Ome Redux
2019/08/17 – 2019/08/18
I returned to Ome hard on the heels of my trip the previous weekend. This time with my daughter, Pearl. We left late in the afternoon and arrived in Ome well after dark. Having been to Ome the previous weekend the route was fresh in my mind and we found our way to Kami no Fuchi Park on a peninsula jutting into the river in the midst of Ome City with no trouble at all.
Day 1
We both had prior appointments barring us from an early start. The plan was that we were going to meet where Tamagawa Josui Canal crosses Tachikawa Dori. I was busy during the day and forgot to attach the rack to her bike. She had to do it on her own. It is a hassle because a rack and her kickstand can co-exist on her bicycle. In order to remove the kickstand you have to remove the rear axle. Despite this, she handled the task on her own. When we finally met up I did have to tight her quick release axle but other than that she did the job.
We rode along Tamagawa Josui until we got to Haejima. It used be there was a traffic light on highway 16. That was the only safe way to cross the road. But some time in the last few years they replaced the traffic light with a bicycle and pedestrian tunnel under the highway. On the west side of the road the trail becomes very narrow. Basically single track going through a wooded greenway. It was my first time on this path. After dark is probably not the best time to go down a unlit path for the first time. But it wasn’t far and we didn’t have any problems.
Serendipitously, I found Kumagawa Gocho-Bashi Dori, the road that cuts over to Okutama Kaido and eventually the Tama River. It was my first time riding the western end of the Tamagawa Cycling Road at night. It is not lit at all. Fortunately, it is not heavily used after dark. We took a brief rest in Hamura where water is diverted from the Tama River to make Tamagawa Josui Canal. It was too dark to see the Tama Brothers statue. From Hamura it was less than an hour to Kami no Fuchi Koen where we made camp.
One of our camping neighbors had a dog with a nervous disposition. The slightest disturbance set it to barking its head off. I got up in the middle of the night to go the bathroom and had to walk past barking mutt’s tent. It had finally stopped barking for a while but when it heard me walk past the tent it starting yakking again. Somewhere on the other side of our tent there was another family with a dog. At times bother were barking like they were have a long distance gossip session or were trading smack talk. It was a noisy night.
Day 2
I tried to sleep in but between nervous mutts and early day campers I couldn’t sleep much. We hung out in the park for a while and Pearl waded into the river. The river bed is rocky and not easy to walk barefoot on. I forgot to bring flip flops so I stayed out of the water for the most part.
We didn’t have a fixed plan for our second day. Maybe we would go to Okutama and Ogochi Dam, maybe not. In the end we decided not to go to Okutama. Instead of going home directly we detoured due east to take a loop around Lake Tama on the Tama Cycling Road. That was really nice and going clockwise around the lake is a rare experience for me.
Lessons Learned
Don’t forget flip flops or some kind of shoes to wear in camp. Something that will dry quickly or it doesn’t matter so much if they get wet.
Photo Gallery
Video
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