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posted: March 31st, 2013 |
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This page begins and ends with March 23rd and a trip to Minami (South) Mt. Takao and a LONG hike all the way to Mt. Kobotoke-Shiro-Yama and down the Hikage Creek Road. Click on any thumbnail to begin.
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| Begin March 23rd |
On March 23rd we got up at 4:35 AM, got ready and left for our local train station of Musashi-Sakai. We took the trains to Hashimoto and then took a bus to a bus stop where we could start climbing up to Mt. Takao via the Minami (South) Route. We had only been to this area together once before, so it was Kazuya's 3rd time here and my 2nd time. In this row you can see the first impressive find of the day. The 1st and 3rd shots show you Viola phalacrocarpa and the center shot shows Viola phalacrocarpa f. glaberrima. What's the difference? Well, you must look closely, but if you do, you will note that the flower stems of Viola phalacrocarpa have small hairs on them, while the flower stems of Viola phalacrocarpa f. glaberrima are smooth or hairless (glabrous), and therfore V. phalacrocarpa f. glaberrima
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 Mar23_002_MinamiTakao _Viola_phalacrocarpaRC |
 March23MinamiTakao008_Viola PhalacrocarpaFGlaberrimaRC |
 Mar23_004_MinamiTakao_ Viola_phalacrocarpaRC |
In first position in this row is a species of Ajuga. The 2nd shot shows a species of Arisaema (Jack-in-the-Pulpit). The 3rd shot shows an ugly sight for people with allergies to Cedar Pollen - it is blowing Cedar Pollen.
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 Mar23_011_Minami Takao_Ajuga_spRC |
 Mar23_006_Minami Takao_Arisaema_spRC |
 Mar23_012_MinamiTakao _PollenBlowingRC |
Here is another shot of Blowing Cedar Pollen and then a shot of Viola phalacrocarpa. In 3rd position is a shot of Viola phalacrocarpa f. glaberrima. This is a rare find for us, so you may expect to see several more photos of it.
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 Mar23_013_MinamiTakao _PollenBlowingRC |
 March23MinamiTakao016 _ViolaPhalacrocarpaRC |
 March23MinamiTakao021_ ViolaPhalacrocarpaFGlaberrimaRC |
In 1st and 3rd positions are 2 more shots of Viola phalacrocarpa f. glaberrima and in center position is an example of Viola obtusa.
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 Mar23_022_MinamiTakao_ Viola_phalacrocarpaRC |
 March23MinamiTakao 029_ViolaObtusaRC |
 Mar23_025_MinamiTakao_ Viola_phalacrocarpaRC |
In the first shot in this row you can get an idea of how tiny the flowers of Viola obtusa are. In 2nd position is another shot of Viola phalacrocarpa f. glaberrima and in 3rd position is a shot of Viola tokubuchiana var. takedana.
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 March23MinamiTakao 031_ViolaObtusaRC |
 Mar23_033_MinamiTakao _Viola_phalacrocarpaRC |
 March23MinamiTakao033_ ViolaTokubuchianaVarTakedanaRC |
Here are 2 additional shots of Viola tokubuchiana var. takedana and those are followed by a shot of Viola bissetii.
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 Mar23_039_MinamiTakao_ Viola_tokubuchiana_var_takedanaRC |
 Mar23_040_MinamiTakao_ Viola_tokubuchiana_var_takedanaRC |
 March23MinamiTakao 045_ViolaBissetiiRC |
In 1st position is another photo of Viola tokubuchiana var. takedana and then 2 more shots of Viola phalacrocarpa.
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 Mar23_047_Minami Takao_Viola_bissetiiRC |
 March23MinamiTakao057 _ViolaPhalacrocarpaRC |
 March23MinamiTakao061 _ViolaPhalacrocarpaRC |
In first position here is a shot of an Orchid - Cymbidium goeringii. That is followed by a shot showing Viola phalacrocarpa on the right & Cymbidium goeringii on the left and then a shot of Viola phalacrocarpa.
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 March23MinamiTakao 067_OrchidRC |
 Mar23_064_MinamiTakao_Viola_ phalacrocarpa_Cymbidium_goeringiiRC |
 Mar23_065_MinamiTakao _Viola_phalacrocarpaRC |
Here is another shot of the Cymbidium goeringii Orchid and then a very rare find for us - Viola chaerophylloides f. sieboldiana. We generally only find this species once a year, so don't expect to see it again unless we are incredibly fortunate. The 3rd shot is another species of Ajuga.
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 Mar23_077_MinamiTakao_ Cymbidium_goeringiiRC |
 March23MinamiTakao085_Viola ChaerophylloidesFSieboldianaRC |
 Mar23_094_Minami Takao_Ajuga_spRC |
Here are 2 more shots of Viola chaerophylloides f. sieboldiana followed by another shot of Viola phalacrocarpa f. glaberrima.
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 March23MinamiTakao086_Viola ChaerophylloidesFSieboldianaRC |
 March23MinamiTakao096_Viola ChaerophylloidesFSieboldianaRC |
 Mar23_098_MinamiTakao_ Viola_phalacrocarpaRC |
Here is another shot of Viola phalacrocarpa f. glaberrima and that is followed by 2 shots of Viola chaerophylloides f. sieboldiana.
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 Mar23_100_MinamiTakao_ Viola_phalacrocarpaRC |
 March23MinamiTakao103_Viola ChaerophylloidesFSieboldianaRC |
 Mar23_104_MinamiTakao_Viola _chaerophylloides_f_sieboldianaRC |
Here is where we stopped for lunch last year. This year, however, we noticed that we could get to Mt. Kobotoke-Shiro-Yama by only hiking another 7.1 kilometers, so we decided to keep going and eat our lunch there as it was only 10:41 AM at this time. The first shot in this row was taken this year. We remembered that last year Tsukui Lake looked very different when we here on April 13th. We couldn't figure out what was where, so we took several shots. The 2nd shot was taken last year on April 13th when we hiked this course. The 3rd shot was also taken this year - again, it is Tsukui Lake.
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 March23MinamiTakao 112_TsukuiLakeRC |
 Apr13_131_SouthTakao _LakeTsukuiRC |
 Mar23_121_MinamiTakao _TsukuiLakeRC |
The first image in this row is a collage of the best photo of last year and a small portion of the first shot in the previous row to show you how much different it looked last year - for 2 reasons. The 1st reason is the water level and the 2nd reason is the Cherry Blossoms on what was an island last year. We have no explanation for why the water level is so much lower this year. The 2nd and 3rd shots are Cymbidium goeringii.
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 Mar23_2013MinamiTakao112_ Apr13_2012SouthTakao_TsukuiLakeRC |
 Mar23_125_MinamiTakao _Cymbidium_goeringiiRC |
 Mar23_126_MinamiTakao _Cymbidium_goeringiiRC |
The first shot in this row shows a small portion of the trail we hiked and the forest we were hiking through. The 2nd and 3rd shots are of Viola eizanensis. We keep playing with the settings on our cameras to try and get these flower shots to come out as our eyes see them, but the color is never correct. The actual color of the flowers on this plant were a very light pink, somewhere between the 2 shots shown here.
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 March23Minami Takao123RC |
 March23MinamiTakao126 _ViolaEizanensisRC |
 Mar23_129_MinamiTakao _Viola_eizanensisRC |
We had never been on this trail before and now we are at Oodarumi Pass and headed up to Mt. Kobotoke-Shiro-Yama (670 m = 2,199 ft) for the 38th time. As you can see on that sign, the elevation of this pass is 392 m (= 1,286 ft). We will not be going over the summit of Mt. Takao to get to Mt. Kobotoke-Shiro-Yama. The 2nd and 3rd shots show a violet which we consider ourselves fortunate to see every couple of years. It is a Viola grypoceras f. purpurellocalcarata.
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 March23 Oodarumi133RC |
 March23Oodarumi135_Viola GrypocerasFPurpurellocalcarataRC |
 Mar23_135_OdarumiPass_Viola _grypoceras_f_purpurellocalcartaRC |
Here is a final shot of that Viola grypoceras f. purpurellocalcarata - and probably the final shot of it which you will see this year. The next shot is a Viola tokubuchiana var. takedana and the 3rd shot is a Viola japonica.
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 Mar23_139_OdarumiPass_Viola _grypoceras_f_purpurellocalcartaRC |
 Mar23_142_OdarumiPass_Viola _tokubuchiana_var_takedanaRC |
 March23Hikage154_ ViolaJaponicaRC |
Here is another shot of that same Viola japonica. This was after we passed over the summit of Mt. Kobotoke-Shiro-Yama. The 2nd shot is one of our favorite violets - it is Viola yezoensis f. discolor - the Takao Violet. This was one species which was not yet in full bloom. In fact we barely saw any plants at all.
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 Mar23_155_Kobotoke Hikage_Viola_japonicaRC |
 March23Hikage156 _ViolaYezoensisFDiscolorRC |
Here is another shot of that same Viola yezoensis f. discolor - Takao Violet. The 2nd shot was taken at the Hikage Creek Bus Stop - too many people today! Where did they all come from? We didn't see hardly any people as we came down the Hikage Creek Road. The time now was 2:38 PM! We hiked for about 7.5 hours today. A darn good hike.
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 Mar23_156_KobotokeHikage_ Viola_yezoensis_f_discolorRC |
 Mar23_158_Kobotoke Hikage_BusStopRC |
You're probably thinking "But, wait a minute, there is one more weekend in March, 2013!" Well, yes, you're correct, but there are already too many photos for March and seeing that the remaining weekend happens to fall on the final 2 days of the month (the 30th and 31st), it would not really be feasible to take photos on March 30th and 31st and then get them sorted, labeled and ready by April 1st. I have therefore decided to post any great photos from the final weekend of March with next month's photos. Hope you don't have any big objections.
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| End March 23rd, End Page 5, End March 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.
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 January 1, 2013 - DVD Collection & Home Theater System   
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