- Little Waterfall in the Woods
After a long hiatus, I scanned in another roll of the negatives from my Japan photos. It’s always exciting for me to see them, since I don’t have prints of any of them. Unfortunately, tonight I only have time to post this one photo. It’s a waterfall way up in the mountains of northern Japan. I think this may be the Oirase River, but if not, it’s in an area close to that river.
Not many people, even Japanese people, have seen this sight. I hiked to it during a backpacking/camping trip with three other guys. I found I had written down their first names, but I have no idea what their last names were. I’m not sure whether I’m going to mask their faces when I post their photos, but in any case, I won’t post their names.
No, I didn’t get a photo of the speed limit sign (in kilometers per hour), but I assure you it was there. We walked by it on the trail, puzzled at its presence and wondering why it had some kanji written on it. About a mile up the path later, it dawned on me: that kanji said “waterfall” in Japanese. The sign had nothing to do with limiting our speed; rather, it was a marker telling us to “turn here for waterfall.”
We returned to the sign and proceeded down the hill through what could only be described as a jungle. Yeah, I know it’s not politically correct to say “jungle” rather than “rain forest.” So … jungle. Jungle, jungle jungle. Jungle. Jungle again. The waterfall was beautiful, so it was well worth risking snake bite and attacks from exotic arachnids.
I’ll post more photos from this trip when I get time.
