Minakami Adventure weekend

Here I am, three days after returning from a weekend away in Minakami and I am still finding a few bruises and feeling pain from muscles I didn't know I had. (Whether they are from the outdoor activities or the dancing afterwards I'm not sure) Definitely a sign of a good weekend away.

 We met the Tokyo Snow Club bus at Shinjuku at 6:45am on Saturday and headed off for a 3 hour drive to Minakami with some rest stops for food and bathroom breaks along the way.  It takes 1 hour 20 on the shinkansen, which was handy for a couple of people who missed the early morning bus and were able to catch up with us at our accommodation.

Minakami is heaven for outdoor enthusiasts. The river Tone runs through the centre of the town and is where the rafting, kayaking and canyoning takes place. Skiing and snowboarding can be done on the surrounding mountains in winter. There is also bungee jumping, paragliding, mountain biking and the like.

We signed up for canyoning on the Saturday afternoon. We dumped our bags in our room at Canyons Minakami and chilled out in the common room until it was time to get ready to go. It was a bit of an epic struggle to get dressed. Wetsuit socks followed by long johns followed by jacket and canyoning shoes. Then outside to get a harness, gloves, life jacket and helmet. Man were we cooking once we were loaded onto the mini bus. Sweat dripped us off like sumos in a sauna.

We had signed up for the Nishikuro canyon course but as soon as we got into the water after a quick abseiling practice, a pretty intense dump of rain started. The guides decided it wasn't safe to continue so we loaded back onto the bus and headed to the Fox Canyon instead. Lucky for us, the water levels were safer here and we were able to slide down waterfalls feet first on our stomachs or headfirst on our backs.  We could also jump, dive, bomb or back-flip into the deeper water.

 Amazing what you can push yourself to do when you are in a group and there is only one way out and that is down. I'm not a super strong swimmer so I felt a bit nervous sliding down a waterfall but you are roped into your harness for half o the drop and by the time they released me I was totally ready to speed up my descent. Fun times had by all.

Video here if you want to see what canyoning is like in Fox Canyon.

A shower never felt so good after peeling off all the wetsuit layers. And that first beer afterwards went down a treat. And the next beer while we watched the rugby and the next few while we had the group BBQ. And the next few while the snow club guys did their DJ sets....

 Unfortunately the beers didn't help me out the next day when my brain decided to forget how to get dressed in all those layers of wetsuit stuff to go rafting. I managed to put my left leg through one section instead of my right leg. And it took me FOREVER to work out why I then couldn't zip myself up properly.

My issues didn't end there, once we were in the raft getting our instructions my brain decided to go AWOL and I got a bit of a telling off for not being able to squeeze my feet into the right position quick enough. Fortunately my brain woke up again once we were in the water bouncing around and I managed to avoid being launched out of the raft. Unlike a couple of our mates who popped out at one point and were swept over to the side when our raft decided to do a semi flip.

Our guide was hilarious and rafting was heaps of fun. We got to do another cliff jump at one point too. I have decided the best tactic for me is to get in there and jump without thinking. If I take too long and spend too much time anticipating what will happen I get a bit chicken. So I got to the front of the queue, jumped where the guide pointed and screamed till I hit the water. Bam! What a rush!

After rafting, we were starving. So we hit up a local soba place and got stuck into some delicious noodles and tempura. The noodles are hand rolled fresh everyday. And the tempura was to die for.

 Website  - Kadoya Soba

After packing up at Canyons lodge we were back onto the bus with a stop off at Takaragawa Onsen. I had to steel my onsen nerves again, as this would be my first mixed onsen experience. This onsen allows you to hire towels to wear in the water so you are not bearing all to the general public.

 However, the majority of the guys still only get around with the small towels, known by us gaijin as 'd*ck towels'. They don't cover much and they are white, which means they become pretty damn see through when wet! I was too tired to care about a few eyeful's of old man junk so I decided to stick it out in the general pool areas but I can understand why a few of the girls chose to head to the women's only section.

The women's towels were not exactly large either and I had to keep my hand clamped tightly at the fold to stop my own privates being out on display. I noticed a few of the old ducks were wearing loose cotton dresses in the water, think that would be a much better option that a towel!

Despite the awkwardness of trying to stay covered, it was a beautiful setting for an outdoor onsen. The tree covered mountains made for a very scenic backdrop as you soaked in the hot water. It was cute seeing an old fella give his missus as neck massage too. And there were plenty of people enjoying beers while they soaked. I can see why the Japanese dig this stuff.


Now back to my recovery on the couch :)