August 7, 2012

Road Trip out West . Day 2

Kurobe Dam and Mt. Tateyama

We woke up early this morning and had pancakes, eggs, and bacon for breakfast.  The great thing about camping on this side of Japan in the summer is the pleasant weather.  There was no humidity and the air smelt a bit fresher.  It also wasn't freezing when we woke up which was nice.  I do love camping but I also love to be able to have a nice bathroom to use when I am camping.  Lucky for us there was a great bathroom set up just up the road from our campsite.  The bathhouse included separate toilet areas and shower areas.  There was also two sets of small washer/dryer units if one wanted to do laundry.  And since it is Japan there were vending machines.  I took advantage of the shower this morning while the kids played around for a bit before we all piled in the car and headed north towards Mt. Tateyama. 




Once we reached Ogizawa Station we bought our tickets for the long trek up to Morodo which was at the base of Mt. Tateyama.  First, we rode the trolley bus through the mountain to get to Kurobe Dam.  Once there we got out and walked down to view the damn and then across the dam to the other side.  Abby was having a bit of a breakdown so we tried doing 1,2,3 swing with her.  Mike took it to the next level and said 1,2,3, Dam It since we were on top of the dam.  She loved it and so did everyone else.  We told the kids they could say "dam it" all the way across the dam.  It was quite humurous. 




Once on the other side of the dam we walked inside the entrance to the next mountain so we could get on the trolley which took us to the top of the next mountain.  From there we got on the cable car that took us between the two adjoining mountains.  We all loved the cable car because we could see the beautiful scenery.  The other modes of transportation were all under ground so there wasn't much to see.  Once we made it to Mt. Tateyama we took one more trolley bus to get to the other side of the mountain where the majority of the climbing trails were located.  We weren't quite sure what the weather was going to be like as some of the stations were a bit overcast.  To our surprise it was sunny with big white puffy clouds and lots of blue sky.  This area reminded us of Mt. Rainier.  It was so beautiful with wildflowers everywhere, climbing trails galore and snow covered areas of the mountain.  We took the trail less traveled as we didn't want to be in a sea of Japanese hikers.  It was the perfect trail for us.  All would have been perfect but Abby decided to throw a fit because she didn't want to walk.  We tried distracting her with songs and other things but eventually Mike just picked her up and carried her.  It was down right hilarous as he just flung her over his back like a sack of potatoes.  Andrew, Peter, and Emma, on the other hand, were speedy hikers and we actually had to tell them to slow down and wait for us.  We found a couple of different snowy banks to the side of the trail and took some time to play in the snow.  We hiked up as far as the trail would take us without going too steep up the mountain, ate a snack, and then turned around to head back to Murodo Station.  Everyone was all smiles today even though it was quite a trek to get to the base of the mountain to hike.  It was all worth it, though, just to be in familiar surroundings again.  We just love hiking in the mountains.   

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