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posted: November 30th, 2014 |
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This page begins and ends with a final Autumn Color Adventure. On November 23rd we returned to Mitake and took some more photos along the Tama River in the early morning. Then we went up to the top of Mt. Mitake via the cable-car and took some photos around the top of the mountain. After that we hiked out to Mt. Hinode, taking Fall Color photos as we went. From there we hiked down to Tsuru-Tsuru Hot Spring and enjoyed a very relaxing soak in the hot spring. Click on any thumbnail to begin.
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| Begin November 23rd |
On November 23rd we again got up at 3:30 AM, got ready, went to the station and again took a 5:00 AM train bound for Okutama. Today, however, we got off at Sawai. We were hiking along the Tama River from Sawai to Mitake too early. The sun was not up yet! We took our first photos at 6:47 AM, a bit after the sun started shining on the mountains within our field of vision, but down here at river level it was pretty dark. This first photo shown here was shot at 6:53 AM and I used the flash. We arrived at the Famous Ginkgo Tree at 7:07 AM and took the second photo. The 3rd image is actually 2 photos which have been aligned and then merged together in Photoshop®. One photo was shot with the Ginkgo tree in focus and the 2nd photo was taken with the Red-Maple leaves in focus. Photoshop® is smart enough so that it automatically merged the two photos to make one image which is entirely in focus, pretty amazing. This photo was a very, very close runner-up for "Favorite Photo of the Month" and you can find a larger version of it - the one I prepared for the Index Page - HERE (new window or tab).
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Here are two more shots of the Famous Ginkgo Tree with Red-Maple leaves used as framing. Enjoy them, this is the final view until next year - life permitting! The third shot was taken from the Mitake Bridge over the Tama River and shows some nice mountainside color.
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Now we are on Mt. Mitake. We took a bus to the bottom of the cable-car at 7:50 AM, a cable-car to the top and then hiked around taking Autumn Color photos around the cable-car top for a while. The third shot shows the view from the mountain looking back down into the Tama River Valley.
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The first shot in this row shows the housing area on Mt. Mitake. What do you think? Would this be a nice place to live? We think it probably would be, maybe except for all of the tourists! The second and third shots show some beautiful yellows and oranges.
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Here is a shot of Kazuya taking a photo looking towards the housing area and then two very attractive Fall Color shots.
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Here are three photos of beautiful Fall Colors on the mountain. In the third photo note that the highest mountains in the background are already bare of leaves.
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This mountain rose in the housing area had the most amazingly colorful leaves. The third shot was taken as we hiked from Mt. Mitake to Ht. Hinode. Nothing has been done to this photo - those leaves really were THAT red!
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Here is a closer shot of that amazingly red-leaved tree. It was not very large, but it was most amazing to see. The second and third shots show more color along the trail.
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Here are three more shots which show beautiful Autumn Colors.
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Now we're hiking from Mt. Hinode down to the Tsuru-Tsuru Hot Spring. This was so absolutely amazing to see, but unfortunately none of our photos even came close to capturing what we saw with our unaided eyes. The time was around 11:00 AM. We wondered if there was a prime time of day for being able to capture this area in a photo. I even took several exposure-bracketed photos and attempted Tone-mapping them, but they too were disappointing, as you can see by examining the 3rd shot in this row. In the first and third photos you can see a clear-cut in the lower-right portion of the photos which was most certainly planted - note how all of the new trees are in lines.
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Here are two more shots that do not adequately capture what we wanted to capture, but the photos are still nice. In the first two photos you can again see the planted clear-cut. The third photo is the final one and it shows a nicely colored patch of hardwood trees on the ridgeline.
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Hopefully you remember that piece of wood that I brought home from our November 16 adventure (Page 2, Row 14 HERE) (new window or tab). If you still have that page open in a different browser tab then please compare the images. If you do not still have that page open, then please click the HERE button to see it again. Note how much decayed wood was easily removed. From the color which is now exposed, it appears that this may be cedar. The third shot shows how I deduced that this tree was probably growing several years ago.
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| End November 23rd, End November 2014's Photos, Begin Miscellaneous Links |
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.
