Date

2022-11-04, Friday

Distance

42.58 km (1407.17 km in total)

From Obihiro onward, we have two choices: (1) biking directly through the mountain ranges, Hidaka Mountains, that separate Obihiro and Chitose via Nissho Pass, the highest point of which sits at 1022 m; (2) going around the mountains via a flatter route in the south. We choose # 1, for # 2 takes considerably much more time to finish.

Despite our determination, we are not free of apprehension of the difficulty we are facing. In the midst of our nervous worries, my friend came up with an idea to avoid biking through the snow-covered mountain peaks: that is to rent a semi-truck to carry us and our bikes through this stretch of the country. The trajectory would only take a few hours instead of 2 days. However, as soon as I applauded her brilliant idea, she told me that she couldn't find her international driver's license. To receive a replacement in Japan would require one week of waiting time, so I guess we are simply destined to face this challenge.

In the morning, we headed out on the road that we were supposed to travel through yesterday. We took the main road, the landscape was typically suburban with tons of shops and restaurants along the way. Traffic was fairly heavy, so we biked on the sidewalk most of the time. The climb didn't start until we reached Shimizu, the town where we couldn't find a vacant hotel room. The last hour of today’s daylight was spent in entering Nissho Pass. As the light got dimmer and dimmer, a steadily escalating sense of foreboding was creeping over me. By the time it became completely dark, we arrived at a parking area (450 m in elevation) where a restaurant and a souvenir shop stood.

There is a large roofed area, buildings that could act as wind blockers, a vending machine that sold hot drinks — everything pointed to an excellent shelter for one cold windy night of camping. I convinced my friend to forsake her original plan of sleeping at the lookout area (590 m in elevation) that was still 6 km away, for the latter's only advantage was having a public washroom, which I didn't judge essential to our survival, and which might not even be open at this time of the season. Tired and still not fully recovered from her illness, she was disinterested in arguing and simply trusted me, who was the more experienced of the two of us in wild camping.

As soon as we stopped, fine snowflakes began to fall. The snow didn't accumulate on the ground, the temperature of which was still above zero, but this was certainly one of the toughest nights we had so far, and the one farthest from all resources.

Today we met two nice individuals who came to encourage us. The first was a man who brought his folding bike on this business trip. Having studied in Taiwan allowed him to speak a bit of Mandarin, so we were able to have a long conversation with him. The second was a lady outside of a post office. She gave us some snacks to share between us.