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This is Page 3 of 4 - the best of April 2011!
posted: April 30th, 2011
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This page continues April 15th, our trip to Niigata Prefecture and climb of Mt. Kakuda (482 meters = 1,580 feet). We finish that with Row 8 and then Row 9 takes us to Western Tokyo and some mountains there on April 17th. This page ends at the end of that day.   Click on any thumbnail to begin.

April 15th Continues from Page 2
  Here we continue our climb of Mt. Kakuda. We did not see any more Hepatica until we descended the other side of the mountain. There we saw them down by the Shrine, where the monks had planted them, as mentioned in the Row 19 text on the previous page. From here on we saw the most amazing number of Trout Lily (Erythronium japonicum) flowers that can be imagined. Here is a Trout Lily single flower, a shot of the lighthouse and beach and a shot of me with my hat pulled down because the sun was so bright. This day actually became warm enough so that we stripped down to our T-shirts after a while (see Row 4).
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  Can you see the incredible number of Trout Lily flowers in these 3 shots. In the first shot you can see the trail. The trail is lined on both sides with Trout Lilies.
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  Trout Lilies beyond belief!!!
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  Trout Lilies mixed in with Anemone raddeana, Kazuya looking pleased with himself for suggesting that we come to this place this weekend and more Trout Lilies.
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  Out of all of these thousands of Trout Lilies we saw only 2 white flowered ones. This one was close enough to get a shot of, the 2nd one was too far away to photograph. The 2nd shot shows Trout Lily (Erythronium japonicum and Viola vaginata.
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  Trout Lily and even more Trout Lily!
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  Here is some Heloniopsis orientalis mixed in with the Erythronium japonicum. The 3rd shot is an Anemone raddeana mixed in with the Trout Lily.
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  Here is a final Trout Lily (Erythronium japonicum) shot. The 2nd shot is a scenery shot from the summit and the 3rd shot is the summit sign of Mt. Kakuda.
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End April 15th, Begin April 17th
  On April 17th Kazuya and I headed west - in our normal stomping ground, but to a place where we only go once or maybe twice a year. The exact location will not be given here because of the plant thieves who may look at these pages. From the titles of the photos you may surmise that we were somewhere in the vicinity of a place called "Takamizu" - don't believe everything you read on the internet! The 1st and 3rd photos show nice examples of Viola tokubuchiana var. takedana and the 2nd photo shows a portion of the trail which we were on.
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  In 1st position in this row is a very delicately colored Viola tokubuchiana var. takedana and then 2 specimens of Shortia uniflora. This is the plant, which you may recall from previous year descriptions, only grows on steep rocky slopes, so it's dangerous to get to it for photos.
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  Here is a nice shot of a Mountain Azalea bush with some beautiful flowers on it. The 2nd photo is a Viola rossii (rossi) - a very beautiful example. The 3rd shot is a 2 photo panorama from one of the summits which we were on.
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  The first shot here is zoomed in to a smaller area to show the hardwood trees. The 2nd and 3rd shots are additional examples of Viola rossii (rossi).
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  There is a shrine on the side of this mountain and it has some nice Mountain Azalea bushes growing around it. These 3 photos were taken at and near the shrine.
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  In 1st position in this row is an intriguing shot of some young maple leaves. In 2nd position is an Oxalis griffithii var. kantoensis plant in bloom and in 3rd position is a beautiful Viola eizanensis.
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  Here is another example of Viola eizanensis in first position. In second position is a nice patch of Oxalis griffithii var. kantoensis and in third position is an example of Viola violacea var. makinoi.
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  Here is another specimen of Viola violacea var. makinoi in first position. In second place is a shot of a clearcut. The amazing thing about this is that we cannot understand why they do this - nobody will take any of this wood anywhere - it will be left to rot. If that's the case, why spend the money to cut the forest down?! We have seen this happen so many places. Why does the Japanese public allow it?! Why does the government do it? Why isn't the lumber utilized? Why leave the few standing trees which you can see here? You can probably think of additional questions which could be asked. The 3rd shot is a different shrine than the one shown in Row 13 - some nice cherry trees around this one. Too bad that they didn't put the power cables underground.
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  Here is a small portion of the shrine shown in Row 16. This portion is not visible in the previous photo. The 2nd image - are you aware that 2:46: Aftershocks: Stories from the Japan Earthquake, which I referred to last month on Page 2, is now available in Amazon Kindle format? All revenue from the purchase of this book will be used to help the earthquake victims through the American Red Cross. CLICK HERE (new window) to purchase directly from Amazon.com (new window).
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Alaska Quakebook
Japan Quakebook
End April 17th, End Page 3
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