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This is Page 2 of 4 - the best of August 2012!
posted: August 31st, 2012 |
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This page picks up from Page 1, on August 10th at 7:04 AM - a Hakuba Mountains adventure. We end this page at 12:45 PM and also continue August 10th on the next page. Click on any thumbnail to begin.
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Begin August 10th, 7:04 AM
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  I'll give you the link again if you want to have the page for the July 2010 photos open in a different tab or window - JULY 2010 PHOTOS (new window or tab).   And now let's continue on! Now it's 7:04 AM and we continue to hike/climb towards Mt. Korenge. In first position in this row is another Geranium yesoense var. nipponicum. In 2nd position is a view of probably Mt. Shakushi (Shakushidake), but it could be Mt. Shirouma (Shiroumadake). In 3rd position is a FARAWAY view probably of Mt. Tsurugidake, over in the Tateyama Mountains. You can barely see it in the center photo just to the right of center.
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  On the far right is the summit area of Mt. Korenge - that's where we're going now. Just to the right of center is Mt. Shirouma (Shiroumadake) we're also going there today. The biggest peak on the left is Mt. Shakushi (Shakushidake) - we'll be there tomorrow. The 2nd shot shows Kazuya and mountain scenery. The 3rd shot is another shot of Mt. Korenge, from further along the trail.
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  Here are 2 shots of a birch forest, down on the side of Mt. Korenge. It seems like we are way too high for a hardwood forest, but you can see from the 2nd photo that these are quite large trees. Must be a "snow shadow" area - a place that does not get such heavy snowfall as the surrounding areas. In 3rd position is a rare Gentiana algida. We have seen this flower a few times now - on Mt. Gassan in Yamagata Prefecture, here, and a different form of it on Hokkaido in Daisetsuzan National Park in August of 2010. That one was Gentiana algida f. igarasii and you can see a photo of it HERE for comparison.
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  Here are 2 more shots of Gentiana algida and then an amazing group of "pinks" plants (Dianthus superbus var. speciosus). Of course this is not your normal domesticated pink plant - this is a wild mountain pink.
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  Here are 3 more shots of Dianthus superbus var. speciosus plants. The 2nd and 3rd shots also show some specimens of Adenophora nikoensis var. nikoensis.
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  In first position is a Thyme plant (Thymus quinquecostatus). In 2nd position is another pink plant (Dianthus superbus var. speciosus) and in 3rd position is an Erigeron thunbergii subsp. glabratus.
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  In 1st and 2nd position are mountain scenery shots. The first shot shows Mt. Shakushi (Shakushidake) on the left and Mt. Shirouma (Shiroumadake) on the right. We'll be summiting both of those mountains. In 2nd position is a zoomed in shot of Mt. Shakushi (Shakushidake). In 3rd position is a Thyme plant (Thymus quinquecostatus).
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  Here is another shot of a Thyme plant and flowers (Thymus quinquecostatus). In 2nd position is a near final look back at Hakuba Ooike and the trail we've traversed so far today (it's now 8:15 AM). In 3rd position is a beautiful Pedicularis verticillata.
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  Here is another shot of Pedicularis verticillata and then 2 shots of Campanula chamissonis.
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  Here are 3 shots taken in 16 x 9 mode and also taken in "Vivid Colors" Mode as we approach Mt. Korenge.
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  In first and second positions in this row are shots of Arnica unalaschkensis var. tschonoskyi and in 3rd position is the summit marker of Mt. Korenge. (2,766 m = 9,075 ft). If you look back at the 2010 picture of this summit marker CLICK HERE (new window or tab) then you'll notice that they have put up a brand new summit marker - much more classy.
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  Here is an additional shot of Arnica unalaschkensis var. tschonoskyi in first position and then another shot of the Mt. Korenge summit marker. The 3rd shot is scenery shot looking ahead - the next big mountain you see here is Mt. Shirouma (Shiroumadake). We'll be there in a couple or 3 hours.
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  In first position is a very final shot looking back towards Hakuba Ooike - this is the last of it you'll see. In the center is the scenery looking ahead - between Mt. Korenge and Mikuni Pass, the next rest stop. In 3rd position is a sea of clouds. Now, after rounding a kind of a corner at Mt. Korenge and changing directions, the wind is blowing like a banshee from the Sea of Japan and keeping those clouds from coming from this way.
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  Here is a Viola crassa var. alpicola. When we were here in 2010 we saw a few of these still in bloom. The next 2 shots are scenery shots - the center shot shows that when that wind started blowing like a banshee, it got cold again! Very prominent in this photo is Mt. Shirouma (Shiroumadake). We'll be up there in a while. In the 3rd shot you can see Mt. Shirouma (Shiroumadake), Mt. Shakushi (Shakushidake) and Mt. Yari (Yarigatake).
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  The first photo is a zoomed in shot of the area shown in the previous shot. On the left is Mt. Shakushi (Shakushidake) and on the right is Mt. Yari (Yarigatake) - we'll summit both of those peaks tomorrow. In center position is an example of Lagotis glauca - too bad that it's done blooming for this year. When we came here in July 2010 we found a few of these in bloom. This time we only found 1 or 2 plants still in bloom - we'll show you a flowering specimen in a while. The 3rd photo is a blue sky and sun shot. This was taken at Mikuni Pass.
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  Okay, from Mikuni Pass we took a side trip to see if we could find a specific flower which Kazuya had read about on the internet. As you can see in the 2nd and 3rd shots - we found it. Some books call this Scabiosa japonica f. alpina and some call it Scabiosa japonica var. alpina - which is correct?! We don't know.
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  Here are 3 more shots of Scabiosa japonica f. alpina with nice scenery in the background.
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  And here are 3 more shots of Scabiosa japonica f. alpina with nice scenery in the background. Weirdly enough, this area is one of the only places on this huge mountain where this species grows. Why? Must be a very specific micro environment of some sort.
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  Here are another 2 shots of Scabiosa japonica f. alpina. Maybe you believe that there are too many photos of this flower, but we took a couple of hundred shots of it, so we actually did pretty good in selecting just a few shots to show you. In 3rd position is a shot looking up towards Mt. Shirouma (Shiroumadake).
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  Here are 2 shots of some kind of hawk or falcon. There were several of these birds in this small area. The wind was so strong that they were able to glide in place with very little wing action and watch the ground and then occasionally one would dive on some small rodent of some kind. That made it easy to capture these too shots. If anybody knows the name of this hawk or falcon, please click on the e-mail button at the bottom of the page and let us know. The 3rd shot is another of the Scabiosa japonica f. alpina. Kazuya is getting into this style of photo on this trip - some parts of the shot in focus and some out of focus.
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  Here are two of the very few Lagotis glauca plants which we found to be still in bloom. The 3rd shot shows the bento lunch which the Hakuba Ooike Hut gave us. When we got back to Mikuni Pass we ate our lunch. It's now 11:19 AM - and as you can see, this is Kazuya's 322nd photo for today. The photo just before this - the Lagotis glauca was my 276th photo of the day. And, these are merely the numbers of the ones we kept, we number them AFTER we delete all of the ones which are just garbage.
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  Here are 3 more shots of the rare Gentiana algida plant and flowers. As I said in up in Row 3, we have seen this flower a few times now - on Mt. Gassan in Yamagata Prefecture, here, and a different form of it on Hokkaido in Daisetsuzan National Park in August of 2010. That one was Gentiana algida f. igarasii and you can see a photo of it HERE for comparison. You can also use the search box just below to find all occurrences of this rare plant on this website.
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  Here are 2 nice photos of Campanula chamissonis and another photo of one of my 2 favorite flowers - Dicentra peregrina. We are not going to see my other favorite flower this year - Edelweiss! Boo!
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  In first position in this row is a very interesting plant - it is Saxifraga bronchialis subsp. funstonii var. rebunshirensis. The flowers of this plant were in better condition when we were here in July, 2010 and you can find a great shot of the flowers can see a photo of it HERE. In that photo you can easily notice how the dots on the flower petals are like a gradation - going from yellow down at the bottom of the petal to orange and then to red as you get closer to the outer edge of the petal. In center position is an Erigeron thunbergii subsp. glabratus and in 3rd position is a shot showing several flower species.
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  Both the 1st and 2nd shots here show additional examples of Saxifraga bronchialis subsp. funstonii var. rebunshirensis. In the 2nd photo you can see that gradation in the dot color on the flower petals which I referred to just above. In the 3rd shot you can just barely see the summit marker of Mt. Shirouma (Shiroumadake) - we're getting close to our final summit for today! So, please continue on to Page 3 to see the remainder of August 10th as the time now is only 12:45 PM.
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End Page 2, but August 10th still continues - on Page 3
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Thanks so much for taking the time to look at this page. As it says at the top, this page ends at 12:45 PM on August 10th. Please go on to Page 3 now - it will continue where this one leaves off, at 12:46 PM.
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