I cycled into Masuda and spent a good 5 hours there charging my stuff, calling Steph and just chilling out. At midday I set off to head into the mountains towards Hiroshima. It started with a gradual nice incline, albeit through a lot of tunnels. There were a few rice fields that I passed and lots of pine trees once again around me. I continued to stick to the highway on Route 191 that I'd been more or less cycling for the past 3 days, so the roads were quite wide and I did see cars fairly frequently. The first Michi no Eki I stopped at for a snack and a break was closed on Tuesdays and of course today was Tuesday, my luck never seems to end! After that the incline ramped up and I found myself not really prepared as I didn't really look at the maps leading up to today. But, in the first leg of the major climb a police officer slowed down to warn me that it was bear season and to be careful. Yikes... and, sorry Mum lol. Well that surely kicked a fire up my butt and before I knew it I had powered through the entire 600m elevation without stopping for once, paranoid and looking out for bears the whole time. Just after the big incline I got to another smaller Michi no Eki eki that was actually open, feeling a bit scared and drained about bears I got myself a chocolate and some chips (I've spent the last few days not snacking trying to save money). The old lady there was lovely. On my final 10km to the campsite it was more uphill, but not long into the ride a van that was pulled over ushered me to stop. He gifted me two more boxes of chips that I had purchased at the shop prior. He said he saw me there and thought he'd stop and wait for me to pass so that he could give me some more snacks for my journey. So nice!! Thinking that tonight I would be wilderness camping on my own in bear season, I was relieved to pull up to the campsite and find about 10 other groups of campers here. I will be taking precautions still though, not eating at my campsite and hanging my food far away from my tent. That being said, having a community here makes it much easier! I'll be cycling back into the city tomorrow.