I booked a solo stay for 2 days at a ryokan in Okutama; a small mountain village only a 3 hour train ride from central Tokyo.
I did feel a bit bad about ditching the group right before several of us would be returning home, but it was the only time period I was able to secure.
And thus, I set off on my first big solo adventure.
The early part of the trip was pretty boring, and involved a lot of transfers. But I eventually ended up on an express train that started into the foothills of Chichibu-Tama-Kai National Park.
I took a lot of videos, which I will leave on Immich for now.
Even though there were plenty of seats available, I ended up standing by the door for the entire trip so I could get videos. The other passengers probably thought I was a big doofus, but I didn't care. Pretty pictures aren't just going to take themselves.
Once while the train was stopped at a station, I even got off the train for moment so I could take a picture not through a window.
It pretty much continued like that until I reached Okutama, which was the last stop on the line.
As I got off the train, I immidiately knew that I had made the right choice coming on this trip. I do not have the words to describe how beautiful the scenery was.
Also, by pure coincidence, there was a festival happening, with several food stalls. I got some chicken skewers for lunch, and then headed to drop off my luggage at the ryokan.
The old lady running the ryokan was polite and dignified, but I felt bad for how much of a struggle it was communicating. I leaned heavily on google translate, which she tried her best to respond with, but even then the language she was using was so fancy that google translate struggled with it.
In any case, she told me that they were not ready for me to go to the room yet, but I could leave my luggage with them for when I came back later.
Once I had divested of my heavy bags, I made my way to the walking trail that went down into the gorge.
I found the entrance to the trail, which looked sketchy AF. Also, there was a warning about shaman squirrels?
Oh boy there's a bridge, I love those.
On the other side of the bridge; more cools rocks with moss on them.
Soon after there was a second suspended bridge across the other branch of the river that offered a fantastic view of the other bridges and fall foliage.
At the end of the second suspended bridge was a set of precarious stairs that allowed you to either return back to street level, or descent to the edge of the river. Naturally I chose the latter.
There was a sign specifically saying that campfires were not permitted, but I think I found someone's secret stash of matches. Perhaps they were the reason that sign was put up?
I decided to go back across the bridge to continue along the gorge(eous) path.
Along the way I found find this slightly suspicious sign. I'm sure it's not a trap designed to lure clueless Americans to their doom.
Though it turned out there really was pizza. If there was a lesson to be learned from this, I refuse to learn it.
Always trust the nature pizza sign.
A constant companion throughout this walk was the sound of the rushing river below. Combined with the falling leaves from the occasional breeze, it made for a zen walking experience.
From here, the path continued back up to road level, so I decided to turn back.
On the way, I went down another set of precarious stairs to sit by the edge of the river for a bit.
I think a part of me didn't leave.
Maybe cause it couldn't get up the damn stairs.
I went back across the suspended bridge and this time went up to return to street level. There I discovered another part of the festival that was still going on, in the towns small temple.
I got some sweet potato fritters and a banana shake. Delicious.
There were also a couple stalls selling "American Style BBQ". I did not try it, though I really should have.
Anyway, after finishing my snack, I started making my way back to the ryokan. It was time to check in.
This is where the real struggle began. There was a some extra paperwork, as well as some additional charges that were apparently some kind of water use fee? I also had to pick a time I wanted to eat breakfast. Getting all of that across with google translate was definitly a struggle.
After taking care of that, the matron of the ryokan took me on a tour of the facilities, showing my room and where the baths were. They were in a separate area from the rooms, and as far as I could tell I could use them any time, and just had to be out by 6am, which seemed like it might be a mistranslation but I was never able to clarify.
The facilities were really nice though.
I spent the rest of the afternoon just chilling, and then evening had arrived, I headed to the only convenience store in town to get dinner, The store was quite limited in what they stocked, so I ended up with a weird pizza onigiri and a pudding. Except they didn't have any spoons so I ended up eating it with what was basically a tongue depressor.
I also grabbed an anti bear bell, because tomorrow I was planning on heading to Lake Okutama to try and climb Mount Kumotori (or at least some of it). A pretty ambitious goal, and ostensibly the actual purpose of this entire trip.
But putting that aside, it was time to try the bath. I decided to try wearing the Yukata, because it was there.
Not too shabby if I do say so myself.
Tyler had specifically requested that I take some pictures of the bath itself, which was fine since it was a private bath.
I tried going to the smaller bath first, but the door seemed to be locked. So I decided to just use the big bath instead. I mean, I'm pretty sure the lady told me I could use either of them. Guess we'll find out.
It was suuuper nice. being able to completely stretch out in a bathtub with water that never gets cold is a pretty magical experience.
Anyway, on the back to the room I noticed some weird art. I'm pretty sure that the weird duck guy is the mountain I just happened to take a picture of earlier. There is probably some folklore around it.
