Winter Hiking

      Hiking! I love hiking in our towns' woods! In December I finally had a free day to do just that. The beautiful paths, the trees shedding leaves, the brilliant sky, and bright sunshine made me want to burst out singing! Each picturesque clump of trees, pile of rocks, or beautiful view of mountains and towns far away drew me to take a picture. Everything seemed to be calling me. Thus after our delightful outing with a picnic lunch and fun sisterly time, I found that I had more than two hundred pictures! Oh my! Perhaps I got slightly carried away. But I've been longing to take pictures and record some of things I love. Some of those things that I'll probably miss when I move (whenever that may be).
      One of the things that I love about the area of Japan we live in is how beautiful it is! Though inconvenient for travel our town is excellent for hiking and exploring! I haven't done so much exploring myself, but my brothers did. There are places they've discovered, that I love to hike to whenever there's an opportune day.

Join me in a glimpse of our woods!

 
      Often we start out at the grim gate leading to our town's reservoir.  It glares down, daring us to pass it.  Which we do.  Avoiding sharp iron bars jutting from the gate, we then jump over the railing, and cross the bridge into the woods.

 

Since we took these shots when we were leaving the girls are actually trying "escape".

Hmm... how's that working out for you?

If we had taken this path (as we did on the way back) we would have reached Samurai Mountain.  Here one can see a nice view of our little mountain town.  Here also we shot several scenes from Takayama the movie we made!

We also would have crossed Crocodile Creek.  The treacherous water way which although one may feel temped to swim across, there actually is an easier way.  Try stepping across.  The fearsome moss covered "crocodile" guards the creek from between trees nearby.

     We didn't take the path across the reservoir going, however.  There is an alternate way that makes me feel less like a robber sneaking into someones forbidden property (it doesn't have that same thrill either).  Near the entrance of our town is a lovely path that Josh discovered last year.  The hike was gorgeous as we walked on our 'red carpet' of fallen leaves.  The brilliant sun made me feel alive and fresh.  The hard packed path had many picturesque turns.  In several places the path was raised above the rest of the ground reminding me of bridges.

 

     Before long, perhaps twenty minutes, we reached The Lake as we have come to call it.  The water was crisp and blue reflecting the sky.  After a few minutes break to skip stones and admire the water (not to mention snap some pictures!), we moved on towards our destination - Suicide Point!

        The hike was mostly uneventful until we got near Suicide Point.  We didn't run into any wild boars.  We more or less avoided becoming entirely covered in mud.  We didn't discover any new nearly extinct species of bird.  Nor did we run across any huge crocodiles in the small swamp on the way.  Despite all that we did not see once we got near Suicide Point I found it too gorgeous to put away my camera for long.  Click.  Click.  Click.  I think the girls may have gotten a little tired of that sound before I was ready to stop snapping pictures.

 Near Suicide Point

 To reach the point we had to climb through this narrow crack in the sheer rock wall!

 

So beautiful!

 

The point!

 

Can you see the girls standing on top of the cliff?

The view from that height was incredible! The layers of mountains, the brilliant sunshine and numerous shadows, the towns in the distance were all so beautiful!

After hiking to the top of the cliff, we headed down to a flattened rocky area to eat our lunches.  We march though what we dubbed the World War II tunnel, before reaching our rocky picnic ground.

WW2 tunnel

 

Enjoying the sunshine, fresh air, the breeze, the trees, the rocks... God's creation!

     I so enjoyed hiking and being with Tiffy and Jenny.  It was such a perfect day for it too.  Hopefully before spring busyness sets in I'll be able to do some more hiking with them!