Days 4-6: Teshio to Shosambetsu

 Day 4: Teshio 

Distance walked: 0 km

Cumulative: 95 km

After much debating, we finally decided to spend a day in Teshio regrouping; Jakob’s back woes were the main reason, but after 95km in 3 days we all needed a break. Imagine our surprise when Tamar learned that today was in fact the annual Teshio Festival! Trail magic!

It was a very local festival. The lineup included a milk drinking competition, high school concert and dance show, a kids activity we didn’t at all understand, a shooting gallery where our girls were pressed with unicorns, towels and sticker books. We tried a yogurt tofu mango smoothie, which was “better than I thought it would be” (Aurora) and got very milky soft serve ice cream. 

Otherwise we relaxed all day long. We played hearts and invented a one-deck version of værsågodbligærn. We all hit up the nearby onsen and had many experiences. Aurora and Tova were impressed by the woman who scrubbed herself nonstop before, during and after their visit, completely covered in lather. Jakob greatly enjoyed the hot and cold baths, but struggled with wearing his oversized green towel on his head as one must. Tova went twice and now knows everything there is to know about onsen. 

After a dinner of udon, broccoli, tofu, mushrooms, scallions and eggs, we saw the quite spectacular fireworks above town. Levi enjoyed her first fireworks; at one point, Tova exclaimed: “what are they doing to that poor spot of air?!” The grand finale ended at 8:15 pm, and within seconds all the cars were pulling out of the parking lot and heading home. 

It was past 8pm, which has very much become bedtime. We nestled in with lifted spirits and rested bodies.

Hokkaido soft serve!

Taking in the Teshio festivities

The evening wind-down

Day 5: Teshio to Enbetsu

Hours walked: 8:00 - 1:00

Distance walked: 21 km

Cumulative: 116 km 

We started the day with our customary convenience store breakfast: egg salad sandwiches, a liter of milk with one common straw, bananas, cantaloupe cookies (a weird local good) and milk tea. 

Not sure if it was due to the rest day, or because we got used to 30+ kilometers, but the walking went incredibly quickly today. Aurora, Tova, Zadie and Jakob played round after round of Interrogations and Hot Seat (basically Family Feud), and suddenly there were only 5km left! Levana slept over three hours, so Tamar and Sophia peacefully pushed the stroller and did interlocking metal puzzles. 

Reaching Enbetsu, we had lunch in the schoolyard, then found our campsite. It was empty andgrassy, just a minute’s walk from the sea. There, a large ocean pool mirroring the sky had been formed by lowering the seawall slightly. We also sat on some swinging benches in a beach pavilion, eating our encore dinner of tofu and broccoli udon. 

The girls had been eagerly hoping there really was an indoor playground near Enbetsu - and there was! They clambered around ropes, netting and slides like young apes. The owner, Kazuhiro, later came by to visit and mentioned that the Enbetsu annual festival was just two weeks away - too bad we missed it!

The sunsets here are supposedly among the best in Japan, but we had another overcast, gusty evening. So instead we turned in at 8, read a bit and went to sleep. 

Levi the happy passenger

Kayaking Hokkaido would be cool too!

Sandwiches on the swings 

The ocean spills through into a gentle pool

As if we had this place all to ourselves!!

Day 6: Enbetsu to Shosambetsu

Hours walked: 8:00 - 1:30

Distance walked: 19 km

Cumulative: 135 km 

It’s a good thing we went to bed early, because the day started at 1:30 am for people in both tents. We woke to deafening rain on our tents, and violent winds that battered our walls and tested our poles. Aurora ended up propping up her tent with one hand while she read with the other (taking a break every 10 seconds whenever the other wall caved in.) Jakob, Sophia and Zadie endured a partial collapse of their tent, whose volume shrank by about 60% from the hours of 2:00 until we finally decamped at 6. So we’ve all been up half the night except Levi, who miraculously slept right through the whole ordeal. 

Packing up our waterlogged tents and gear took forever, and we decided to skip buying breakfast, instead using up our stores of carrots, dry cereal, peanuts and cookies along the way. The walking seemed longer than yesterday even though the hours were similar; probably because we had the narrowest shoulder yet, and spent much of the morning in single file with a headwind. 

The Interrogations game remains popular; recent crimes include ice cream shop arson, stealing a precious gem from a tombstone, murder by strapping someone to a windmill blade, and stealing an old lady’s wheelchair. Otherwise, we admired the ocean views all morning, grateful for a cool, overcast, rainless sky. 

Jakob now has a blister larger than its parent toe, and the last hour was a limper; but we made it to Shosambetsu in good time, scored a cabin (especially welcome since tonight is another wet one), festooned it with wet gear, and are now taking turns soaking in the onsen. 

As Tamar put it just now, “this is a hard adventure!” But we are creating more good memories than bad ones so far, and keeping each others’ moods up.  We have three more 25-27 km days to Rumoi, but first: it’s almost my turn for the onsen…

Our tent collapsed like the Ottawa Senators

Blob baby in the tent!

Blob blister on the foot!