A couple of days, a couple of adventures (minor ones that is).
Monday afternoon, after Stone's brief afternoon nap, I loaded him into the backpack, applied the requisite SPF two trillion sunscreen and took off from the house. The plan was to walk the ~5km route around the local Japanese defense base, taking a small side trip to a shrine that I had been seeing up on a hill. Stone enjoyed the initial part of the hike as we were on a sidewalk by a busy (for this part of the world) road, so every few minutes a vehicle would motor by giving him great pleasure.
We arrived at the entrance to the shrine and up we went. While this was by no means the most strenuous hill climb we have done, it was a bit exciting in the end. After walking around getting some photos I was circling back to a shed that contained lots of small statues (used for various celebrations I assume). As I stepped over a section of roots about twenty or so bees came up from ground level ... they were not attacking ... simply heading out for errands. I took a couple of big steps back (somehow missing the roots I stepped over) and realized we were not under siege. So I snapped a couple of photos and back down the hill we went.
The rest of the hike was uneventful, to the point that Stone got bored. He tried taking my hat off for me a number of times, and due to the drawstring holding it on my head, he had no success. So, he then figured out how to pull the supports out for the canopy that covers him in the backpack. With a support in each hand, for the last ten or so minutes of the hike back to the house I was rhythmically beaten in the back of the head while being laughed at ... just a gentle reminder not to give him sharp objects when he is in the backpack.
That afternoon while grilling and playing outside we had the door to the house open as the weather was perfect and the breeze was nice. I was going back into get something from the garage when I was greeted by one of these buzzing about the entry way to the house. Stone was far enough away (outside) and I asked Joan to keep him away. Fortunately the doors to the house were closed, as chasing and wrestling one of these is not on my to do list while in Japan. I simply went in and he/she was trying to get out, so we simply passed each other in the doorway and it took off into the sky. While the size is rather intimidating, they are quite slow, thus a bit easier to deal with should you have to.
Tuesday I was able to get a ride in during the day as Stone was watched by Mike, a coworker of Joan's. I went back to one of the off road / forest road trails that I had explored last year, successfully. I thought that most of the snow would have been melted at this point, and that was in fact the case. However, there were multiple sections of the road partially or completely obstructed by slides. The most significant required a bit of up and over navigation. Fortunately others had been hiking the area previously, so a path was mostly visible. After clearing the pile of living debris I continued up into the hills. I knew there was no chance of seeing a vehicle up there, so I was able to ride without that potential obstacle to consider. Other than the tracks I was leaving, there were no other signs of humans up there with the exception of a set of tracks left by a motorbike. Which, told me that the path was relatively clear down the other side (as it would not be possible to get a motorcycle over the pile I cleared). It was immensely serene as I wound my way up, around and down the various hillsides. At best you could see the old road clearly. At worst there was no visible road as the fallen leaves from last year combined with growth from this year completely obstructed any sign of the gravel / dirt underneath the tires. I had not been able to "complete" a loop yet this year, and it felt great to be out there knowing that it was simply me and the mountain. based on the amount of damage to the road, I do not foresee vehicle traffic here for a while, so only those on foot or two wheels have a place to explore and play for the summer. I did not realize until I was back at the van that I had the perfect ride ... my rear tire was flattening as I prepared to return home. A great mid day ride indeed.
Pics from the hike.
Pics from the ride.
Jeff
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