And so it comes. Earlier this week the winter vomited out its last blast of snow. For one glorious morning, after another 5:00 AM parking lot shoveling, my snowshoes were strapped on for what might have been the last time this season. I left for my trailhead at -6(ish)℃, and returned mid-morning in +10 ℃ […]
Caveat… Obviously if you are unemployed and left destitute by your situation then you may not agree with title of this post. But if you find yourself with the opportunity (a working spouse whose given you leeway to decompress), quit that abyssal dead-end job and don’t look back. That is where I currently stand and […]
This past year I explored the trails and waters around Heiwa Waterfall quite a lot. I took the trail up the backside of Mt. Teine in early summer and caught iwana (Arctic Char) above the waterfall on both bait (salmon eggs) and hand tied tenkara flies. I even did some low-level stream climbing (sawanobori) to […]
Some decent snowfall overnight brought levels up for some decent snowshoeing in and around the city. We took a drive out to Nopporo Forest Park, near Ebetsu, to explore its trails. Although most of the trails are groomed, there are a lot of open spaces for some great snowshoeing. We started at the visitor/nature center […]
Sapporo has had, until just recently, a rather marked decrease in snowfall from seasons past. In order to get our snowshoeing habit fulfilled, we had to take a trip south to Jozankei, the hot spring resort that falls within Sapporo’s city limits, but close enough to the mountains to get significantly more snow than downtown. […]
I am a snowshoe junkie. Love it. Go about 3 times a week. And the thing about snowshoeing in Japan, in my humble opinion, is that it is underrepresented as an outdoor activity. That’s sad. Skiing gets all the love. But skiing has it’s own issues. It’s prohibitively expensive, often crowded, and honestly a bit […]
When one of the most intense snowstorms in the last 50 years finally cleared out, I was itching to get back on trail. But I worried that 80+ centimeters of the unpacked goodstuff might make the going a bit rough. Just getting up onto the traihead to Asahiyama was gonna be a chore, but with […]
I love Hokkaido’s winter. When I strap on my Tubbs Wilderness snowshoes I feel a true sense of relief, like their 180 degree rotation bindings should be part of my natural gait. In fact, when I am not wearing them I feel downright naked, and slightly depressed. So I try to hit the snowshoeing trail […]
When 48 hours of near continuous snowfall dumped on Sapporo this past weekend, I had one thought on my mind – laying the first tracks in the 3-4 feet of unpacked powder. Even as I shoveled snow for nearly 5 total hours, I mentally planned my routes for the snowshoeing season that was suddenly upon […]
A few weeks back we had a bit of an Indian winter in the midst of a rather balmy March. It allowed me to strap on my Tubbs Wilderness snowshoes one last time to frolic in the environs of Asahiyama Park. The snow was fresh, the wind was strong, and the backcountry was mostly untouched. […]