Trip Log 42: Sky to Sea Tour

From Oyama to the Ocean
2020/11/20 – 2020/11/22

From my desk on the tenth floor of my office in Atsugi, Japan I can see the mountains in western Kanagawa Prefecture. I find looking at the mountains to be soothing. When work gets a bit stressful I walk over to the window and look at the mountains for a minute or two. In addition to being soothing, looking at the mountains makes me feel a little restless. The nearest mountain to my window view is Mt. Oyama. (It is kind of redundant to say Mt. Oyama as “yama” means mountain in Japanese. It is like saying Mt. O Mountain, or maybe mountain, oh, mountain.) The optical illusion caused by big objects make it look like Oyama is just an arm’s reach away. In reality it is about 10 plus kilometer away. There is campground called Fureainomori Hinata Camping Ground midway up its eastern slope. For months I have been wanting to ride from the office to Oyama. Being about 10k from the office it should be an easy thing to ride there after work and pitch my tent.

Despite its nearness I wasn’t able to make the trip during the warmer months because of my busy schedule at work. But in October, under pressure from HR to take some time off, I made a plan to load up the Surly Blue Beast with my gear and ride from home to the office in the morning then ride from the office to camp ground after work. The idea was that I would spend the night at the campground on Oyama then on the next day ride to Atami and stealth camp on the beach. Then ride home on the third day. The third day would be about 100 kilometers. That was the plan. As you will see, plans change

Day 1 A Late Start (20 Oct.)
I had a meeting at 10:30 in the morning but I got off to a late start. I realized about 10 or so kilometers into the ride that I might not be able to get the office in time for the meeting. So discretion being the better part of valor I decided to ride to Machida and hop on the train from there. I left my fully loaded bicycle at the public lot near the station and rode the Odakyu line to Hon-Atsugi. From Hon-Atsugi Station I did as usual and rode Baby Blue, my mini-velo which I keep at Hon-Atsugi, the 2 plus kilometers to the office. I worked a full day as planned, actually I didn’t leave the office until at least 8 p.m. Another late start. I rode Baby Blue back to Hon-Atsugi, took the train back to Machida Station. I ate dinner (curry rice) near the station and returned to where Mad Max, the Surly Blue Beast, was parked to continue my trip. By the time I left Machida it was about 11 p.m. I didn’t get to the campground until 2:30 a.m.

Normally, I wouldn’t want to arrive at a campground I am not familiar with after dark but in this case it was unavoidable. I had no idea what Fureainomori Hinata Campground was going to be like. I didn’t even know if it would be open or not. There was no contact number. It seems like the only way to make a reservation was by contacting the Isehara City Office. I didn’t do that. I suspected it wouldn’t be open and I was correct. I had the entire campground to myself. The downside to this was that the gate at the base of driveway leading up to the campground was locked and I had to push my bike around it through the weeds. The other downside is that the toilets were locked and the water was turned off.

In the dark I couldn’t find any flat places to pitch a tent. All I could see were bungalows built on the steep slope leading further up the mountain. It was a lot of work pushing the bike up the very steep driveway to the camp area. I was quite warm from the hard ride/push up the mountain and the push up the driveway. I thought I could do without putting up the tent. I blew up my air mattress and spread it and my sleeping bag out on a low picnic table. It was a chilly night once I cooled down from my efforts. I probably should have put up the tent but I survived well enough without it.

Day 2 From the Sky to the Sea (21 Oct.)
In the light of morning I could take better stock of my situation. It is clear the campground was closed for the season. It was in obvious need of some annual clean up and repair. While I ate my breakfast I decided that it would be a shame to come this far and not do some hiking so I scrapped my plan to go to Atami and decided to hike up to the observation point higher up Oyama. The sign said it was only 2 km to the observation point (not the summit, that was still farther up). It was a rough hike following a trail that switched back and forth up the steep slope. It seems like it is a popular place to hike, probably due to the campground, because the trail was well maintained. It wasn’t so steep that I had to use my hands to climb but it still took me over an hour and a half to reach my goal. As I neared my destination I met other hikers coming down. I expected the observation point to be like the campground, mostly, if not completely, empty of people, but to my surprise there was a small crowd sitting at a dozen or so picnic tables. The hikers ranged in age from elementary school aged children to grandmas and grandpas. I regretted not bringing some food with me to eat a picnic lunch overlooking the city of Isehara far below. In fact, I came up the mountain empty-handed. I didn’t even bring water. Fortunately, it was late fall and I wasn’t sweating much at all.

Part way up I caught a beautiful view of the ocean to the south and decided that even though I had scrapped my plan for Atami that I would still try to go to the ocean. The hike down the mountain was much quicker but harder on the knees. I was happy to reach the campsite and found that my gear which I had packed up but left out on the picnic table and my bicycle were undisturbed. After loading up my bicycle I ate lunch and planned the rest of the day. I found a campground right on the shoreline in Chigasaki at the mouth of the Sagami River. It was only about 25 km away which was good because I used up half the day hiking on the mountain and it would begin getting dark around 5:30 p.m.

I flew down the mountain road that I had to push my bike up the night before. I was seeing it all for the first time. Indeed, without any street lighting I only saw the narrow tunnel illuminated by my headlight. I couldn’t really give the Blue Beast his head because the road was narrow and very winding. I braked frequently to keep my speed at a safe level. Still, it was an invigorating ride. Perhaps the highlight of the day was after I crossed the Sagami River at Ichinomiya and was treated to a view of Mt. Fuji at sunset. The mountain rose above the city of Hiratsuka against an orange sky with its middle heights shrouded in clouds.

I rolled into Yanagishima Camping Ground around 4:30 p.m. The difference between the campground on Oyama and Yanagishima was like night and day. For one, Yanagishima was open for business and business was booming. When I checked in there were only a few camping spaces available. Second, I checked in proper and paid the 3,800 yen fee to put up my tent. Yanagishima is like a nice hotel where you have to bring your own room but everything else is provided. It is very strictly managed. I was assigned a picnic table in the picnic area and was advised that no open flames or fireworks were allowed in the camping areas and lights out was at 9 p.m. The nice thing about this campground is that it had a very nice shower facility with hot water. I was happy to take advantage of the shower. I was surprised that no one else was using the showers. I suppose, since most people were “car” camping for only one night there isn’t that much demand for showers. Well, I sure appreciated washing off the sweat of two days of riding and hiking.

Day 3 Homeward Bound (22 Oct.)
Since I completely changed my plans the day before I had to make a new plan for my third and final day of riding. I suppose, I could have taken another day as the following day was a national holiday but I promised that I would be back home by Sunday evening. My thought was to follow the Sagami River upstream to Sagamiko Park on the shores of Lake Sagami where I could eat lunch but first I wanted to actually see the ocean. It turns out that I was camped only a few hundred meters from the beach. Just far enough to be out of earshot of the sound of the surf. In fact, if the campground had been full I could have camped on the beach. I found a bicycle path that paralleled the beach for a little bit and enjoyed the ocean vistas as I pedaled for the mouth of the river. In the future, I think would be nice to return here and spend more time on the beach and in the park nearby.

I headed up the Sagami River through the city of Chigasaki. Chigasaki is not, in my opinion, a pretty city. It seems to be a manufacturing town but I did see some very interesting sights along the way. I spent a few minutes to watch a marching band practice in a riverside park. But before that, the most unusual sight was a pair of engine-powered paragliders that were circling back and forth over the river. It was quite windy but fortunately for me the wind was to my back for most of the trip. The paragliders would push very slowly against the wind then turn around and soar at speed with the wind to their backs then turn around and repeat. I didn’t expect to see paragliders in the middle of the city.

The other interesting site, though not rare, was a man sitting on the back of his car playing the saxophone. As many people live in apartments and must live quietly out respect and politeness to their neighbors residents with a musical bend are forced to find other places to practice. It is not unusual to see someone practice the trumpet, saxophone or other hearty instrument in some out of the way corner of a park. Some people get annoyed by it and instruments are prohibited in some city parks but I don’t mind at all.

As I said, the plan was to go to Sagamiko but it became clear I would run out of time. I didn’t really map out the route. The general idea was to follow the river as much as I could. I was hoping that would keep me in the lowlands. At some point, my route diverged from the river bank. Partly because I wanted to avoid major roads and partly because I was looking for a more direct route. I found myself riding through some foothills south and southeast of Sagamiko. Lake Sagami (Sagamiko) was formed by damming the Sagami River so the water backs up behind the dam and files the valley which is formed by low but very steep mountains. The major roads try to find the lowest passes over the mountains and keep the grade under 8% but the lesser traveled roads don’t feel any obligation to follow such rules. Though not marked I found myself climbing slopes of 10% or more. I was certain that I would have to push my bicycle as I had on the first night. To my surprise, I managed, with frequent rest stops, to pedal all the way.

At one point I checked the map and I was shocked to see that the red line that represented my track had separated significantly from the blue line of my intended route. I didn’t see any turnoffs along the way so I don’t know how I got off course. It was a bit discouraging because I had just finished a particularly steep section of road. The map didn’t even show a road. I decided to continue on and not go back. Hopefully, the road I was on would rejoin my intended route. In the end, I got where I needed to go. Maybe it was just a bad GPS signal.

Lost and Found
Unfortunately, somewhere on those hilly roads I dropped the iPhone 5c that I use as a camera. (Believe it or not, most of the video I use for my YouTube features are taken with a 5c.) I noticed it near the top with most of the climbing behind me. For a number of reasons, I was very upset when I realized the phone was missing. First and foremost, is the loss of memories that are represented by the photos and videos that I had taken. Another reason is that backtracking to look for the phone meant retracing my steps and going up again the steep inclines I had just conquered. I thought about just writing off the loss but the idea of returning home without any pictures or videos was too much to bear. There was nothing for it. I turned my bike around and headed back up the hills I just come down. When I went well past where I remembered taking the last photo and not seeing any sign of it I started to berate myself for not attaching any kind of ID onto the phone. I turned around and headed back up climb again. I got nearly to the point where I noticed the phone was missing without finding the phone. I refused to give up. I turned around a second time and headed back down the road. When had almost reached the bottom of the climb I gave up hope of finding the phone. By this time, I had wasted at least an hour or more looking for it and I was getting tired of this stretch of road and tired of climbing. I figured, I properly pedaled up the incline the first time there is no reason I have to do it again so in the particularly steep parts I got off and pushed my bike. It turns out this was a good choice. Taking the route at a walking speed without my attention being divided between keeping the cranks turning and keeping my balance I had more time to look for the phone. And I found it! In fact, it wasn’t too far from where I noticed it was missing. Before my next trip I am going to make some changes to make losing my camera phone more difficult and easier to find.

The remainder of the climb was as pleasant as steep roads can be, but like I said before, I was nearly at the end of the climb. Near the top I spotted two hunters. The first told me that he was hunting deer. This is the first time I have ever met any hunters on my travels in Japan. Owning a firearm is very rare and tightly regulated in Japan. My conversation with the hunter probably scared off the deer. In the U.S. where deer populations are out of control in many places I would feel a little bad about ruining a hunter’s stakeout but not in Japan. Deer are rarely spotted in Japan and not a problem so I don’t see as much need to control their population. Anyway, I’m glad the hunters didn’t mistake me and the Blue Beast for Bamboo and take a shot at me.

I lost a lot of time with all of this back and forth, up and down. It became clear that I wasn’t going to make it to Sagamiko before night fall. I don’t mind riding at night, particularly when I am riding on familiar roads but I didn’t want to get home too late. It seemed prudent to cut Sagamiko out of my route. When I came out of the steep hills (there were still lesser hills ahead) I turned my wheels toward home.

Lessons Learned
1. Make sure your camera/phone is securely in your pocket or bike bag.
2. Write your name and contact information on all your valuable gear to improve the chances of it returning to you if you should happen to lose it.
3. If you are going take a wrong turn or don’t know which way to go at a fork in the road, error on the uphill side. At least, that way, if you have to retrace your route you get to go downhill.
4. Be flexible. Things happen and plans can and will fall apart. If you are willing to go with the flow you can still have a great tour even if things don’t go as planned.
5. If you are going to ride at night, buy a good headlight and taillight.