The one that got away . . . again!

This is the second time I failed to bag Mt. Takatsuma.  

Maybe it's time to hire Quint. 🎣

 

The other day, Mrs. Caveman invited me camping.  ⛺ All she needed to say was, "Do people go camping even in this (fall🍁) season?"  

Being the sensitive spouse I am, I intuited all she wanted to convey.  ie, "Remember that place we went camping in the rain☔ last month and you couldn't hike because it was too wet?  Let's go there again this weekend."

To which I replied, "Mrs. Caveman💖, you always have the best ideas.💡"

(She really is a trooper to put up with me.)

Unfortunately, although the weather cooperated this time, my physical condition didn't.  We went to the Togakushi Campground on Friday with a plan for me to hike Mt. Takatsuma on Saturday.  Mrs. Caveman (who is an artist) would hang out in the campground sketching while I was climbing.  Things looked great on Friday.  The weather was spectacular and we had a nice day of sightseeing/leaf-peeping before setting up.  The problem started in the middle of the night in the tent.  I woke up around 1 a.m. with a pounding headache and didn't sleep a wink after that.  By the time the sun rose, I was not in the mood for any physical exertion and I thought it better to stay out of the mountains in case I was coming down with something serious.

We packed up and came home soon after breakfast.  Thwarted again.  

In case anyone is interested in doing the hike I was planning on, I will (re)post the template comments I'd started in anticipation of this hike.  It's one of the 100 Famous Mountains, so you should climb it if you want to say you're living your best life.

I'll also put up some pictures I took on our little jaunt.  We dropped by Lake Nojiri on the way up and it was a picture-perfect day for fall colors.  And, it was warm, too.  (Global warming gets such a bad rap.  I don't mind it.  Heck, maybe England will again have vineyards someday.)  Lake Nojiri has a boat tour.  (25 minutes, ￥1,400)  They discovered some elephant fossils in the lake so there is a museum.  We dropped into the Naumann Elephant Museum after the boat ride.  When we got to the campground, we took a walk and encountered some animals that are actually still alive.

Pics follow the template.

Location:  高妻山　Mt. Takatsuma Togakushi, Nagano

Starting and stopping point:  戸隠キャンプ場 Togakushi Campground

Peaks bagged: 

(First-time) peaks

Getting there/getting around:  

I drove.  Mrs. Caveman and I spent the night at the Togakushi Campground and I left our car there.  There is free parking near the trailhead for daytrippers.  Checkout is in the morning, but if you get the basecamp plan, they'll let you check out at 4:30 for just another 500 yen.

It is possible to get there by public transportation.  From Tokyo, take the Hokuriku Shinkansen to Nagano Station.  (Or you could take the bus from Shinjuku to Nagano Station.)  Change to the Nagano Togakushi Bus Line for the Togakushi Camp Ground.  Depending on your choice of routes, it should take between 4 and 6 hours and cost between 6,900 yen and 10,000 yen each way.

Map: 山と高原地図18 妙高・戸隠・雨飾 火打山・高妻山・信越トレイル

Weather Information: Japanese weather forecast

Total Time:   Break time:   Distance:  

Elevation:  Lowest:  Highest:  Total Ascent:   Total Descent: 

Technical considerations/difficulty:  

Facilities:  Togakushi Campground

Thoughts/observations/recommendations:

Today's listening: Bible in a Year

Here are some pics.

There are still some Cosmos at the lower elevations.

Lake Nojiri 野尻湖 Shinano, Nagano

Mt. Myoko (妙高山)

L. Mt. Kurohime (黒姫山--"Black Princess") R. Mt. Myoko

Uga Shrine on Biwa Island

Lake Nojiri Naumann Elephant Museum 野尻湖ナウマンゾウ博物館

Mrs. Caveman is the one with the little nose.

Cave art.  

Cave refrigerator paintings dug up at the archaeological site.

Giant deer from way back in the day in Nojiri looked like this.

Teeth.  Mandibles, to be precise.

More prehistoric cave paintings.  

It looks like it was fun back then.

Artistic rendering of how Bam Bam made tools from elephant bones.

In the last frame, he says something like "I did it." or "It's finished!"

Good job, Bam Bam.

This rack gets the Caveman's seal of approval.

I know where to do my clothes shopping now.

Togakushi Campsite and Ranch 戸隠キャンプ場・戸隠牧場

I was a bit surprised to see this guy in November.

The mountains I've yet to trod.

Sigh.

Home away from home.

69 degrees Fahrenheit is 20.5 degrees Celsius.  It was balmy.

I don't know what this is, but it's cool.

Walking through the pasture, we encountered a bunch of these guys.

As the crow flies, this is only 30 km or so from where the famous snow monkeys 

are so these must be the same kind of monkey.

When I spotted these monkeys lollygagging across the pasture, I remembered my days in the army.  I had this strange urge to call in a fire mission on troops in the open.

It would serve them right for not taking advantage of cover and concealment.

Back to the campsite for some grub.

The campground is well-stocked.  You can buy or rent anything you don't have.  They'll even sell you the meat/ingredients you need for a barbecue.  It's super expensive to buy their food, though.  We supplied our food from the supermarket for about 10% of what we would had to pay them.  I bought the grill just the other day from a recycle shop for ￥1,000 yen (about $6~7).  It must have been bought and returned.  Hence it ended up in a recycle shop.  It's a win for the caveman.

By the way, if you're in Japan and you have a jones for western sausage, you might want to check out what's on the grill.  I get those sausages at in the frozen section at Gyomu Supa.  Being in Japan, I've always been on the hunt for sausage or bacon that suits my taste.  These are the best I've found so far.  

You're welcome. 

According to my hiking app, my little walk with Mrs. Caveman marked my 365th day of spending some time in the woods of Japan.  (Usually it is more strenuous than a walk around a pasture, 

though.😄😄)

I kind of like that.  I'm very blessed to be able to do this kind of stuff so often.

We didn't get rained on this time.  Yay!

I know that look in her eye.  "Let's do it again."

On the way home . . .

Mt. Kurohime

Mt. Myoko

That's all for today.  Subscribe, etc.

Or not.

Caveman out.

Epilogue  

I was just talking to Mrs. Caveman over lunch.  She said, "I never ever want to go to Togakushi again."

Alright!  She wants to go camping somewhere else!  She's the best.

The One that Got Away

To cave-curious comrades, cronies confidants, and cretins of all ages and both sexes, welcome.

**(Friday afternoon)**

A three-day weekend is going to start in about 3 hours and I'm at my desk anxiously twiddling my thumbs working hard.  I am just killing time maximizing the time left here until I can blow this joint they force me to leave.

Don't get me wrong.  I love my job.  I really do.  Except for the TPS reports and their cover sheets.  I don't think I'm going to do them anymore.  It's the best.

I was just telling my friends, the Bobs, how hard I work.

It is an absolutely picture-perfect day here--at least it is outside my cubicle.  The weather forecast for my weekend's camping trip and hike is not looking so swell, though.  Keep your fingers crossed that the meteorologists are wrong again.  

Enough with the silliness.  Let's get on to the cave report.

**(Monday afternoon, upon returning)**

What a great wet trip that was!  Mrs. Caveman and I drove to the Togakushi area of Nagano City on Sunday morning.  After taking up residence at the Togakushi Campground, we did the tourist thing.  We had soba for lunch because it's the specialty up there.  We went to a ninja museum and went for a walk in the woods.  Last night was spent next to a campfire.  Lovely. 

I slept like a log very little last night.  I was awakened by the pitter-pat of raindrops around midnight.

We got up and had breakfast before putting the day's plans into action.  Mrs. Caveman was to stay around the campground and visit the Togakushi Ranch while I climbed Mt. Takatsuma.  We had breakfast and I headed off the trail leaving her to do her thing.  It was a great day.  Mrs. Caveman got to sketch some fall foliage and I got to bag another of the 100 Famous Mountains. took down a very wet tent and packed it up.  We packed everything up.  It had rained all night and was showing no signs of letting up

So . . . Our trip was cut short and I don't have a mountain report for you.  Some day I will get back to climb Takatsuma.  I like spending time with Mrs. Caveman, so it wasn't a big loss.

If you're interested in going there and want information, I'll leave what I'd already input into my template.  Below that, I'll post some pictures of the places we went.  

Location:  高妻山　Mt. Takatsuma Togakushi, Nagano

Starting and stopping point:  戸隠キャンプ場 Togakushi Campground

Peaks bagged: 

(First-time) peaks

Getting there/getting around:  

I drove.  Mrs. Caveman and I spent the night at the Togakushi Campground and I left our car there.  There is free parking near the trailhead for daytrippers.  Checkout is in the morning, but if you get the basecamp plan, they'll let you check out at 4:30 for just another 500 yen.

It is possible to get there by public transportation.  From Tokyo, take the Hokuriku Shinkansen to Nagano Station.  (Or you could take the bus from Shinjuku to Nagano Station.)  Change to the Nagano Togakushi Bus Line for the Togakushi Camp Ground.  Depending on your choice of routes, it should take between 4 and 6 hours and cost between 6,900 yen and 10,000 yen each way.

Map: 山と高原地図18 妙高・戸隠・雨飾 火打山・高妻山・信越トレイル

Weather Information: Japanese weather forecast

Total Time:   Break time:   Distance:  

Elevation:  Lowest:  Highest:  Total Ascent:   Total Descent: 

Technical considerations/difficulty:  

Facilities:  Togakushi Campground

Thoughts/observations/recommendations:

Today's listening: Bible in a Year

Places we went and things we did.  

Togakushi Ninja Museum/Trick Mansion/Folk Museum  This was fun.  Togakushi is home to Togakure Ryu Nippo, one of the three schools of ninjutsu.  The ninja museum has a lot of pictures of ninjas in training and lots of (real) tools of their trade.  That was very cool.  Make sure you read the captions on the pictures.  The Trick Mansion is a building you need to find your way out of by finding hidden passageways.    There are a few other attractions there.  It was 650 yen.  Well worth it.  

Togakushi Ranch 戸隠牧場

82 Mori no Manabiya  The 82森のまなびや is a cool place.  Mrs. Caveman and I dropped into it and checked it out.  There's a lot of great stuffed animals--deer, serow, eagles, hawks, foxes, ten, etc.  Also, there is a lot of good information about the forest habitats.  It's really well done and entertaining and informative for kids of all ages. 

Togakushi is also famous for some shrines.  That's not our bag, so we didn't go to any.

Here are some pictures:

Those are some of the hills I had planned to hike . . .

On Sunday, before the rain started, we dropped into the Ninja Museum/Folk Museum/Ninja House

One building houses articles one would find in a farmhouse of about 100 years ago.  

This first picture is what the kitchen was like.  

That open hearth is called an irori.  It was a place for cooking and usually the main source of heat for a home.

On the second floor of that building is the ninja museum.  There are three schools of ninjutsu and there are only one or two trained ninjas left.  (Depending on who you believe.)  The man that is the head of this clan is named Masaaki Hatsumi.  He also founded Bujinkan, an international martial arts organization, which boasts several hundred thousand members.

There are pictures of people doing ninja training all over the museum but I have no idea about who they are or when and where they were taken. 

The caption says, "Art of Disguise."  

I guess he was shooting for Quasimodo?

Or, perhaps, Kato, Inspector Clouseau's trusted servant?

I was surprised at the variety of weapons they had which utilized fire.  Poison also was big.

I love these roofs.

After the museum, we went for a walk through the woods.  We started down the trail toward one of the shrines but--it was far and we weren't that interested.  We walked on a trail that parallels the road.

After a bit, we reached the 82 Mori no Manabiya.  (82森のまなびや)

82 is the name of a bank, my bank, actually.  Mori no manabiya means "forest-study-house."

It has some great displays.

No wonder my bank fees are so high.

Wild boar (inoshishi), serow (kamoshika) and the butt of a deer.

That was Sunday.  

Sunday night it starting raining around midnight and rained non-stop.  I decided to give up on hiking Mt. Takatsuma during the night.  This is what our site looked like in the am. 

On Monday, we packed up and dropped by the Togakushi Ranch (戸隠牧場) before heading home.

Sigh

Guineau Pig Pythagora Switch!

That's all for today.  Subscribe, etc.

Caveman out.