True Dreams of Iwate San

I tried initially to write this post like a story; a first person epic, more precisely. Unfortunately, someone named Samuel has already done me the honor of putting my tale to words. I'm not one to retell a perfectly good telling, so, if you would like the story version, please see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_and_Goliath.

So many fun, tiring, scary, amazing, beautiful, hungry things happened over this weekend that covering them all, and especially in order, would simply be impossible. Instead I will regale you with pictures and words, out of order. You may attempt to reconstruct the sequence for yourself if you'd like, but why bother? I don't even remember any more. In any case, I don't think it matters. A small preface though, just to set the mood.

In one corner you have the formidable 岩手山, but you may call him Iwate San. 26 million years old, his name means "Mr. Stone Hands." (Not to be confused with a Mr. Eric Sullivan, who has too often gone by that name whenever he drops one of my perfect spirals in the endzone.) He is now a 7,000 foot volcano. In the other corner you have me, a twenty two year old, mildy athletic, altogether unprepared, wide eyed kid looking for a good weekend on a mountain. Armed with two rice balls, a bowl of instant ramen, tennis shoes, shorts, and a whole lot of enthusiasm, I tackled the beast. It was a fight to the death. Unfortunately I have already spoiled the ending, as I am writing this blog and not Mr. Stone Hands.

Chapter 1 - Up the Mountain

'It's good to own land...'

This is Amanda Mulligan. She is Irish. She told me that in England, Polish jokes are actually Irish jokes. She is also very afraid of bears. She said so on the bus to the mountain. I told her that if bears attack, what you need to do is go up to the biggest one and hit it in the face. But I can't remember if that's for bears or prison. At any rate, all 40 of us ALT's came to a consensus on the bus concerning bears. Here is what we came up with: 'fight brown bears, play dead with black bears, give up with polar bears because you are dead, and guard your pockets if you see a bear with a picnic basket because you can bet Boo Boo is nearby gunnin for your wallet.'

Amanda is doing the classic Captain Morgan pose.

Mine is better.

A note: As I was on my hands and knees grappling with the mountain face, sweating profusely, gaining one inch for every two that I lost, that little child who is behind me in the picture sauntered right on by. As I looked up at him he waved at me. Then a dog skipped by. I'd like to think that Mr. Stone Hands made it easy for them because they are Japanese. And also because if he didn't, I really need to hit the weight room.

Look Dad! A Mets fan! I found him here on this mountain living in seclusion. After Backman and Hernandez were retired in the bottom of the 10th of the '86 World Series, he said he was so fed up with the Mets that he didn't even wait to see the last out. He said he couldn't stand the thought of his Red Sox friends holding this over him for the rest of his life. So he turned his back on the Mets, on baseball, on America, on his old life, and on civilization in general, taking the next plane to Japan and living here on Iwate San for the past 20 years. 'But I showed them,' he said proudly. 'So how did Carter make out?' he finally asked me. Soon after, he got a little violent, and we were forced to continue without him.

Chapter 2 - The summit

This is the lodge of summit number 1, where we spend the night.

This is where we slept. All in all, there were about 40 ALT's and 60 to 70 Japanese folk sharing this cabin with us. We had fresh, delicious mountain water as well as one small stove to boil water with. The quarters were tight, and we were all right up against one another for the night. That was fine though, because it got really, really cold. I had four blankets and a jacket and I was shivering by morning time. Lights out was at 8 pm so that we could wake up at 4 am the next morning to hike another hour up to the viewing summit.

'What do you mean we have to wake up at 4?' said Ryan

'What do you mean its 4 am and we have to hike for another hour?!' said Korey.

'It's awful dark for a sunrise,' said Jen.

Almost there...




There it is. Please note that we are above the clouds. 5:42 in the morning never felt so good. The orange disk slowly rose above the horizon and suddenly exploded into yellow. The clouds were thick and low so we could not see any sign of the city below us. I felt like I was in a little bubble, alone with the sun.

Chapter 3 - Out of the frying pan and into the fire; descent

We went down a different path than we went up, on the opposite side of the mountain. The next few pictures are of the trail, whose name is 鬼が城, pronounced 'onigajyo,' or The Demon's Castle.

This side of the mountain was thus named because of its rough, forbidding appearance. The brutal crags, slippery slopes, thick sulfer smelling woods, and devastating winds deter all but the most hardy travellers. It has been challenged throughout the years only by the grittiest samurai, the most legendary heros, the craziest ninjas and...

kind old ladies.

Obligatory cheesy 'we did it' photo. We were genuinely happy, though. The five of us got separated and for two and a half hours had no idea whether or not we were going the right way. It was almost another five points for The Demon's Castle, but we did it.

Then everybody got naked and went to an onsen. No photos.