Hiking Close to Home: Higashiyama
Inspecting the Map while hiking around the “Eastern Mountains” area of Kyoto, Japan -- Copyright 2008 Jeffrey Eric Francis Friedl, https://regex.info/blog/
Nikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55mm f/2.8 @ 22 mm — 1/160 sec, f/3.5, ISO 640 — map & image datanearby photos
Inspecting the Map
while hiking around the “Eastern Mountains” area of Kyoto, Japan

Well, I fall further behind. I had been planning to post the answer to the What am I? quiz from the other day (none of the guesses so far are even close), but Fumie has been quite sick, so I wanted to get Anthony out of the house so that she could rest. I'd been wanting to try some nearby hiking trails, and I ended up with enough photos to fill at least five different blog posts.

We started out after lunch with the grueling seven-minute drive up to Shogunzuka. (We hit a few red lights, so it took longer than usual :-))

a really, really, really Hazy Day in Kyoto from the lookout at Shogunzuka -- Kyoto, Japan -- Copyright 2008 Jeffrey Eric Francis Friedl, https://regex.info/blog/
Nikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55mm f/2.8 @ 44 mm — 1/1250 sec, f/5, ISO 400 — map & image datanearby photos
a really, really, really
Hazy Day in Kyoto
from the lookout at Shogunzuka

It often seems to be hazy when I come up here, although it's on my list to try to come up after a typhoon passes through, because the air is quite clear after that as it was once when I came up here last year.

Other posts from up here include this and this.

We had some excitement as we watched a helicopter take off from the helipad near the parking lot (posted about here), and he headed into the trails that lead down the mountain....

Trailhead -- Kyoto, Japan -- Copyright 2008 Jeffrey Eric Francis Friedl, https://regex.info/blog/
Nikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55mm f/2.8 @ 17 mm — 1/80 sec, f/2.8, ISO 400 — map & image datanearby photos
Trailhead
Lots and Lots of Ferns -- Kyoto, Japan -- Copyright 2008 Jeffrey Eric Francis Friedl, https://regex.info/blog/
Nikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55mm f/2.8 @ 24 mm — 1/40 sec, f/2.8, ISO 1000 — map & image datanearby photos
Lots and Lots of Ferns

I quickly learned that the mountain is covered in ferns of pretty much every type imaginable. Ferns can be quite photogenic, but the lack of light under the mountain treecover can make photography a challenge. I got some okay fern shots during a short hike last summer, but couldn't even replicate them this time.

Anthony, of course, doesn't care; ferns, like anything in the path, is subject to pokiture.

Fern, I Poke Thee -- Kyoto, Japan -- Copyright 2008 Jeffrey Eric Francis Friedl, https://regex.info/blog/
Nikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55mm f/2.8 @ 35 mm — 1/60 sec, f/4, ISO 800 — map & image datanearby photos
Fern, I Poke Thee

Every once in a while, a clearing let you know just how tall the trees really were...

Tall Trees -- Kyoto, Japan -- Copyright 2008 Jeffrey Eric Francis Friedl, https://regex.info/blog/
Nikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55mm f/2.8 @ 17 mm — 1/80 sec, f/5.6, ISO 800 — map & image datanearby photos
Tall Trees

It's difficult to make a photo that really shows the majesty of tall trees. I've tried plenty of times; this tall bamboo desktop background came out nicely, and so perhaps did one of the photos on this fall-colors post. The one at the end of this post less so. I'll keep plugging at it.

Pleasant Rest Area in the middle of nowhere -- Kyoto, Japan -- Copyright 2008 Jeffrey Eric Francis Friedl, https://regex.info/blog/
Nikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55mm f/2.8 @ 28 mm — 1/80 sec, f/5, ISO 500 — map & image datanearby photos
Pleasant Rest Area
in the middle of nowhere

I really shouldn't say “middle of nowhere” because as the crow flys, we're just about exactly one mile from my place (with several major temples in between). That's the beauty of having mountains so close... you can “get away” with very little effort.

Canopy -- Kyoto, Japan -- Copyright 2008 Jeffrey Eric Francis Friedl, https://regex.info/blog/
Nikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55mm f/2.8 @ 17 mm — 1/640 sec, f/4, ISO 500 — map & image datanearby photos
Canopy
Trail Closed A fork that, luckily, we weren't planning to take -- Kyoto, Japan -- Copyright 2008 Jeffrey Eric Francis Friedl, https://regex.info/blog/
Nikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55mm f/2.8 @ 17 mm — 1/40 sec, f/4, ISO 500 — map & image datanearby photos
Trail Closed
A fork that, luckily, we weren't planning to take

We saw a number of tiny little frogs, including this guy, who wasn't much bigger than my thumbnail...

Kyoto, Japan -- Copyright 2008 Jeffrey Eric Francis Friedl, https://regex.info/blog/
Nikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55mm f/2.8 @ 55 mm — 1/40 sec, f/3.5, ISO 640 — map & image datanearby photos
Who you lookin at ? -- Kyoto, Japan -- Copyright 2008 Jeffrey Eric Francis Friedl, https://regex.info/blog/
Nikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55mm f/2.8 @ 55 mm — 1/30 sec, f/4, ISO 640 — map & image datanearby photos
Whoyoulookinat?

It was all Anthony could do to not poke him. I try to let him be as free as possible, but harassing wildlife (like I did when I was a kid) is over the line.

Tiny Little Bridge -- Kyoto, Japan -- Copyright 2008 Jeffrey Eric Francis Friedl, https://regex.info/blog/
Nikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55mm f/2.8 @ 55 mm — 1/45 sec, f/2.8, ISO 1250 — map & image datanearby photos
Tiny Little Bridge
Rear Entrance “Gate Opens at 6am, closes at 5:30pm” “No Smoking, Eating, or Drinking” -- Kyoto, Japan -- Copyright 2008 Jeffrey Eric Francis Friedl, https://regex.info/blog/
Nikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55mm f/2.8 @ 17 mm — 1/80 sec, f/2.8, ISO 1250 — map & image datanearby photos
Rear Entrance
“Gate Opens at 6am, closes at 5:30pm”
“No Smoking, Eating, or Drinking”

The set of trails that we took wound down the mountain for half an hour toward a back entrance to a sorta' famous spot. We come around the corner and were greeted with...

First View of Civilization in the last half hour -- Kyoto, Japan -- Copyright 2008 Jeffrey Eric Francis Friedl, https://regex.info/blog/
Nikon D200 + Nikkor 17-55mm f/2.8 @ 35 mm — 1/80 sec, f/5.6, ISO 400 — map & image datanearby photos
First View of Civilization
in the last half hour

Our day continued, and in the end we hiked over 7km. My knees have a hard time of it when we go down (surprisingly, going up is no problem), but we took it slow and it was fun. There are still plenty of trails yet to try, all within a mile or so of home.

Continued here...


One comment so far...

Whilst I consider myself very fortunate to live in rural Wales, I still greatly envy you your diverse and mostly wonderful surroundings!

I’ve enjoyed the ferns too, of course, especially the one (Plagiogyria japonica, I think) in the first photograph. It is said to be one of the most common ferns in Japan, but I have to admit I don’t recall seeing it, and certainly have no photograph of it. It looks like Anthony may end up a pteridologist.

Your series on the Fushimi Inari shrine has been fascinating, too. Looks to be an extraordinary place and definitely one to visit in the event that I ever get myself to Japan again.

— comment by Peter on June 20th, 2008 at 7:56pm JST (16 years, 5 months ago) comment permalink
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