Eighth day in Japan

Happo-ike pond

How it looked from our hotel room window as we prepared to set out on Monday morning:

Amber fills up her bottle with some free natural spring water just outside the hotel:

Walking in the direction of the Japan Alps 日本アルプス:

The Hakuba Ski Jumping Stadium 白馬ジャンプ競技場 in the distance. The village played host to ski jumping, alpine skiing and Nordic combined events during the 1998 Winter Olympics, where were held in Nagano 長野:

 

On this day the two us aimed to reach the Happō-ike Pond 八方池, a small lake on the ridge trail to Karamatsu-dake 唐松岳 (2965 meters/8842 feet). To get there required taking the Happō Adam gondola and two upper chairlifts:

The second of the chairlifts deposited us at an altitude of 1830 meters/6004 feet, and from which we made our way to the pond, a walk which took us almost 70 minutes:

There were still patches of snow on the ground in places:

The pond is located at 2060 meters/6759 feet above sea level. The water reflects the surrounding peaks on clear days, but this Monday we were in the midst of the mist. Amber felt the foggy conditions gave the pond a mysterious appearance:

Occasionally the clouds would ease up enough for quick glimpses of the surrounding terrain:

Time to return to the chairlift station...:

...but not before my daughter contributed a cairn:

A signboard reminded me of what we were missing:

A gyūdon 牛丼 lunch before climbing onto the first of the two descending chairlifts:

Another break before the final leg down on the gondola:

By the time we arrived back at the hotel in the middle of the afternoon, I (at least) was a sweaty mess*, necessitating a quick cooling-off shower in our room, and the washing of our hiking-related laundry. Tomorrow requires an early start, so after some rest, we went out to buy a half-dozen artisanal doughnuts from the Snow Peak Land Station Hakuba スノーピークランドステーション白馬 coffee shop for our crack-of-dawn breakfast on Tuesday morning. On the way back to the hotel, we stopped off at a charming little restaurant (Pochi Takoyaki ポチのたこ焼き) doing interesting variations on one of Japan's most famous street snacks. It's the existence establishments like this one that play a major role in bringing me back time and again to Japan:

The explosion in the last few decades in craft beer 地ビール is also a factor:

Tomorrow morning, we bid farewell to Hakuba 白馬 and continue our travels through the Chūbu region 中部地方. Until next time, おやすみなさい...

*I suspect Monday's short hike might have been my last. Atrial fibrillation and two TIA's have made even relatively easy jaunts like the one to the pond much more difficult than they would have been just a few years ago. It's a pity as hiking in Japan and Taiwan has been one of my greatest pleasures in life, but I'm still ambulatory and relatively clear-headed. Relating to Amber all the accidents I've experienced while in the great outdoors makes her think it's a miracle I'm still in one piece at age 60. With all the walking we've been doing so far on this trip, I'll be shocked if I find I haven't lost any weight when I get back to China.

Well, there is all that beer, but...