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.
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