went for a bath while Mr Takahashi went skiing for about an hour. He is really fit for his age! Hope Papa would be as active as him. It's also nice thatMr Takahashi often go on road trips with his wife whenever he takes leave.

Ohhh nothing is better than a hot bath after being in the cold... Feel so refreshed! When we returned to Hach, Felicia and I had our dinner at Lapia. We were both too tired to cook for the night.

Great day at the mountains! 日本のママ 、ありがとうね!