Trip Log 27: Ome on the River

Ome on the River
2019/08/09 – 2019/08/11

In mid-August I took the opportunity to go for a weekend bike tour. I had 2 nights of stealth camping. After work on Friday I rode about 50 km to Ome. This time I was rolling without a plan for the most part. At best it was very vague. Ride to Ome, spend the night. The next day, ride to Okutama and Ogochi Dam. Either stay the night there or continue on around Okutama Lake or return to Ome or go home. See? A very nebulous plan.

Day 1
There is a campground outside of town up in the foothills surrounding Ome. Before leaving I noticed I noticed on a park inside the bend of the river right in the center of town. The park looked like it might be a good place to do some stealth camping. The campgroundin the hills is called Kaze no Ko, Taiyo no Ko campground. (The name doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue.) I stayed here once a couple of years ago when I participated in the Lake Okutama century ride. It only costs 300 yen a night. Like most other campgrounds in Japan you need to make a reservation. This particular campground only has a few camping spots. I called city office which manages the campground to make a reservation. There were openings the problem was that you have to check in by 4 pm. That wasn’t going to happen as I was leaving after work. I decided to take my chances and go anyway. In the worst case scenario where all the official camping spots were taken I could probably still find a place to pitch my tent. As it turned out I needn’t have worried. There was only one other family in the campground when I rolled in around 9 o’clockish. I pushed my bike up the steps to the spot farthest from the family so that we could both have a modicum of privacy. They were curious and probably a bit worried at first about my late arrival but after talking the father a for a minute they seemed to be reassured that I wasn’t some crazy criminal (just a crazy foreigner). When I packed up and left about 7:30 in the morning the camp administrator still hadn’t come by to check so I stealth camped in an official campground for free. I would have gladly paid 300 yen if asked but nobody asked.

It was very humid. I noticed that the humidity went up as the temperature dropped during the night. When I finally tucked in for bed around 11:30 there was a 85% humidity. The humidity made it hard to sleep. I’m glad I didn’t bring a sleeping bag on this trip. It was not needed at all. Trying to sleep inside a sleeping bag when all sweaty would have just stunk the whole thing up. I just laid out on top of my air mattress. It took me a long while to sleep.

Day 2
Before starting for Okutama I decided to checkout the park nestled within the bend of the river in the center of town. The park is called Kami no Fuchi Koen. It wasn’t that far from the campground and it was mostly downhill to get there. It turns out the park is quite nice. The river makes a large u-turn which creates a peninsula shaped feature that is surround by the river on three sides. The park is accessed by two footbridges and a path from the fourth side. There is a grassy area up on the banks of the river under the shade of trees and rocky beach along the waterline. I thought I could stealth camp in the wooded area but it turns out that camping is allowed – for free – on the beach.

At Kami no Fuchi Park there are two huge wooden barrels on display for making shoyu (soy sauce). They are turned on their side so you can see inside them. I can’t image how and when people would need so much shoyu. It is unquestionable that Japanese people use a lot of shoyu but these barrels would make enough for everyone in the town of Ome to put shoyu in their cooking for a year. How often are these barrels used? I don’t know. There wasn’t any explanation displayed with the barrels.

I hung out at the park a few hours and then decided to head further upriver to Ogochi Dam and Lake Okutama. There was a possibility of rain in the afternoon but I went anyway in the hope of getting somewhere before it started. I thought that maybe I could camp somewhere near the dam.

It was a gradual but steady uphill climb to the village of Okutama. Okutama is the last station on the Ome Line and is a well-known starting point for hiking into the nearby Okutama mountain range and Mt. Kumotori in particular. The day I arrived the village was preparing for a festival so it was more lively than usual. The street vendors were still setting up when I arrived. I took a break at the bus stop and information center across from Okutama Station. It was there that I noticed the beware of bears sign. I was hoping/not hoping for a friendly encounter with a bear. It was highly unlikely since I wouldn’t be leaving the road or developed areas.

I continued the last 7 or 8 kilometers up to the dam. From Okutama the road gets significantly steeper, especially near the dam, and there are several tunnels. One of the tunnels is nearly 2 km in length. Some people don’t like going through tunnels. I can understand why that might be. Often they don’t have any shoulder or sidewalk and they are usually dark and damp. I appreciated that the temperature was significantly lower in the tunnel as it was quite hot and humid by the time I reached the tunnels.

The dam, might seem like an uninteresting destination, but it has more to offer than you might expect. There is a large rest area behind the dam where you can picnic and get out from under the sun. In my case I was staying out of the rain as the raindrops started to fall just as I started to climb the last steep slope before the dam. Fortunately, it didn’t rain long at all. ¥Visitors can walk along the top of the dam and there is a little 3 story observation tower in the middle of the dam. On the second story there is a little museum, in this case “shiryokan” is an appropriate description, showing how the dam was made about 65 years ago. The real treat for me was the map room on the third floor and, of course, the view. The map room is unique. The entire floor is a map of the lake and the surrounding area. Along the edge of the map are numbered vignettes of points of interest in the area. You can walk on the map floor and find the numbers and get a feel for the lay of the land. Combined with the great view from the windows you can get a unique perspective of the area.

It was about 1 o’clock when I reached the dam and despite cycling for about 25 km uphill I was surprisingly not very hungry. I had planned to have some pasta for lunch. I briefly toyed with the idea of eating at the ramen restaurant across the street but didn’t really feel like eating very much. Maybe it was the heat. Instead, I ate the fruit I had with me and some GORP trail mix. I realized that it probably wasn’t a good idea to camp near the dam as it was clearly monitored by the police. I hung out about an hour or so and then decided to go back to Ome. I didn’t even look for a campground near Okutama. I decided to try my luck at Kami no Fuchi Koen.

The descent from Ogochi Dam to Okutama seemed to last no time at all. I covered the 7 K in what seemed like 20 minutes or so. It was probably longer than that but the effortlessness of the descent made it seem quicker. When I got to Okutama the festival was underway and the street leading to the station was lined with food vendors and sellers of other festive goods. I found a kakigori (shaved ice) vendor in no time a had a very refreshing cola flavored sno-cone. Thus refreshed, I continued on my way to Ome.

I remembered a pizza place just outside of Ome and got it into my head that I would like some pizza for lunch. Unfortunately, when I got there there weren’t open yet and they wouldn’t be open for a couple of hours. The restaurant was good 4 or 5 km from town. Too far to return after setting up park. I decided to find something nearer to the park.

When I finally rolled into Ome it was about 5 o’clock. I found sandiest place on the beach to set up my tent. There were still many people with tents set and barbecue sets on the beach. I assumed most of them would be going home before it got dark.

I found a restaurant and a convenience store about a 10 minute ride from the park. Despite being sweaty and probably a little stinky I had a wonderful dinner of tonkatsu, shredded cabbage and miso soup. On the way back to the park I picked up some breakfast essentials at the convenience store.

By the time I got back to the park the sun had set but too my surprise there were still many people there. They didn’t show any signs of leaving either. Also, unexpectedly, there were many foreigners around. I didn’t recognize the language they were speaking but somehow I got the impression they were Mediterranean. I have absolutely nothing reliable to based the assumption on. It is just a wild guess. There was a large group right behind my tent and it seems there was a large group of Japanese revelers on either side.

I have to say that none of the groups were rowdy or ill behaved but when you have large groups of people relaxing, talking and laughing they can get a little noisy. I assumed they would eventually settle down for the night. And they did settle down but it was later rather than earlier. I can’t say that I blame them. I would be laughing and talking too if I were with a group of friends and family camped on a river bank. So for the second night I didn’t get as much sleep as I would have liked.

Day 3
I slept in as late as I could manage but ultimately was back on the road by 9:30 or so. I plotted a course that would keep me as close to the river as possible with the intent of going to Hamura then following the generally very quiet route along the Tamagawa Josui Canal which passes just a kilometer or so from my house. My other goal was to, as much as possible, to stay of the very busy roads of Shin-Ome Kaido, Ome Kaido and Itsukaichi Kaido. The 30 KM ride back home was uneventful but I found a route from the headwaters of Tamagawa Josui Canal in Hamura and the town of Ome that has good roads and less traffic than other major roads.

Lessons Learned

I learned on this trip that I do not need a sleeping bag in the summer. I might want to consider getting a light camping blanket but a sleeping bag is unnecessary for the Kanto area in summer.