Field Notes 03.

The first moment, when I really thought wow, this is the place, was when I was sitting on the ferry going to Rishiri Island.

Yes, you might be going Riley, I am sure you have had wow moments before then, and yes, I had been wowed, don't get me wrong, but something about this ferry hit so right.

We had a mission to go hike the volcano of Rishiri Island. We had been planning it with our friend Alex, and this was on the list. It is way up north in Hokkaido, and was way out of the way of everything that was on our list, but this was there, and this is what we were doing.

We met Alex in the ferry parking lot, we had already been out for a week, and he had just flown out the night before. He got a good run at it, and he made it in time to catch the last ferry to Rishiri for the night.

Okay, if you have been on a Japanese ferry, you might be now going, so Riley, what's the big deal, yeah they are cool and all, but really, you are going to dedicate a whole Wakaranai Field Note to the Rishiri Ferry?

So we hopped on the ferry right, and this is just a short one, only about an hour and a half. No meals, no onsen onboard (some ferry's do be having that), but just taking my shoes off, and sitting on the comfy floor, and lounging out. Like you got to be kidding me. I have been on my fair share of ferries in my life, growing up around the PNW, but nothing comes close to the joy of pulling your shoes off and just straight chilling. We played cards, and munched hi chews, and just stoked, and caught up on life. For me, that is one of those moments where things all just clicked into place, and I said wow.

Now the island, was sick, the volcano, is definitely something you should do. You can camp right at the trailhead, 10/10 would recommend, and it is something I will be talking about in a later field note, but this field note, is about the ferry, so we will leave it here.

I guess if I could end with anything, without being too terribly cliche, sometimes the mode of transportation, is more important than where that transportation is taking you.

- Riley