Japan photos: Nishizawa Gorge, Yamanashi Prefecture
So, seeing as I haven't really done a photo post of anything related to my life here, despite the beauty of Japan, I figured I would post some pics of areas not too far from where I live. Some background: My husband is an enthusiastic hiker, loves the mountains, climbs Mt Fuji almost every year, etc... I have a herniated lumbar disk, and am essentially physically inactive except for light walking. This concerns us both. So, hubby found a book that had ratings for hikes that included those for the absolute beginner with no skill, perfect for moi. One of the ones is what I am posting about here, Nishizawa Gorge in Yamanashi prefecture.
I asked said husband how this Nishizawa gorge compares to another one , Shousen Gorge, that we've been to a few times before. Shousen is a beautiful, and therefore HUGELY popular tourist site. Here's a pic to give you an idea :
Notice how WELL-PAVED the road is. Perfect for pets and grandmothers and small children!
He replied that Nishizawa was in the same immediate mountain range as Shousen, so how different could it be?
....yeah... XD
So off we go to Yamanashi Precture, enjoying ourselves thoroughly. The sky was constantly shifting with clouds, and the effect on the landscape was spectacular! I couldn't really get any good photos through the car window, but I did get this interesting little truck carrying its burden of newly-harvested rice, all bundled up neatly!
But with construction on the way, and getting a bit turned around, we wound up arriving later than we planned, around 1:30 p.m. or so. Now, Japan being in the time zone it's in, it gets dark by about 5:30, and completely black before 6 p.m. So we were a bit concerned about that. Anyway, we finally find the parking lot, and being the shutterbug I am, I can't resist snapping off a shot of the misty mountain.
Click for larger! So off we start, and no sooner have we started than we are accosted by an umbrella-wielding gentleman with a map and flashlight. He asks us if we intend to try to make it to the "Seven-pooled five-tiered" waterfall, which is the highlight of the trip, and - of course - the farthest out. Why, yes we are! 'Well, it takes 4 hours to do the round trip, and it's a good 4 kilometers (2.5 miles) to the waterfall, be back before dark or else you're on your own'. So with that warning, he gave us a map (but not the flashlight), and we proceed down the well-marked path. After a few moments husband turns to me and asks me seriously if I think I can make it. Remember, we are still operating under the impression it's a paved road, the same as the place above. This is mildly irritating, because I know he's thinking more about his own inconvenience as opposed to my safety. Of COURSE, duh I can walk 5 miles. I just can't climb down a mountain, because of the pressure it puts on my spine. But I can certainly walk a paved path, for pete's sake. He tells me seriously that since we are pressed for time, I will have to cut back on my shutterbug tendencies. :( This is true, because I am a slow mover, so slow+ taking pictures = too late to get back in time, our frozen bodies found weeks later. But I did take a few!
The first waterfall the Nishizawa river... and the suspension bridge across it.
Click for larger!
We even saw some wild monkeys running across the path behind us, which was rather cool. The water was unbelievably clear, and the typical deep aquamarine color. We didn't talk much, just walked at a fairly quick pace, with husband occasionally checking behind to make sure I'm okay. I was fascinated by the smooth curving rocks that the river made, and the amazing color of the water.
And the "Blowfish Rock" --
I couldn't figure out the blowfish reference, but then again, it seems many Japanese places get their names from someone who was probably blitzed on sake when they named them..
It is then that we hit this little area, and I get an inkling that maybe, no, Nishizawa is NOT like the well-paved gorge above...
But this minor setback didn't stop these guys from enjoying their (probably illegal) waterfall-diving! -
We both wanted to join them, but alas, no equipment.
Because I go slow, I tend to look around and see if something captures my eye. I love colorful things, so yeah, just a couple of pretty trinkets. ;)
Eventually, our dreams of an easy, relaxing hike are shattered on the reality of slippery granite...
This is just ONE of the many ascending paths:
...only to go down the other side:
Check out the angle, folks! It's wet and slick (lol!), and we got a good laugh from the signs warning children (??!) to take their parents' hand and be obedient to what their parents say.
My husband is particularly proud of this one he took of you-know-who (and what style I have, what with the big pink hip-pack... )
Yes, it was pretty much chains to hold on to from this point onward, and yes, the path is basically held together with chicken wire... Sort of like Wendell Gee's line of trees.. But the river is still gorgeous:
I was getting really worried at this point. I wasn't quite clear which path we were going to take back, for there are two possible routes. And trying to climb DOWN the wet, slippery gorge in fading light, with a herniated disc... Well, the thought of THAT pain is enough to send me into a real funk. Husband assures me that the path back down is much easier, being an old 'trokko' path, aka mini-railway. I am not reassured, but at least we see this sign:
and our goal is in sight!!
Here's a video for it, that husband took (hope the link works okay!)
Click to viewHope it works, but we'll see when I'm finished editing.
So now begins the long hike UP the mountain to get to the return road. It is now late afternoon, and the golden sunlight streaming in through the trees and mist is something that fills me with such awe every time. I tell hubby that I'm taking pictures.
The climb was nearly vertically above, look how small that huge waterfall is now! And the sunlight appears...
The scent of the forest was absolutely amazing, so rich and wet. It was nippy, but in such an exhilerating way. I am enthralled with all the beauty, but hubby is reasonable, and points out that we still have nearly two hours left to go, and it's already nearly 4 p.m. We find the trokko track, which is a leftover from when the area was logged way back when. Originally it was horse-pulled, before they switched to diesel, but the place was abandoned in the 1950s. You can still see the tracks, here:
and the place where a horse fell, apparently:
You cannot tell from the pic, but the slope is nearly 70 degrees vertical, and the river looks close, but it is easily a hundred feet down. You fall, you're dead. And guess what? The entire path down is mostly along the edge of incredible, yawning crevices like this, and a few places with metal mesh spans, and even a couple of suspension bridges. And these were recently built, we could tell, because along the sides we could see the trokko tracks disappearing into open space, and nothing but chains and -- I swear to god -- about a foot-wide ledge over a 100-200 foot drop straight down. In some cases, not even that... The only way to get a pic of these places was to stand on the metal-mesh bridge and take one. But it was too much even for me, and it was getting late, and colder, and hubby was now out of sight far ahead. As much as some of the sights were amazing, when you realize you're alone in a cold, rapidly darkening forest MILES AND MILES from any street light, well, the forest starts to get sinister pretty quick.
A humorous moment!
We came across a construction site, where the workers (who had come UP the road on mopeds!!) were actually working on the road! A bit further down my husband discovered this tiny shovelcar, and loving small things, promptly hopped in it! I had to set my camera to a light-sensitive setting to get this pic, it's actually getting into early twilight now, and the construction workers passed us on the mopeds. We still have a ways to go, when we pass this little shrine:
Again, don't be fooled by the pale light - it is a lie! Eventually we do make it back to the original path, and it is seriously getting dark. We are getting close, but... I was fiddling with my cell-phone just in case, trying to figure out how to work the flash in case it did get truly dark before we make it back to the parking lot. And when I say it's getting eerie, I mean it. There are odd calls I'm hearing, probably birds, or possibly boar (the monkeys head to the treetops to sleep), but when you can't see the forest and the only light is the last fading twilight in the sky, things start taking on a life of their own.
We do make it back, but with less than ten minutes to spare. By the time we get ourselves settled in the car (drinks in the holder and that stupid pink pack chucked in back), it is truly black, and you can't see anything. Close call! But what a gorgeous place! we decided we want to go back, because if we had made it an hour earlier, we could have made a more leisurely pace and enjoyed more of the other waterfalls, as well as the views from the trokko road.
For those curious, here's a map:
The big pink square on the right is the parking, the solid black line is the trek up, the waterfall is on the far left, and the trokko is the dotted track back.
Wow, I sound so... dull when I'm writing... I work much better face to face, since I work off of the other person's reactions. My Sony Vaio is a lovely companion, but the silent type, I'm afraid... Anyway, hope you enjoy these pics!