Deserted Forest Station?

July 30, 1983, Saturday

Got a relatively early start at 8:00am on a very cold and rainy day. I started by first walking the first kilometers to the outskirts of Oshamambe, then started running towards Kamimena. It was so cold out there, that I was wishing I had brought a long-sleeve shirt with me.

It was easy to get lost on the route today. I ended up going the wrong way and so I had to backtrack to Kuromatsunai. I am sure this added at least 4km to today's distance. I made it to Kamimena at last, but what the hell...it is just a tiny train station in the middle of the forest! No houses, no stores, no nothing! No way was I going to spend the night in the forest. I needed to get out of there fast and make my way to a real town.

I proceeded to make my way (fast, to avoid running in the dark) to Rankoshi to stay with Mr. Sasaki's cousin. Mr. Sasaki is the man I stayed with in Mori. The distance today was probably around 55km, including the extra distance from backtracking.

Mr. Sasaki's cousin told me a story about running into a bear in the near vicinity. Apparently, one night after drinking a good amount of sake, he was walking home alone on a deserted mountain path. When he turned a corner, he said he was face to face with a bear. He said he just froze for what seemed like an eternity (he says it was probably around 30 minutes) because he did not know if the bear had moved behind him and he was afraid to move. Eventually he gathered enough courage to haul ass all the way to his house.

I am not sure what I would do if I end up running into a bear. I don't think I can break out into a full sprint with my beat up legs.