【JA22W Jimny】No plans for a car camping trip on the Izu Peninsula! Part 1【Perfect Jimny and Izu Skyline Edition】

I went on a trip around the Izu Peninsula with my Jimny, which had completed repairs. I had no plans other than driving to various scenic spots! I drove the Izu and Nishi-Izu Skyline, and I intended to camp wherever looked good, following a nearly no-plan journey. This time will focus on the episodes from the Izu Skyline to Irozaki.

After the Jimny repair, the first long drive

It looks like it will be the longest journey with the Jimny so far, so I changed the settings to see if I could improve the "play in the steering wheel" that had really bothered me during previous highway drives. Speaking of settings, I just switched the "aerolocking hub" that transmits drive to the front wheels from free (no drive transmitted) to lock (drive transmitted).

The reason I focused on this is that when driving on the highway in free mode, the steering wheel felt wobbly, leading to a lack of stability and considerable fear. I also noticed online that "JA series Jimnys have a lot of play in the steering," and I thought that this impression might arise when in free mode, rather than due to individual differences.

When I returned to lock mode for city driving, I felt a stable impression, so I decided to try it on the highway. As expected, the results were favorable, and I was able to head to Izu in the best condition.

Izu Skyline

First, I arrived at Jukkoku Pass in Hakone. From there, I aim for the Izu Skyline toll booth at Atami Pass. The Izu Skyline has six toll booths from Atami Pass to Amagi Plateau, with the elevation of Atami Pass being 635m and the highest being the Genbu Pass at 720m. Normally, you can see Mt. Fuji, Suruga Bay, and Sagami Bay, but this time the atmospheric conditions were poor, and the sky was hazy and completely obscured the view. For now, I set off towards the endpoint at Amagi Plateau.

This is the view looking down from the parking lot near Genbu Pass. The sensation of driving along the mountain ridge is refreshing, and it feels great. There were quite a few drivers speeding along, making loud exhaust noises as they went. Since it was a weekday, it wasn't too crowded, but it might get quite busy on weekends.

After driving about 40.6 km to Amagi Plateau for about an hour, I successfully completed the drive. Since I didn't have a specific destination, I continued to head south. I had planned to eat dried fish afterward, so I hadn't eaten anything. I'm hungry...

Aiming for beautiful Shirahama and dried fish

The eat-in dried fish shop is in the area of Shimoda's Soto-Ura, and I continue to drive along the coast. I stopped by the beautiful Shirahama beach along the way. It's a place that gets very crowded in summer, but in March now, it had a calm atmosphere that felt refreshingly new. The weather was like early summer, and since I could spend the day in short sleeves, I got a head start on summer.

I finally arrived at the long-awaited dried fish shop, but I found out that the eat-in option had a charcoal grilling fee plus the cost of the dried fish, which turned out to be a system designed for groups to share. Given my budget and that it seemed wasteful to ask for charcoal grilling just to eat a little, I considered takeout but hadn't decided on the accommodation or method for today. If I purchased casually, the ingredients would spoil, so I decided to give up for now... The owner cheerfully sent me off, saying they’d be open tomorrow, so come back!

Being hungry and having no plans was echoing here. As I looked at inns and hotels, I wondered if staying normally instead of sleeping in the car would be nice, and the whimsical indecisiveness was hindering my planning progress. The thought of just returning home for the day crossed my mind (laughs). For now, I decided to go to the southernmost point of Izu and make a decision there with my procrastination plan.

Camping out at my favorite Irozaki

As I continued south toward Irozaki, I noticed that after passing Shimoda, the number of tourists suddenly decreased. As someone who isn’t fond of crowded places, I felt oddly relaxed looking at the scenery of Irozaki's fishing port. I spotted signs for campgrounds and RV parks along the way, and my spirits lifted at the thought of being able to stay along the coast like this.