Before I flew back to CA, I trekked with @saru.tomokikokubun up the northeast coast of Hokkaido by Shiretoko, a world heritage site. There were no roads and no trails, it was just hugging the coastline and me dodging bears / Tomoki looking for bears to take pictures of. It was such a raw experience. I heard a bear's footsteps around our tent at night (no food though, it was all in a bear container far away from us). Made me feel like such a fragile human being clutching my bear spray knowing if something happened, it'd be me who'd lose lol. No light meant the night sky was bright with stars. I ended up making a stupid mistake and dropped my pack on my bear spray, releasing the (shitty) safety and basically blasting the two of us. I figured bear spray would be painful... But damn it's painful. It soaked into my backpack and so rubbed into my back, making the rest and next day soo miserable. But damn it was a hell of a beautiful experience. In that picture by the river, the entire river mouth was bustling with trout waiting for the tide to rise so they could climb the river. It was such a cool sight to see. You can see some of them waiting around in the far back. Tomoki is an AMAZING photographer, nature guide, and good human being. He took all of these pictures. Check his work out at https://www.saru-tomokikokubun.com/portfolio.