 |
posted: July 31st, 2013 |
Go To Page:
|
|
This page continues July 6th, beginning at 10:49 AM and finishes that day - climbing in the Northern Japanese Alps Mountains. On this page we'll summit Mt. Shiroumadake (2,932 m = 9,620 ft), arrive at Hakuba San Sou (the Hakuba Mountain Hut), spend the night there and then finish this adventure with a descent of a huge snowfield (Daisekkei Cairn in Japanese). The weather - once again not so great. After that we take you to Nogawa Park on July 14th and then I take you to Mt. Takao and Mt. Kobotoke-Shiro-yama on July 15th. Click on any thumbnail to begin.
|
| July 6th Continues From Page 1 (at 10:49 AM) |
Okay, let's continue. All 3 photos in this row show a VERY early blooming plant which we have seen only one time before, and that was at Yatsugatake. This is Pulsatilla nipponica. You can review that flower in its early blooming stage HERE (new window or tab). Those photos were taken on June 5th, 2010. This plant is only found here and in the Yatsugatake Area.
|
 July6th_282_MtKorenge _HakubaSanSouRC |
 July6th_283_MtKorenge _HakubaSanSouRC |
 July6th_292_MtKorenge _HakubaSanSouRC |
In first position in this row is another shot of Pulsatilla nipponica. In 2nd position is an Anaphalis alpicola, not yet even opening its flowers for the world to see. In 3rd position is another example of Oxytropis japonica var. japonica. You saw this in Rows 16 and 24 on the previous page.
|
 July6th_300_MtKorenge _HakubaSanSouRC |
 July06_170_MtKorengeTo ShiroumaDake_UnknownRC |
 July6th_327_MtKorenge _HakubaSanSouRC |
And, finally the summit of Mt. Shiroumadake (2,932 m = 9,620 ft). The time is 11:16 AM and it's beginning to rain again now. The 2nd photo was taken from the same place, at the summit of Mt. Shiroumadake, and shows the trail in front of us. The 3rd shot shows me approaching the Hakuba Mountain Hut (Hakuba San Sou) at 11:32 AM. We have arrived at our destination and can now relax and dry out again. Thankfully the heaviest rains did not begin until a couple of hours after we arrived here.
|
 July6th_328_MtKorenge _HakubaSanSouRC |
 July6th_329_MtKorenge _HakubaSanSouRC |
 July6th_332_MtKorenge _HakubaSanSouRC |
The first shot in this row shows me taking a siesta with my cap and sweatshirt on and under the blankets! It was cold - and remember - we were a little wet again. The time is 12:56 PM. The final shot for today shows Kazuya reviewing the photos which he took today and the time is 4:47 PM. Supper was served at 5:30 PM and by then it was raining cats and dogs and the wind was howling like a banshee - we were afraid the building might blow away!
|
 July6th_333_MtKorenge _HakubaSanSouRC |
 July06_178_KazuyaAt HakubaSanSouHutRC |
| End July 6th, Begin July 7th |
Now it's July 6th at 5:52 AM and we are descending in the clouds. Here is one more shot of an albino (Lagotis glauca f. albiflora). This is only the 2nd specimen we have seen. We had to put on our crampons and descend down a very steep and very huge snowfield for a while. After we got off the snow and got a little bit lost due to a lack of trail markers Kazuya stumbled upon this Violet - Viola sacchalinensis - a new violet for our Life List. I didn't get any photos of it because it was raining yet again and my camera was in my backpack wrapped in plastic. In addition, I was searching for the trail the entire time Kazuya was shooting these shots. Some other people came down right behind us and they got quite lost, but chose to ignore the lack of trail and just kept going DOWN. I found the trail and after a few minutes we saw those 3 people standing on a little hill overlooking a vertical rock drop-off that was in front of them! We hollered to get their attention and they came over to us and just passed us on the marked trail, without so much as a thank you. Rude people anyway, should have left them to fend for themselves at the rock drop-off and watched them!
|
 July7th_04_Hakuba SanSou_SarukuraRC |
 July7th_09_Hakuba SanSou_SarukuraRC |
 July7th_18_Hakuba SanSou_SarukuraRC |
Here is one more shot of that Violet - Viola sacchalinensis - a new violet for our Life List. And, then 2 shots of an even more huge snowfield which we had to take all the way down to the bottom of the mountain. In Japanese this is called Daisekkei Cairn. You may notice that the trail appears reddish. In past years when hiking on snow we have been told that this red trail marker is an environmentally friendly fish powder. The 2nd photo in this row shows what was ahead of us as we were descending and the 3rd photo was taken looking back up from where we came from. Why do photos never give a real visualization of the steepness of the terrain? You'll note that not many people were on this trail.
|
 July7th_19_Hakuba SanSou_SarukuraRC |
 July7th_21_Hakuba SanSou_SarukuraRC |
 July7th_22_Hakuba SanSou_SarukuraRC |
And, for the finale of this adventure here are 3 photos of me on Daisekkei Cairn. In the 3rd shot, if you study it closely enough you can kind of get an idea of how steep it is from the position of my legs as I take the next step. Darn good thing we had our crampons with us for this trip! We used them a total of 3 times and we would have been in quite extreme danger without them all 3 times.
|
 July7th_23_Hakuba SanSou_SarukuraRC |
 July7th_24_Hakuba SanSou_SarukuraRC |
 July7th_25_Hakuba SanSou_SarukuraRC |
| End July 7th, Begin July 14th |
On July 15th Kazuya and I rode our bicycles to Nogawa Park and went into the Natural Forest Plants area to see what flowers we could find. The first thing we found was this Leopard Flower (Belamcanda chinensis). Very beautiful flower, for sure.
|
 Jul14_03_NogawaPk_Belamcanda _chinensis_LeopardFlowerRC |
 Jul14_01_NogawaPk_Belamcanda _chinensis_LeopardFlowerRC |
 Jul14_05_NogawaPk_Belamcanda _chinensis_LeopardFlowerRC |
After that we found a few Mountain Lilies and then the Crocosmia X crocosmiiflora shown in the 2nd photo.
|
 Jul14_07_Nogawa Pk_MountainLilyRC |
 Jul14_09_NogawaPk_ Crocosmia_x_crocosmiifloraRC |
We also found that the Cardiocrinum cordatum (another Lily) were in full bud, but not yet blooming. In 2nd position is another shot of a Mountain Lily (Lilium auratum).
|
 Jul14_11_NogawaPk _Cardiocrinum_cordatumRC |
 Jul14_12_Nogawa Pk_MountainLilyRC |
| End July 14th, Begin July 15th |
Then, on July 15th, after having seen that the Mountain Lilies were blooming in Nogawa Park, I went to Mt. Takao to see how they were progressing there. Kazuya had to work that day, so I went by myself. In this row are 2 shots of the Mountain Lily (Lilium auratum). The center image is a cropped out portion of the first photo.
|
 July15_02_Mt Takao_MtnLilyRC |
 July15_02Crop _MtTakao_MtnLilyRC |
 July15_06_Mt Takao_MtnLilyRC |
Here are 2 shots taken from the summit of Mt. Takao. The 2nd shot is a zoomed in shot, basically the same as the first shot. Of course that background mountain is Mt. Fuji. This was my 93rd ascent of Mt. Takao (599 m = 1,965 ft).
|
 July15_07_Mt Takao_SceneryRC |
 July15_08_Mt Takao_SceneryRC |
After that I continued on to Mt. Kobotoke-Shiro-yama (670 m = 2,199 ft). It was the 42nd time I had summited this mountain. I ate the lunch I took with me at that summit and then hiked down the Hikage Creek logging road to the bus stop. Along the road I found a single specimen of Platycodon grandiflorus. The 2nd image is merely a cropped out portion of the first photo.
|
 July15_09_MtTakao_ Platycodon_grandiflorusRC |
 July15_09Crop_MtTakao_ Platycodon_grandiflorusRC |
| End July 15th, End Page 3, End July 2013's Photos |
Here are links to separate web pages - all of them will open in a new window (or new tab). The first link shows some photos of our DVD Collection, an AVI Movie of our Home Theater System and 9 photos of our Sharp Aquos TV. The 2nd link shows our entire DVD collection in DVD Profiler (if you're asking yourself what might be good to rent for the weekend). The DVD's will be sorted by date purchased. You can click on the "Title" Column to sort that way if you desire. The 3rd link shows our entire DVD collection in php DVD Profiler, which is much more sophisticated than the plain vanilla DVD Profiler just above it. The 4th link takes you to a set of pages which show you the FRONT cover-art of our entire DVD collection.
|
 January 1, 2013 - DVD Collection & Home Theater System   
|
 Please check it out by clicking on the above button. (Click on the "Studies of Plants and Wildlife" link in the new window.) |
|
Here is a small hint to let you know that we'd be thrilled to have you buy one of our books. For additional information regarding any title please click the "General Information" tab on the "Our Books" button down at the bottom of this page. Click on any thumbnail to go to its Amazon.com webpage. |
|
| Thanks so much for taking the time to look at the website this month. We hope that you found something which you enjoyed. You can use the e-mail link below to respond with any feedback you might have. |
Go To Page:
|
 (will open in new window) |
 (will open in new window) |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Link to Amazon.com (new window).
We get 2% of whatever you spend if you go to Amazon from this link!! Please shop on Amazon from here.
| If you would like to donate to our hiking & traveling fund or show your appreciation for our efforts you can donate through PayPal. A single donation will entitle you to request a single full-sized photo IN THE DONATION MONTH - which you may then use as a desktop wallpaper or whatever. The copyright will be retained by us and the photo will be inconspicuously marked with the copyright symbol (©), year and photographer's name. (Donation probably not tax deductible.) |