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posted: April 30th, 2012 |
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This page begins with April 21st. Kazuya and I went out to Hikage Creek and found much more than we had expected to find, so we climbed to the summit of Mt. Kobotoke-Shiro (670 m = 2,199 ft) for the 30th time and also Mt. Takao (599 m = 1,965 ft) for the 74th time. It was a good day, despite being mostly cloudy all day. Then, on April 28th we took a train early in the morning and went to Kawaguchi Lake. From there we took a bus for about an hour, and then we spent the rest of the day hiking. The weather was great! Click on any thumbnail to begin.
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| Begin April 21st |
As it says above, we went out to Hikage Creek on April 21st and hiked all the way up to the Summit of Mt. Kobotoke-Shiro. Then we hiked to I-Ccho-Daira and from there to the summit of Mt. Takao. The first shot in this row is a shot of spring greenery at Hikage Creek. The next 2 shots show you Viola yezoensis f. discolor - a violet which we search for every spring, but most years lately we have not found so many of them. Today we found an abundance of them, so you should expect to see many photos of that species on this page. The common name of this violet is "The Takao Violet".
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 April21st002 _HikageRC |
 Apr21_011_HikageCk_Viola _yezoensis_f_discolorRC |
 Apr21_016_HikageCk_Viola _yezoensis_f_discolorRC |
Here are 2 more shots of "The Takao Violet" (Viola yezoensis f. discolor). Can you deduce why the forma of this species is named "discolor" - it's probably because of the weird leaf color - purplish brown. The 3rd shot in this row is a Trillium smallii which, unfortunately, has already finished blooming.
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 Apr21_018_HikageCk_Viola _yezoensis_f_discolorRC |
 Apr21_019_HikageCk_Viola _yezoensis_f_discolorRC |
 Apr21_025_HikageCk_ Trillium_smalliiRC |
The first and 3rd shots in this row are Viola keiskei. In center position is a shot of a white flowered Hikage Violet (Viola yezoensis) (leaves not "discolored") and a purplish colored Viola grypoceras.
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 Apr21_030_HikageCk_ Viola_keiskeiRC |
 Apr21_034_HikageCk_Viola _grypoceras_V_yezoensisRC |
 Apr21_036_HikageCk_ Viola_keiskeiRC |
In first position in this row is a shot Anemone flaccida and in 3rd position is a huge patch of them on the other side of the creek. In center position is a Viola keiskei.
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 Apr21_042_HikageCk_ Anemone_flaccidaRC |
 Apr21_037_HikageCk_ Viola_keiskeiRC |
 April21st 024_HikageRC |
Here are 3 more shots of "The Takao Violet" (Viola yezoensis f. discolor).
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 April21st 034_HikageRC |
 April21st 041_HikageRC |
 Apr21_054_HikageCk_Viola _yezoensis_f_discolorRC |
And, here are another 3 shots of "The Takao Violet" (Viola yezoensis f. discolor).
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 Apr21_057_HikageCk_Viola _yezoensis_f_discolorRC |
 April21st 047_HikageRC |
 April21st 048_HikageRC |
In first and 3rd positions in this row is a weirdly pinkish colored Viola keiskei. In the center is an overview of "The Takao Violet" (Viola yezoensis f. discolor).
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 Apr21_076_HikageCk_ Viola_keiskeiRC |
 April21st 061_HikageRC |
 Apr21_078_HikageCk_ Viola_keiskeiRC |
Here are 3 shots of Asarum caulescens. We had never seen so many in bloom at one time. It is really difficult to get the flower and the leaves in a single shot, but you'll note that we succeeded pretty well with the 1st and 2nd shots. For the 3rd shot I concentrated on the flower and buds.
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 Apr21_086_HikageCk _Asarum_caulescensRC |
 April21st 084_HikageRC |
 Apr21_093_HikageCk _Asarum_caulescensRC |
In all of the shots in this row you can note how many flowers there are of this species this year.
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 Apr21_102_HikageCk _Asarum_caulescensRC |
 Apr21_095_HikageCk _Asarum_caulescensRC |
 April21st 093_HikageRC |
Oh heavens, what have they found that they are probably destroying? I snuck up and found that it was some kind of fly which had recently emerged from the stream and was drying its wings. Wonder if it was still alive when they left? In 2nd and 3rd position is a patch of Anemone flaccida. The 2nd shot is a overview and I zoomed in a bit for the 3rd shot. In the next row I have included a shot which I zoomed in on even more.
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 Apr21_108_HikageCk _RudeCrowdRC |
 Apr21_109_HikageCk_ Anemone_flaccidaRC |
 Apr21_110_HikageCk_ Anemone_flaccidaRC |
In 1st position is the same patch of Anemone flaccida which you saw in the row just above. I have zoomed in even more for this shot. The 2nd shot is a VERY dark colored Viola yezoensis f. discolor while the 3rd shot shows a patch of Hikage Violet - Viola yezoensis (leaves not discolored).
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 Apr21_111_HikageCk_ Anemone_flaccidaRC |
 April21st 103_HikageRC |
 Apr21_132_HikageCk _Viola_yezoensisRC |
Here is that patch of Viola yezoensis (Hikage Violet) again and its followed by 2 shots of Viola yezoensis f. discolor.
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 April21st 117_HikageRC |
 Apr21_139_HikageCk_Viola _yezoensis_f_discolorRC |
 April21st 118_HikageRC |
Click the above button for a Special Page Dedicated to the Violets which we have identified with confidence. |
Now we are getting up towards the summit of Mt. Kobotoke-Shiro and looking across to the Mountain Cherry on I-Ccho-Daira. We'll be going over there. For this image I took 3 exposure-bracketed shots and created this HDR (High Dynamic Range) photo with Photomatix Pro. I used the Tone-Compressor Option for tone-mapping the 3 exposure-bracketed shots. The 2nd shot is a Corydalis sp. The 3rd shot was taken at I-Ccho-Daira - the place which you see in the first shot in this row.
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 Apr21_155_156_157_ TMTC_HikageCk_ICchoDairaRC |
 Apr21_141_HikageCk _CorydalisRC |
 April21st 133_IcchoudairaRC |
And, here is a shot of me and also a shot of Kazuya which we took at I-Ccho-Daira with the Yama-zakura (Mountain Cherry) blossoms as our background. The 3rd shot is an area of Mountain Azalea. This was not yet at its peak - some years this spot is absolutely brilliant.
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 April21st137 _IcchoudairaRC |
 Apr21_168_ICchoDairaArea_ Yama_zakura_KazuyaRC |
 Apr21_178_ICcho DairaArea_AzaleaRC |
Here are the 2 final shots from this day - both taken at the same Mountain Azalea patch as shown in the 3rd shot in the row above. For the 1st shot I used the Vivid Setting and shot it at 16 x 9. For the 2nd shot I zoomed in a bit, turned off the Vivid Mode, but left 16 x 9 on (I think).
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 Apr21_180_ICcho DairaArea_AzaleaRC |
 Apr21_183_ICcho DairaArea_AzaleaRC |
| End April 21st, Begin April 28th |
On April 28th Kazuya and I got up at 5:00 AM, got ready and left the house at 5:30 AM. We took a series of trains from Musashisakai (our home station) to Kawaguchi Lake. After arriving at Kawaguchi Lake we waited for the first bus to take us to where we wanted to go. The bus took about an hour to get us to our destination, which means we got there at about 10:30 AM. The first photo in this row was taken at Kawaguchi Lake Station at 8:56 AM - it's obviously Mt. Fuji's summit area. The 2nd shot is a cherry tree, also at Kawaguchi Lake Station. The 3rd shot is of Viola orientalis. This is very close to where we got off the bus.
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 Apr28_002_Kawaguchiko StationScenery_RC |
 Apr28_003_Kawaguchiko StationScenery_RC |
 April28th_009_ AsagiriKougen_RC |
We went kind of crazy at this burned over field area taking photos of the Viola orientalis. We do not see yellow violets around the Tokyo Area, so we always get excited over yellow violets.
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 April28th_014_ AsagiriKougen_RC |
 Apr28_007_PrefectureBoundary BusStop_Viola_orientalis_RC |
 Apr28_015_PrefectureBoundary BusStop_Viola_orientalis_RC |
Here are the final 2 photos (for now) of Viola orientalis. The 3rd shot is a fine example of Viola eizanensis.
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 Apr28_019_PrefectureBoundary BusStop_Viola_orientalis_RC |
 April28th_037_ AsagiriKougen_RC |
 April28th_049_ AsagiriKougen_RC |
Here is a Viola eizanensis in first position, followed by a Viola tokubuchiana var. takedana f. variegata in 2nd position. In 3rd position is an Okutama Violet - a Viola X savatieri. It is the hybrid of Viola eizanensis and Viola tokubuchiana var. takedana. We have searched for this violet for years, but we've never found it in bloom before today. So, you should expect to see a few examples of it.
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 Apr28_033_PrefectureBoundary BusStop_Viola_eizanensis_RC |
 Apr28_036_PrefBndryBusStop_Viola_ tokubuchiana_var_takedana_f_variegata_RC |
 Apr28_046_PrefBndryBus Stop_Viola_X_savatieri_RC |
Here are 3 more shots of the Okutama Violet - a Viola X savatieri. It is the hybrid of Viola eizanensis and Viola tokubuchiana var. takedana.
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 Apr28_049_PrefBndryBus Stop_Viola_X_savatieri_RC |
 Apr28_052_PrefBndryBus Stop_Viola_X_savatieri_RC |
 Apr28_056_PrefBndryBus Stop_Viola_X_savatieri_RC |
After we took an abundance of photos of the Okutama Violet we scoured the surrounding forest for more and we found another hybrid. This one is not even in our book, but it has been reported on the web before. This is the hybrid of Viola eizanensis and Viola bissetii. The flower definitely looks similar to Viola bissetii, but the flower of V. bissetii has no interior hairs. The backside of the leaf of this one is green - as shown, while the backside of the leaf of the Okutama Violet is purplish brown. The differences between this and the Okutama Violet are easily noticeable.
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 Apr28_059_PrefBndryBusStop _Viola_eizanensis_x_v_bissetii_RC |
 Apr28_062_PrefBndryBusStop _Viola_eizanensis_x_v_bissetii_RC |
 Apr28_060_PrefBndryBusStop _Viola_eizanensis_x_v_bissetii_RC |
Here are 2 final shots of the hybrid of Viola eizanensis and Viola bissetii in 1st and 3rd position. In 2nd position is a photo of Forest Scenery in this area.
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 Apr28_064_PrefBndryBusStop _Viola_eizanensis_x_v_bissetii_RC |
 April28th_149_ AsagiriKougen_RC |
 Apr28_068_PrefBndryBusStop _Viola_eizanensis_x_v_bissetii_RC |
As we continued on our hike we saw this strange mountain shown in 1st position - why is there such a distinct line on the mountain where the forest changes from coniferous to hardwood? Can anybody answer that question? The 2nd and 3rd shots show Mt. Fuji.
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 Apr28_079_PrefBndry BusStop_Scenery_RC |
 Apr28_089_PrefBndry BusStop_Scenery_RC |
 Apr28_092_PrefBndry BusStop_Scenery_RC |
Here is a shot of Trillium smallii in first position. That is followed by 2 more shots of photogenic Mt. Fuji.
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 Apr28_099_PrefBndryBus Stop_Trillium_smallii_RC |
 Apr28_103_PrefBndry BusStop_Scenery_RC |
 Apr28_105_PrefBndry BusStop_Scenery_RC |
The first shot in this row shows the soft greens of early spring. The 2nd shot shows a paragliding person. There is a well known paragliding hill near here. The 3rd shot again shows that mountain with the distinct line marking where the forest type changes from hardwoods to conifers. Note that it happens at both the lower level and also the upper level.
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 April28th_180_ AsagiriKougen_RC |
 Apr28_110_NearAsagiri Kogen_Paraglider_RC |
 Apr28_113_NearAsagiri Kogen_Scenery_RC |
| End Page 3, but April 28th continues on Page 4 |
| Thanks so much for taking the time to look at this page. Please continue on to page 4 for the conclusion of this adventure and also for the conclusion of April! |
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