iPhone 7 Plus + iPhone 7 Plus back camera 3.99mm f/1.8 at an effective 28mm — 1/680 sec, f/1.8, ISO 40 — map & image data — nearby photos
Sorry for not posting anything recently. I've felt remarkably unmotivated in all things lately, but found some inspiration in an email from someone asking about this mountain roller slide that I'd posted about some years ago. Now that I'm into cycling (though currently generally unmotivated about it), I thought I'd ride to the location to see whether it's still there.
Here's the ride:
Along the way I came across a lovely lotus field in the middle of the suburbs.
iPhone 7 Plus + iPhone 7 Plus back camera 3.99mm f/1.8 at an effective 28mm — 1/950 sec, f/1.8, ISO 20 — map & image data — nearby photos
iPhone 7 Plus + iPhone 7 Plus back camera 6.6mm f/2.8 at an effective 57mm — 1/1600 sec, f/2.8, ISO 20 — map & image data — nearby photos
with the iPhone camera
iPhone 7 Plus + iPhone 7 Plus back camera 3.99mm f/1.8 at an effective 28mm — 1/190 sec, f/1.8, ISO 20 — map & image data — nearby photos
iPhone 7 Plus + iPhone 7 Plus back camera 6.6mm f/2.8 at an effective 57mm — 1/60 sec, f/2.8, ISO 64 — map & image data — nearby photos
steep but pretty
iPhone 7 Plus + iPhone 7 Plus back camera 3.99mm f/1.8 at an effective 28mm — 1/120 sec, f/1.8, ISO 32 — map & image data — nearby photos
the explored-on-a-whim road becomes extremely steep and broken
Next was to explore a short but steep (and nicely-paved) climb I'd seen here. It starts under a new expressway bridge...
iPhone 7 Plus + iPhone 7 Plus back camera 3.99mm f/1.8 at an effective 28mm — 1/1500 sec, f/1.8, ISO 20 — map & image data — nearby photos
to the start of the short service road where it meets the main road
iPhone 7 Plus + iPhone 7 Plus back camera 3.99mm f/1.8 at an effective 28mm — 1/2500 sec, f/1.8, ISO 20 — map & image data — nearby photos
iPhone 7 Plus + iPhone 7 Plus back camera 3.99mm f/1.8 at an effective 28mm — 1/30 sec, f/1.8, ISO 20 — map & image data — nearby photos
my iPhone seems to often be focus-challenged, and I can't tell
at the time on the small screen )-:
Next was the main climb of the day, the full Yoshimine-dera Temple climb, ostensibly 3.6km (2.3 mi) at 10.2%, but the first kilometer is relatively mild, then it ramps up quickly.
Halfway through is a section of 450m at 17% that ends at the parking-lot entrance to the temple, but the actual road continues to wind up almost two dozen switchbacks:
iPhone 7 Plus + iPhone 7 Plus back camera 3.99mm f/1.8 at an effective 28mm — 1/60 sec, f/1.8, ISO 32 — map & image data — nearby photos
near the Yoshiminedera Temple (善峯寺)
I made a PR on the first half by a wide margin, but had to stop before plodding on to slowly finish the climb.
The temple itself, which I didn't visit on this trip, is quite nice, especially in the fall. It's been on my blog many times over the years, such as in “The Whole Gamut of My Blog In One Spectacular Visit to the Yoshiminedera Temple”
Anyway, I eventually made my way the remaining 12km to the location of the slide, which is in a small entertainment complex that includes the ability to pick your own mushrooms that you can have cooked there, or bring home. I opted to just stop in the cafe for curry:
iPhone 7 Plus + iPhone 7 Plus back camera 3.99mm f/1.8 at an effective 28mm — 1/30 sec, f/1.8, ISO 25 — map & image data — nearby photos
The section with the slide is an area called “山びこの森”...
iPhone 7 Plus + iPhone 7 Plus back camera 3.99mm f/1.8 at an effective 28mm — 1/1100 sec, f/1.8, ISO 20 — map & image data — nearby photos
Yamabiko no Mori (山びこの森)
Cost is 210 yen (~$2) per person, though elementary-school aged and below are free. The photo above is taken pretty much at the little kiosk where you pay. A ticket is good for all day, in and out as you like.
Open every day but Tuesday.
iPhone 7 Plus + iPhone 7 Plus back camera 3.99mm f/1.8 at an effective 28mm — 1/3400 sec, f/1.8, ISO 20 — map & image data — nearby photos
Frankly, without a bazillion kids enjoying the area, it's sort of pathetic. There are a couple of teeter-totters, the slide, and the “Tarzan rope” mentioned here, and that's about it.
To ride the slide, first grab one of the pads lying around or in the shed near the bottom....
iPhone 7 Plus + iPhone 7 Plus back camera 3.99mm f/1.8 at an effective 28mm — 1/950 sec, f/1.8, ISO 20 — map & image data — nearby photos
Climb the path to the top of the slide. It affords nice views of the slide as you go...
iPhone 7 Plus + iPhone 7 Plus back camera 3.99mm f/1.8 at an effective 28mm — 1/120 sec, f/1.8, ISO 32 — map & image data — nearby photos
iPhone 7 Plus + iPhone 7 Plus back camera 3.99mm f/1.8 at an effective 28mm — 1/30 sec, f/1.8, ISO 40 — map & image data — nearby photos
It takes some balance on the pad to get up any speed. Going slowly, it took me 30 seconds to get to the bottom, but with some seating adjustments it could go much more quickly, I think.
iPhone 7 Plus + iPhone 7 Plus back camera 3.99mm f/1.8 at an effective 28mm — 1/500 sec, f/1.8, ISO 20 — map & image data — nearby photos
I'm not sure how much effort it's worth to try to visit this place, but it can be reached via bus from JR Takatsuki Station, though there are less than a dozen buses a day:
iPhone 7 Plus + iPhone 7 Plus back camera 6.6mm f/2.8 at an effective 57mm — 1/60 sec, f/2.8, ISO 320 — map & image data — nearby photos
The left three columns show the schedule from the train station to the area, for (left to right) weekdays, Saturdays, and Sundays/holidays. The row number shows the hour of the day; a number within a box indicates the minute (in that hour) when the bus leaves, and in parenthesis, the bus's destination. For example, on weekdays, a bus leaves the train station at 1:15pm, headed toward 杉生. The bus before that is at 11:37, and the one after is 3:55.
There's a bus stop right at the complex, called “森林センター前”. It takes about 40 minutes in the bus.
The right-side three columns show the return buses to the train station. The last one on a weekday is 7:38pm
After leaving, I went to explore some new roads, and found some lovely ones, as well as one that had seen better days...
iPhone 7 Plus + iPhone 7 Plus back camera 3.99mm f/1.8 at an effective 28mm — 1/40 sec, f/1.8, ISO 25 — map & image data — nearby photos
The first new road I tried, a long and lovely climb followed by a descent with many questionable sections of road, as seen above, joined civilization at a spot I'd ridden by in the past:
iPhone 7 Plus + iPhone 7 Plus back camera 3.99mm f/1.8 at an effective 28mm — 1/850 sec, f/1.8, ISO 20 — map & image data — nearby photos
seen on my blog two years ago here
The rest of the ride was fairly uneventful. I was disappointed to find that a 10km section during the return trip, which had looked like a lovely descent on a big sweeping road, turned out to be quite unlovely because it cut through miles and miles of strip mining, and so the road surface had become horribly pitted from the thousands of dump trucks over the years, so it was decidedly unfun. To make it worse, there was a strong headwind filled with sand and gravel from the mining operations, so it was an uncomfortable struggle even going downhill.
This satellite view gives some sense of it. It's not a road I'll be trying again any time soon.
iPhone 7 Plus + iPhone 7 Plus back camera 3.99mm f/1.8 at an effective 28mm — 1/750 sec, f/1.8, ISO 20 — map & image data — nearby photos
iPhone 7 Plus + iPhone 7 Plus back camera 6.6mm f/2.8 at an effective 57mm — 1/250 sec, f/2.8, ISO 25 — map & image data — nearby photos
Closer to home, there's a lot of construction of some sort along the river... there were dozens of dump trucks visible at once. Here's where they were rejoining the road...
iPhone 7 Plus + iPhone 7 Plus back camera 3.99mm f/1.8 at an effective 28mm — 1/2000 sec, f/1.8, ISO 20 — map & image data — nearby photos
iPhone 7 Plus + iPhone 7 Plus back camera 3.99mm f/1.8 at an effective 28mm — 1/30 sec, f/1.8, ISO 50 — map & image data — nearby photos
Coffee and Crepes at Cafe Morning Glory
iPhone 7 Plus + iPhone 7 Plus back camera 6.6mm f/2.8 at an effective 57mm — 1/125 sec, f/2.8, ISO 20 — map & image data — nearby photos
a few minutes from home
Great post! Thanks for giving us a tiny, web-based vacation to Japan 🙂