Our camping adventure

I was amazed at how small our pile of gear was.

Our camping adventure went very well. We've looked forward to it for so long, and it is terribly satisfying to have actually achieved it!

The location was amazing. Not crowded at all, like some people were worried about. But as soon as you get out of the built up areas, Japan is basically not horizontal. Neither was our camp site. Almost the only level things were where our tent was pitched, the bridges and where buildings, like the toilets and showers were. All of these locations were connected by significant gradients. So, to go anywhere, you had to walk up or down! There was a stream close by our tent site (down a steep hill), so we had the wonderful sound of rushing water. And rushing it was – down the mountain!

We were surprised to find each tenting site equipped with a table and benches.

We arrived on Monday after lunch. And spent the afternoon setting up camp and then exploring the stream. After that the fun of outdoor cooking, getting through showers and settling the boys down to bed. The showers were amazingly clean. There was even a bathmat! The showers were Japanese style: a communal change area (separate for men and women) then separate cubicles for the actual shower.

Setting up the tent. We put a verandah where David is standing, but I forgot to take a picture of that.

On Tuesday we went for a wander up the mountain. Except it turned into a three hour hike through the most scenic forest. We went up and up and up. Till we (mostly my 6 y.o. and I) begged for mercy (before we got to the "pass" we were aiming for). 

On the way back down mountain we stopped at a couple of bridges over particularly deep parts of the stream. The boys loved it that we said it was okay to toss rocks in. It soon became anything large enough to carry  – i.e. small boulders! When we asked the boys later, they all said that was one of their favourite parts of the three days away!

Onwards and upwards!

Searching for rocks to toss.

By the time we got back to camp we were all exhausted. My toes even hurt. So we hung about camp until after lunch and then wandered down the mountain, via a rather steep (up and down) non-short-cut that David persuaded us to take. But I have to admit it was scenic. In this photo you get a glimpse of the mountains were were traipsing up and down.

Our reward was getting down to the lake, which isn't really a lake, but a dam. The dam that supplies about 20% of Tokyo's water. The sides are steep and you cannot swim in it, but we could paddle in the feeding stream (the one that rushed past our tent and that we'd followed all morning). The water was very chilly, but the boys had a wonderful time shifting rocks around and shooting each other with water guns.

Playing in the stream.

The stream not long before it joins the lake/dam.

 

Another highlight for the boys happened later. We finally managed to get some coals going in our little Japanese BBQ (we've got to work on our fire making skills a little). And after hot dogs toasted marshmallows and damper-on-sticks (called Twisties or Doughboys according to my recipe book). Delicious!

The weather was almost perfect. Warm enough during the day to get sweaty and enjoy playing in the stream and cool enough at night to enjoy snuggling into your sleeping bag. It was fine until the very last minute. It was drizzling on and off when woke up on Wednesday morning, the morning we had to pack up and leave by 10am (park rules). But not drizzling so hard that we needed wet weather gear. We just folded the damp tent up and brought it home to boiling Tokyo and hung the tent over our washing poles on the second floor verandah.

Almost the only negative thing about the whole experience for me was the mattress. We borrowed some thin air mattresses (the kind you take hiking, because they are very light and require almost no pumping). But they were a little too thin for me. I struggled to get to sleep.

Last night my "list making" middle son gave me his "top five" from camp, so I asked everyone else what theirs were. The boys mostly mentioned the rock tossing, cooking over the BBQ, running around with torches at night and sleeping in a tent. David and I majored more on the satisfaction of accomplishment, the beauty and the joy at being away from all that usually claimed us (except the kids, that is). Our phones didn't even work up there.

We'll definitely be heading back to this camp site at Okutama Lake again. It only cost 700 yen a night (something like AU$7) and was very well appointed (they even supplied dish washing detergent). Also, it only took us three hours to get there, with a lunch break, so it isn't far from here. Very doable.

I'm looking forward to our next camping adventure – in about 10 days time we're taking another two nights away at a different camp site, but similar area.