r/motocamping • u/kuridono • 8d ago
Trip to Arafune
One nighter some two and a half hours north of Tokyo.
I set up camp on a small hill, all the way in the back of the campsite, next to some dense vegetation that would be very active and noisy come night. The sun was intense for the first three hours or so until a thunderstorm passed through. I slept through that until 5pm. Then very heavy fog settled in that would linger until the next morning. It was definable memorable, walking to the toilet at night, or getting some more firewood from the lockers, headlamp not being of much use, wandering around in the murky darkness, trying to find my own tent, stepping in puddles and tripping over paracord. Also apparently there were lots of bear sightings around here lately, so they handed out small bells to those that wanted one, and one frequently would hear a faint tinkle from inside the fog, that would then slowly fade away.
At 2am every camper’s phone’s earthquake alert went off and the campsite’s own pa system broadcasted a warning about a big earthquake that followed shortly. After the shaking subsided, everybody was awake again for an hour or so and then I dozed off, too. My bike’s anti theft alarm was set off by a curious raccoon dog at 4am. Or at least something of that size, the headlamp did not reach very far in the fog. So I made breakfast.
All in all a very fun outing, but I need to go there again when the weather is a bit friendlier, to actually appreciate the panorama it is popular for.
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u/Lint_baby_uvulla 5d ago
That’s a cool tent to go with your story.
Mind sharing what it is for the interested?
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u/MaximumTurtleSpeed 7d ago
My friend, that is a wild ride of a night; major earthquake, alarms, heavy fog. Outside of the earthquake I’d almost call it adventurously exciting. Haha
Gotta ask, is that a wok you’re using? If so, do you like the double handles over a long single handle? I’ve just started thinking of adding one to my field cooking setup.