Because my son has a tough car and they say "adventure," I was excited but worried if we would go to somewhere extremely dangerous. They showed me a map and said that our goal was the little lake halfway up the mountain in the east. I did find something like a little lake, but I didn't find a single road around it. They once heard that a large Native American tribe used to live there and there's a horse trail. And, because it's now used by cross-country skiers in winter, there's no problem. I doubted if this big car could pass such a narrow trail, but it started wide right off the highway. So, I was relieved and I even laughed wryly in my heart because I felt "adventure" sounded exaggerating.

While checking directions with a map and a compass, we got off the road we drove so far and then switched to a mountain road to the lake. And, this is what we saw suddenly. "There's no road." "No, it should start again once we pass." "But, the left is cliff. We'll fall it we don't ride up to the right." "Should we do 'paper, stone and scissors'? to decide to proceed or not?" Hey, are we risking our lives with the game? Because we could neither change our direction nor retreat, everyone except the driver leaned our bodies to the right as much as we could. We also unlocked the doors and fully opened the right windows so that we could escape when the car starts to slide down. Phew..., I was too nervous to breathe, but we managed to pass the dangerous spot. I see. It's some adventure.

This trail does have a line and looks much better than the last one. But, it's not a road for a car to pass anyway. The wheels had to keep straddling the trail, and if there's big tree on the side, we can't retreat unless we cut it. And, we couldn't use our cellphone to call for help because there's no signal. So, someone has to walk down to the village, but it will get dark by then. And, we don't want to appear on the newspaper with the title "Reckless Parent, Child, Grandchild Stuck in Mountain - Pulled up with Car by Rescue Helicopter." So, we all felt our arms wondering what to do.

As we kept discussing in a loud voice to hide our worries, we came out to a wide place and felt relieved. An army marches on its stomach. We decided to eat our rice ball bento. In such an environment, it was unbelievably delicious. I was filled with happiness, but felt a little worried. Even if we gave up here and decided to return, we had to find another route. So, we all agreed to keep moving forward. And, we became full and brave. I wanted to say, "ei, ei, oh!" (a Japanese shout of encouragement," but I didn't because I was afraid that they would say it was "lame."

Yay! We made it! But, we went a little too far forward until the tires started to sink, so we backed it up in a hurry.

I bet this place rarely has human visitors. What a clear water it is. Everything including the air is fresh. Time passes quietly in this great nature.

My grandson Louis, my son Keith T, and my daughter's husband Keith M, we made it! Let's enjoy this mysterious beauty. I didn't know why, but I felt relieved to see the power cables far away. Maybe it was because we were in such an unusual place and we miss something related to human life.
We knew we had to go down the mountain before it gets dark, but after we fished one brown trout, we decided to reach to the summit.

So, we kept going up.

All right! We made the second round and this was our goal for today. Oops! We shouldn't go too far forward.

What a magnificent view it is. It would be like Sound of Music if it were filled with grass. In this space, I found old signs of the ropeway to take cut wood down.

Thank you so much for bringing us here overcoming the hard spots. Powerful and sturdy JEEP is a genuine American car. Keep up the good work to bring us down to the village.

Fortunately, we didn't have to use our emergency water, food, and heating equipment. Our return route wasn't easy either, but we managed to make it safely. Although it was dark and cold when we returned home, we were blessed with the hot pot dish my family prepared for us. We also grilled the 30cm trout with salt and shared it. The taste was like no other and it was sweet and aromatic.

The three-generation's one-day adventure ended. Even though we talk to each other very often, it was a precious experience because we could develop a new emotion that I couldn't feel just by exchanging words, or a sense of solidarity among the people who shared the danger and built mutual trust.