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posted: May 31st, 2011 |
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This page begins with May 3rd, a trip to Oguni Town, in Yamagata Prefecture, and a climb of Mt. Kurate (952 meters = 3,123 feet). On the following day
we left and hiked down the road for several miles and then when it got to be about time for the first bus of the day, we stopped at a bus stop and took that bus the remainder
of the way back to Oguni Station and then on to Kazuya's hometown of Funagata, in Yamagata Prefecture. Click on any thumbnail to begin.
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| Begin May 3rd |
On May 3rd we got up at 3:30 AM and left shortly after that, via bicycle, for Musashisakai Station (our local train station). We took trains starting at 4:49 AM and ended up at an inn - Kairagi-sou, in Oguni Town, Yamagata Prefecture, at 11:04 AM. We were able to leave most of our belongings behind the desk at the Inn seeing as we had reservations to stay the night there. Then we started hiking up a "road" to the trailhead for Mt. Kurate (952 meters = 3.123 feet). We arrived at the summit at shortly after 2:00 PM, took some photos and headed back down. We ate lunch at about 45 minutes before the summit.
The first shot in this row shows the Kairagi-sou Inn. The 2nd shot shows how much snow was still left on the ground here. The 3rd shot shows the surrounding tall mountains. These mountains are in the 2,000 meter category - remember, we were only going to 952 meters.
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 May3rd_ Oguni004RC |
 May03_005_ Kairagi_sou_AreaRC |
 May03_007_ Kairagi_sou_AreaRC |
Here we are hiking to get to the trailhead for the mountain. The first shot was taken from the bridge, as was the 2nd shot - but the 2nd shot is a 3 shot panorama of the Inn and the area. Look at all of the snow. The 3rd shot shows the "road" which leads to the trailhead; there is pavement under that snow.
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 May3rd_ Oguni013RC |
 May03_013_014_015_ Kairagi_sou_AreaRC |
 May3rd_ Oguni019RC |
I am on the "road" in the first photo - crossing an avalanche field. The 2nd photo in this row shows the area where the previous photo was taken. The 3rd photo is the first flower we saw - some Shortia uniflora. We saw more of this flower than we have ever seen before.
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 May3rd_ Oguni020RC |
 May03_023_ Climbing_Kurate_yamaRC |
 May3rd_ Oguni032RC |
We're still hiking to the trailhead in the first photo. Getting closer! You can see that the hardwood trees are just starting to leaf out. The 2nd photo was taken from the trail as we climbed Mt. Kurate - a small waterfall across a small valley. The 3rd shot is a nice specimen of Shortia uniflora.
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 May3rd_ Oguni041RC |
 May03_047_Climbing _Kurate_yamaRC |
 May03_043_Climbing_ Kurate_yama_Shortia_unifloraRC |
In these 3 shots we are climbing the mountain and enjoying the scenery. That's me in the 2nd photo - you'll note that it was warm enough to hike with only a T-shirt, but there was so much snow that we were wearing our gaiters and using the snow baskets on our trekking poles.
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 May3rd_ Oguni064RC |
 May3rd_ Oguni080RC |
 May3rd_ Oguni105RC |
Here are 3 more shots taken as we climbed the mountain. The 3rd shot shows Kazuya taking a photo from near the summit.
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 May3rd_ Oguni135RC |
 May03_073_ Climbing_Kurate_yamaRC |
 May03_074_Climbing_ Kurate_yama_KazuyaRC |
These 3 shots were taken from the summit. In the 1st photo you will again note that the hardwood trees are just beginning to leaf out.
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 May03_076_ Climbing_Kurate_yamaRC |
 May03_078_ Climbing_Kurate_yamaRC |
 May3rd_ Oguni197RC |
In the first photo that's me - we're headed down now. The Inn had both an indoor and an outdoor Hot Spring. The 2nd photo shows the outdoor one as I walk towards it. The view from the Hot Spring pool was great - snow covered mountains and a rushing bluish colored river.
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 May3rd_ Oguni203RC |
 May3rd_ Oguni229RC |
This Inn was full, and once again the only way we got reservations was due to a cancellation just the day that we called to reserve a room - you may recall that this also happened to us for our New Year's trip. Here is the nice meal which was served to us. The little cook pot in the upper left corner of the first photo is shown in detail in the 2nd photo! In the photo this does not look special and also does not look like much, but it was a very good dinner and we were very full upon completion of this meal.
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 May3rd_ Oguni232RC |
 May3rd_ Oguni237RC |
| End May 3rd, Begin May 4th |
Now it's May 4th and after an early morning bath in the hot spring we hiked up to the end of the road here and took some photos before breakfast. The weather is less overcast today and we have some blue sky.
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 May4th_ Oguni004RC |
 May4th_ Oguni009RC |
 May4th_ Oguni014RC |
Here are 3 more shots taken before we checked out of the Inn - still hiking up to the end of the road.
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 May4th_ Oguni022RC |
 May04_007_ Kairagisou_RoadRC |
 May04_015_ Kairagisou_RoadRC |
Here are the final 3 photos taken before we had breakfast, packed our bags and checked out. In the 2nd photo that's quite a snow drift that Kazuya is standing beside, eh!?
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 May04_017_ Kairagisou_RoadRC |
 May04_024_ Kairagisou_Road_KazuyaRC |
 May04_020_ Kairagisou_RoadRC |
Now we have checked out and we are hiking down the road. We're going to hike until we run out of time. The first bus headed for Oguni Station will come at around 11:00 AM, so we can walk for about 3 hours or so. This river is the Tama River - not the Tama River in Tokyo (which you have seen several times before) though. The center photo is a 3 shot panorama.
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 May04_026_ Kairagisou_RoadRC |
 May04_030_031_032_ Kairagisou_Road_PanoramaRC |
 May04_033_ Kairagisou_RoadRC |
We are still hiking down the road - not yet 11:00 AM. That center photo is quite the "igloo"! The scale is hard to determine here, but the door is about 2 meters in height!! The 3rd shot is some Skunk Cabbage (Lysichiton camtschatcense). We found a nice patch of it.
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 May4th_ Oguni041RC |
 May4th_ Oguni046RC |
 May04_071_Kairagisou_Road _Lysichiton_camtschatcenseRC |
Here are 3 more shots of Skunk Cabbage. The first and 2nd shots show you Lysichiton camtschatcense and the 3rd shot is another kind of Skunk Cabbage - Symplocarpus foetidus. We had never seen both kinds of it blooming at the same time and place before this.
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 May04_076_Kairagisou_Road _Lysichiton_camtschatcenseRC |
 May4th_ Oguni074RC |
 May04_078_Kairagisou_Road _Symplocarpus_foetidusRC |
Here is a final shot of the white Skunk Cabbage (Lysichiton camtschatcense). The 2nd and 3rd shots are a beautiful blue colored Anemone pseudoaltaica. Kazuya was pretty sure that he saw a pink specimen of Anemone pseudoaltaica yesterday from the window of the bus when we were coming here - we are really keeping our eyes open and hoping to find a pink specimen. If it actually exists it will be a first for us! I am convinced that he saw a different pink flower, not a pink Anemone pseudoaltaica.
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 May4th_ Oguni077RC |
 May04_089_Kairagisou_Road _Anemone_pseudoaltaicaRC |
 May04_096_Kairagisou_Road _Anemone_pseudoaltaicaRC |
Here is a final shot of the blue colored Anemone pseudoaltaica and then 2 shots of a plant which we have never photographed before. This is a Dichocarpum nipponicum. Interesting that the topmost flower petal is brownish in color and the rest is yellow! What insect is called upon for pollination of this flower?
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 May04_109_Kairagisou_Road _Anemone_pseudoaltaicaRC |
 May4th_ Oguni108RC |
 May04_143_Kairagisou_Road _Dichocarpum_nipponicumRC |
Here is a beautiful shot of this Tama River - notice the fisherman for scale - it's a pretty large river. The 2nd shot is just a nice scenery shot.
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 May04_129_ Kairagisou_RoadRC |
 May04_135_ Kairagisou_RoadRC |
And, we found it!! Here is the pinkish Anemone pseudoaltaica which Kazuya thought he saw from the window of the bus yesterday (see row 16 row text)!! He was not seeing some other pink flower. We had never seen a pink colored Anemone pseudoaltaica before. In fact, we did not know that pink ones existed. We took many photos of it as this shade of pink is very difficult to make show up with a digital camera. The 2nd photo is the closest we got to what we actually saw with our eyes. And that's all for this date. We took the bus back to Oguni Station and then took various trains and finally ended up in Kazuya's hometown - Funagata - in Yamagata Prefecture.
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 May04_157_Kairagisou_Road _Anemone_pseudoaltaicaRC |
 May04_159_Kairagisou_Road _Anemone_pseudoaltaicaRC |
| End May 4th, End Page 1 |
| Thanks so much for taking the time to look at this page. Now, please go on to Page 2 for the continuation of this adventure. |
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