October 8, 2025
Day 36 — Yonezawa to Lake Hibara
The enormous benefit of navigation software is knowing what is in store for you as your plans take shape. The enormous downside of navigation software is knowing what is in store for you as your plans take shape.
We knew with opting in for more rural and less trafficked routes we would inevitably face more hills. The mountains of Japan are a real barrier and will occasionally throw unavoidable hard days at you. This day was going to be one of those. The planned stats were over 1100 metres over 40 odd km. No way around it, only over it.
The destination was Lake Hibara, a mid point to the next river valley to the southeast. Hibara had several campsites, so we knew there was a place to sleep when we arrived.
And so we set out from our odd, empty, campground outside the industrial park on the outskirts of Yonezawa. The initial bit took us through central Yonezawa — not much to report on that front, and soon enough we were out the other side and meandering slowly into the countryside. As we contemplated the big climb ahead, we were provided with regular dire warnings about wildlife, which now included monkeys and wild boar.
Soon enough the countryside ended, the forest began, and the road steepened up. My Garmin has a climb metre that sets out the route’s climbs for you as a training aid. It just had one today: 1079m over 20 km. So just the one climb today then, that’s good.
What to tell you? We chugged along in low gear; it wasn’t super warm, but it was very humid, so the sweat was dripping. There was no level bit or downhill. Just endless 6-9% climb.
Not quite halfway along there was a small onsen resort town stretched along the road which would be a place for a break. Just before getting there we spied scattered across the roadway — monkeys! We were excited to see our first monkeys of the trip, but also mildly freaked out due to the alarming warnings. Plus we had to get by them painfully slowly. We survived.
The little resort was a decent place for a break, and had some interesting features, most notably a waterwheel that was propelled by the hot spring water (a hot wheel, as it were). Also a handsome store purveying many expensive alcohols. I did find a coke in the fridge which was in budget.
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Then we continued chugging along. If anything, it got steeper, and the road switchbackier. After something like 3 hours, we topped out at the 1400m pass. My Garmin beeped its praise at me, which made it all worthwhile.
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We were done in but it was foggy and chilly at the top, so lingering wasn’t in the cards. We got the bike lights and warm jackets out for the descent, which at first was in pea soup thick fog, which was completely surreal, in addition to being shiver inducing.
We were at the campground in short order. 600 m down takes no time at all. We were one of only two campers at this place, which seemed to be oriented to summer boaters, and which was no bargain at ¥3000. The surrounding area was agricultural — we passed a few vegetable stands on the way in — and at first we thought we were by a shooting range, but it was firecrackers to scare off birds, and maybe monkeys. It provided a staccato and frazzling backdrop to our brief stay.
We did summon the energy to ride a flat 5 km to the next little town — super easy without bags — in order to hit the onsen. Nothing like a soak after a day like that. We then found that our issue was food. The restaurants on the map were lunch only as it turns out, the grocery stores were the vegetable stands, which were closed by the time we got back from the onsen (and featured mostly daikon anyway). We had spied some cup ramen on the shelf at the campground admin building and negotiated a fair price for two of the finest ones on offer. Throw in some tinned fish dug out of a pannier, and half a box of cookies for dessert, and we were almost human again.
A hot meal, and, once the shooting stopped, it was off to bed.
Today's ride: 56 km (35 miles)
Total: 1,818 km (1,129 miles)
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