The first day of camp we went hiking in Oraise Gorge... I dont know if I spelled that right.... but it was absolutely gorgeous and I am pretty sure it is part of the wood between the worlds... There were ancient trees that created a canopy and all the light was a warm filtered green, there were huge ferns and wild hydrangea growing in the forest and the whole place smelled like warm earth, it was a quiet place full of life even the rocks in the middle of the river were covered in moss and grass... benches and picnic tables were covered in a layer of moss, everything dead was covered in life... it was intense!
This is at our base camp, we set up on these wooden platforms which was good becuase the first night it rained like crazy and it allowed for some drainage beneath our tents... I didnt bring my tent cause I thought it might be kinda big, but it would have done better in the rain then this nasty one from outdoor rec... The kids had it worse though, they got soaked that first night, but they had great attitudes and we made it through!
It was still rainy the next day and we were all cold so we decided to go to this 400 year old onsen and wait for the weather to clear and get warm... We rented a tatami mat room to hang out in and people could go soak in the onsen as they pleased... dont worry they were gender seperated... There was nobody in the onsen when we were there so I sneaked my camera in. It is all stone and Japanese Cedar... it was awesome! The water at this onsen is very sulfuric which gives it the aquamarine color, and is supposed to be great for the skin and hair..
It finally cleared up and our tents dried out and we were able to get a great night sleep before leaving for a big day hike the next day, that night was so nice I slept outside under the stars! We took the ropeway (a giant gondola) to the top of Mt. Hakkoda and took a winding hike across a couple other mountains in the range until we made it to the bottom... There were mists that moved among us and around the mountains... one moment we were in a deep haze and the next it would clear and the valley would unfold, it was very cool, I felt like we were in a magical land
And parts of the hike we were hiking through bamboo forests taller then us and I felt like we were running through the jungles in world war II... it was pretty cool...
Two thirds of the way down we took a rest on this platform and ended up all falling asleep, it was so awesome, the only noises were the wind in the grass, insects, and a few singing birds...
There were a surprising number of stairs... we went down some pretty steep decents...
a huge slug that looked like a turd... delicious!
We made it to the end of the hike... the trail ended at that 4oo year old onsen we had taken shelter in earlier.... and it had a shoe bath outside. And our shoes were VERY dirty! I love how clean the Japanese are... which is ironic because I am not a very clean person....
The first day of camp we went hiking in Oraise Gorge... I dont know if I spelled that right.... but it was absolutely gorgeous and I am pretty sure it is part of the wood between the worlds... There were ancient trees that created a canopy and all the light was a warm filtered green, there were huge ferns and wild hydrangea growing in the forest and the whole place smelled like warm earth, it was a quiet place full of life even the rocks in the middle of the river were covered in moss and grass... benches and picnic tables were covered in a layer of moss, everything dead was covered in life... it was intense!
This is at our base camp, we set up on these wooden platforms which was good becuase the first night it rained like crazy and it allowed for some drainage beneath our tents... I didnt bring my tent cause I thought it might be kinda big, but it would have done better in the rain then this nasty one from outdoor rec... The kids had it worse though, they got soaked that first night, but they had great attitudes and we made it through!
It was still rainy the next day and we were all cold so we decided to go to this 400 year old onsen and wait for the weather to clear and get warm... We rented a tatami mat room to hang out in and people could go soak in the onsen as they pleased... dont worry they were gender seperated... There was nobody in the onsen when we were there so I sneaked my camera in. It is all stone and Japanese Cedar... it was awesome! The water at this onsen is very sulfuric which gives it the aquamarine color, and is supposed to be great for the skin and hair..
It finally cleared up and our tents dried out and we were able to get a great night sleep before leaving for a big day hike the next day, that night was so nice I slept outside under the stars! We took the ropeway (a giant gondola) to the top of Mt. Hakkoda and took a winding hike across a couple other mountains in the range until we made it to the bottom... There were mists that moved among us and around the mountains... one moment we were in a deep haze and the next it would clear and the valley would unfold, it was very cool, I felt like we were in a magical land
And parts of the hike we were hiking through bamboo forests taller then us and I felt like we were running through the jungles in world war II... it was pretty cool...
Two thirds of the way down we took a rest on this platform and ended up all falling asleep, it was so awesome, the only noises were the wind in the grass, insects, and a few singing birds...
There were a surprising number of stairs... we went down some pretty steep decents...
a huge slug that looked like a turd... delicious!
We made it to the end of the hike... the trail ended at that 4oo year old onsen we had taken shelter in earlier.... and it had a shoe bath outside. And our shoes were VERY dirty! I love how clean the Japanese are... which is ironic because I am not a very clean person....
2 comments:
I wanna go on a field trip! I was always the kid who didn't get there permission slip signed and held the whole class up. . . woops. MiSSS YOU!
that was Caitlyn, btw
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