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Nikon D700 + Nikkor 14-24mm f/2.8 @ 14mm — ¹/125 sec, f/13, ISO 1600 — map & image data — nearby photos
Surrounded by Giants

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Yesterday I posted a few pictures in Part 1 on a particularly photogenic ravine first seen in last week's “Scenes From Mountain Roads in Northern Kyoto”.

This post is a bunch more, mostly without comment.

First, again, here is the view from the road...

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 14-24mm f/2.8 @ 24mm — ¹/320 sec, f/14, ISO 5600 — map & image data — nearby photos

I climbed up into that for the rest of the pictures.

The trees aren't actually all that tall... maybe 25-30m (~7 or 8 stories tall), but they're plenty tall enough to awe.

Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — ¹/320 sec, f/2.5, ISO 500 — map & image data — nearby photos
Lush

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Nikon D700 + Nikkor 50mm f/1.4 — ¹/250 sec, f/2.8, ISO 1100 — map & image data — nearby photos
These Fractal Plants
account for most of the green lushness

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 50mm f/1.4 cropped — ¹/250 sec, f/2.8, ISO 450 — map & image data — nearby photos
Some Ferns as Well
this was a throw-away light-measuring shot, but I like how sharp the fern happened to come in

Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — ¹/500 sec, f/2.5, ISO 640 — map & image data — nearby photos
Tall

This next one isn't much in the thumbnail version, but it's quite something else when viewed full screen...

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 14-24mm f/2.8 @ 14mm cropped — ¹/160 sec, f/5, ISO 1100 — map & image data — nearby photos
Begs to be Big

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Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — ¹/400 sec, f/2.5, ISO 2200 — map & image data — nearby photos
Trunk

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Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 — ¹/400 sec, f/4, ISO 6400 — map & image data — nearby photos
Bed

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 14-24mm f/2.8 @ 14mm — ¹/60 sec, f/13, ISO 6400 — map & image data — nearby photos
Overexposed

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Nikon D700 + Nikkor 14-24mm f/2.8 @ 14mm — ¹/125 sec, f/13, ISO 900 — map & image data — nearby photos
Better Exposure; Less Compelling
but still not too bad

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Nikon D700 + Nikkor 14-24mm f/2.8 @ 14mm — ¹/125 sec, f/13, ISO 4500 — map & image data — nearby photos
Looking Back
to the road

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 14-24mm f/2.8 @ 14mm — ¹/125 sec, f/2.8, ISO 560 — map & image data — nearby photos
Looking Sideways

Nikon D700 + Voigtländer 125mm f/2.5 cropped — ¹/250 sec, f/2.5, ISO 1250 — map & image data — nearby photos
Looking Down!
Japan's most venomous snake

While heading back down, I came within a pace and a half of stepping on this guy, scaring myself half to death when I saw him below me. From his coiled reaction a moment later, I seem to have had a similar effect on him.

I didn't know what kind of snake he was, but I gave him a wide berth, and he slithered off. He was about two feet long.

It turns out that he's a dreaded mamushi pit viper (マムシ), which I didn't know to expect in the mountains. (I do now.) It has the most potent venom of any snake in Japan, but while its bite can be fatal, it's not as deadly as the Amami/Okinawa habu (ハブ) because these mamushi tend to be physically smaller, so their bite is delivers a correspondingly smaller amount of venom.

But being bit by one would not be fun. The most common results are “MOF” (multiple organ failure) and necrosis of the area/limb bitten, which can lead to amputation (if, at least, you recover from the first problem). Most cases require a month of hospitalization, but those young and strong can require less, and, as I said, some are fatal.

Fumie's great grandmother lost a leg to an Amami habu not long after WWII, causing great family hardship during a time when things were already pretty hard to begin with, so I've learned to be wary when we go down there, but I didn't expect these mamushi in the mountains up here. They normally live in grasslands near a river, I thought. (My first introduction to them was a warning sign I came across four years ago.) But now I'm getting paranoid... yesterday I was with Anthony and Gen playing in this fun river area when I remembered mamushi and it suddenly wasn't so fun anymore.