Day 22 - Towada Lake to Oyu Onsen - Hot Springs Walking Tour Of Northern Japan
Day 22 - Towada Lake to Oyu Onsen - Hot Springs Walking Tour Of Northern Japan
We are starting to feel some strain in our leg muscles from our walks.
We are not worried about it, and we even welcome the pain because it means that our muscles are developing and getting stronger.
But what I was a little worried about was the fact that yesterday evening, after falling asleep in the hot springs, and before going to eat our dinner, I felt very dizzy for a few moments.
I had just finished soaking and was getting a glass of water, which they always provide outside of the Onsen, when I had to hold on to the table, feeling very dizzy.
But it was only momentary, and after I got back to our room, we ate our dinner and I felt fine.
I know my body and myself well, and I have no medical issues.
Even with daily climbing, I am feeling strong and healthy. I concluded that it was a combination of walking too fast yesterday, falling asleep in the Onsen, which meant I had stayed too long, and the fact that we didn’t eat lunch yesterday, just a few pieces of chocolate and tea.
Today’s walk is from Lake Towada to Oyu Onsen.
We will be staying in an elegant Ryokan in Oyu.
A Ryokan is a traditional Japanese inn, which usually serves its guests a Kaiseki dinner featuring local ingredients prepared in creative ways.
Actually, Kaiseki is a very traditional and structured meal, which always includes something sour (pickled), something steamed, something fried and something baked, a sashimi dish, a daily soup, a bowl of rice, etc.
To me, even though it is always too much food, Kaiseki is a feast of culinary delights, and we have gotten to taste some very creative Kaiseki dishes over the years.
Today’s distance was supposed to be 26 km, on a rural, scenic road that meanders through the Towada national park.
We had an elevation gain of 985 feet up, and then a downhill of 1575 feet.
The morning was so cold and rainy, and I thought that maybe it wasn’t a good idea to push myself too much after my dizziness yesterday evening.
We talked about it and decided to cut the distance by 6 kilometers.
That way we would make it to the Ryokan before dark and have plenty of time to enjoy the hot springs and the elegant atmosphere of the traditional Ryokan with its beautiful gardens.
There were no buses on our route, so we decided to arrange for a taxi to take us up the mountain pass for six kilometers, and drop us at the observation deck overlooking Towada Lake.
This left us with a 19 km walk, which would take us 5-6 hours, depending on how many breaks we take.
We ate breakfast in our hotel at 7:30, and I packed some hot tea and snacks for the road.
It was so cold and rainy that we dressed up in layers of warm clothes.
The taxi arrived on time and dropped us at the observation deck.
The friendly taxi driver was very curious as to why we would want to go to the observation deck on such a misty morning, when there was no chance to see the lake that was below.
We got out of the taxi and quickly went to the shelter of the restrooms to put on our raincoats.
We started walking in a heavy rain.
The road had no sidewalks, but luckily the traffic wasn’t heavy.
We walked through the Towada National Park, which was heavily forested on both sides.
The road had many twists and turns.
Hanging digital signs above the road, warned drivers of the possibility of frost, and indicated that the temperature was 2 degrees Celsius.
We saw lots of bear excrement by the road.
This year, there have been a record number of people who have been attacked, and even killed, by bears.
The news has caused almost panic among the people of Tohoku, and there are signs everywhere warning people of bears entering roads.
The electric company’s workers and the construction workers that we saw today, all were carrying huge bear bells on their belts.
In comparison, our tiny bear bells, which we attached to our front packs, looked like children’s toys and made almost no sound.
The bear bells are used to warn bears that someone is approaching, so they do not get startled and attack out of fear.
Whenever possible, I chose to walk on the side of the road that was less forested, so as to not surprise any bears who came down from the forest to eat the chestnuts fallen from the trees.
But it wasn’t always possible, and often we heard the rustling of leaves, coming from the thick vegetation.
But we didn’t see any bears.
To be honest, we are not afraid of bears.
We have seen them so many times on our runs and the hikes we have taken in our backyard in Colorado and in our front garden, that we feel that everything will be fine.
Despite the poor weather, the walk itself was lovely.
At the end of the national park, we found a small shrine in the forest by the gushing river to take a break from the rain.
There was a waterfall nearby, and the sound of the water was so soothing.
We sat on the wooden stairs of the small shrine, and drank some tea and ate mini apple pies.
Our pants were a bit wet from the rain and we felt very cold, but it was nice to get some rest.
We continued walking through some rice fields, always with the fast moving river with some occasional waterfalls on our left.
Occasionally we passed by some apple orchards that had shops selling apples, but all of them were closed.
We guessed that maybe they were open on the weekends, when many people travel to Towada Lake and pass through here.
There were almost no houses along most of our walk today.
Almost all the houses looked like they were abandoned, or were for seasonal use. Now they were locked up as winter approaches.
The rice paddies were all harvested, with nothing left but straw cut close to the ground, in anticipation of winter.
The Apple orchards were full of fruit and were obviously still being tended to, but all of the roadside shops advertising apples or apple products were boarded up.
We took our second break from the rain in one of these shops.
They had an outdoor table and benches under a gazebo, and we sat there to warm up our frozen fingers with some hot tea.
As we sat there, it began to rain much harder, and did not let up for the rest of the day.
Finally we got to Oyu Onsen,, the hot springs town where we are staying tonight.
No town looks good when you approach it on a rainy, cold and grey day, and Oyu was no different.
A huge hot springs hospital loomed over the entrance to the town, looking like a cement prison.
Our Ryokan was a haven.
We sat in the lobby to warm up before our room was ready.
The inn has a beautiful design, and a traditional Japanese garden that looks like a beautiful postcard.
The room we booked was one of the best rooms we have enjoyed on this pilgrimage so far.
We took off our wet clothes and went to soak in the hot springs.
There were two baths in the Onsen, a rock bath and a cypress bath.
The waters were smooth, colorless, transparent and odorless.
There are indoor baths and open-air baths.
You can enjoy "4 baths" in the facility.
The open-air bath is filled with water flowing directly from the source, while the indoor bath is filled by water flowing from the source but filtered in circulation.
There is no heating or boilers.
Oyu Onsen’s Spring is a sodium-chloride spring.
It is locally believed to provide healing for cuts, burns, chronic skin diseases, frail children and chronic women's diseases.
The springs are also believed to heal acute diseases, active tuberculosis, malignant tumors, severe heart disease, respiratory failure, Hemorrhagic diseases of renal failure, severe anemia, and other chronic diseases.
On top of that, it is believed that the hot springs provide general cures for Neuralgia, muscle pain, joint pain, frozen shoulder, motor paralysis, joint stiffness, bruises, sprains, Chronic digestive diseases, hemorrhoids, coldness, post-illness recovery, fatigue recovery, and health promotion.
A diluted concentration of the water could be drunk for curing Chronic digestive diseases, chronic constipation, kidney disease, high blood pressure, and other general swelling and inflammation.
Dinner was lovely and I was very happy that the dizziness did not occur again, even though I took a long soak in the very hot springs.
I enjoyed the day, even though we walked in the rain all day and were wet and cold.
It was fun and beautiful and we walked slowly and leisurely.
With love and warmth,
Tali
Walked todoy - 19 km.
Total walked to date - 334 km.
