Chuzenji-no-taki: Chuzenji waterfall

You could say Tochigi is my playground. I just love the place. Take a long slow train over to Tobu-Nikko station and there are many options. Most tourists would spend the whole day at the temple complex, Toshogu, Rinnoji and of course, snap photos of the stable with 3 monkeys. But the hidden gem of Nikko is the many hiking opportunities like Chuzenji to the northwest and Kirifuri area to the northeast.I’ve been to Senjogahara and Kirifuri before, and the links are embedded in the two names in this sentence.

Senjogahara Plateau

Senjogahara is in the northwest just further up from Chuzenji. Chuzenji is, of course, synonymous with a waterfall, not just a normal waterfall, but one that drops hundreds of meters. The lake that feeds the waterfall, Chuzenji lake, is relatively large, and on a plateau in the highlands. On a summer day, there are anglers spaced evenly along its banks. I don’t have proof, but it does look like you need to have permit to fish there and you are probably assigned slots. They do look spaced out a little too evenly to be random!

Fly Fisherman on Yukawa River

... And more fly fishing...

According to all the information I have, after all, I ‘ve been here twice already, Chuzenji lake used to be a lot larger than what we have today. At one end, where the Yukawa river joins the lake, the dried lake bed makes up Senjogahara plateau. It is basically marshland today, with a habitat of its own and generally wet ground. The good thing about the place is that the air is fresh, and there is a long plank walkway for hikers.

Tobu-Nikko Station

From Yutaki waterfall, walk towards Akanuma

Going up towards Yumoto Hot Springs, you will enter a forest area before reaching Yutaki waterfall. Along the way, especially in the forested area, there will normally be fly fishermen (permits required again) along the Yukawa river. This is normally a nice area for plants and insect macros. People walk around with bells attached to their bag, and I was told that this was for scaring away bears. I have never seen one in the two times I have been here.

Station at Akanuma. Exit here and get your 150Y bottle of tea at the machine!

All in all, this is a nice place to spend the day out of Tokyo. Take the train from Asakusa early in the morning, the slow train takes about three hours to get there, and best thing to do is to take the second train out (first is an express that cost more) at 6:30 in the morning and sleep there. When arriving at Tobu-Nikko station, jump on a bus that goes to Yumoto Springs and get off almost an hour later at Yudaki-iriguchi station and walk down towards Akanuma. Walking slow to enjoy the sights and nature, it should take 4-5 hours to get there. Then take the bus back towards Chuzenji and stop at the midway station to enjoy sights of the waterfall. Then back to Tobu-Nikko station and back to Tokyo and you’ll be really tired, and end the day with a nice bowl of soba!

Enjoy the photos. I’m sure I will be back to Senjogahara again in the future. I have heard that the marshes are starting to dry up. Next trip will hopefully be during winter.

Izumiyado Pond

Marshland...

... more marshland...

.... and more, but this time a little more trees...

... and ending with plenty of trees. This is close to Yudaki waterfall.

And here's a little close up shot with the amazing Leica Summilux 50mm ASPH lens...

...

Tourists at Chuzenji Waterfall viewing station

And on the way back to Tokyo... at Tobu Nikko Station

Gears: All pictures in this post shot with a Leica M6 Classic with Leica’s excellent Summilux 50mm f1.4 ASPH and with Kodak’s new Ektar 100 film. Scans are a little cool, and I blame my lack of calibration with vuescan before really scanning it.

*end of post*

Cotton-like plants are found all over Jiuzhaigou Park, with one of the colourful lakes forming the perfect backdrop

Jiuzhaigou is one of those places in china where it is said you can never miss and you have not been to a certain place if you have never seen it. It has definitely appeared many many times in pictures. First time I heard of it was a few years back when it was said it was very difficult to get to. I don’t know when they went or heard about it, but I see there are airports near the park, and there are official tourist buses going from Chengdu to Jiuzhaigou with daily bus (yes, singular) and in the parks are roads going to all sights and mini buses plying the route. Surely not in accessible, but nevertheless, still a place not to be missed. We shall see if this is a boast or truth.

16 November 2008: Taking the 8 am bus to Jiuzhaigou from Chengdu’s Xinnanmen station. The bus station looks like a special station for tourist areas, but on the inside other than the metal detectors and xray machines, it looks like any other station. The buses look newer and the windows are fixed, so naturally I was afraid of the species known as the smoking chinese. But looks like the locals going to tourist places are a special type. During the whole trip, the guy in front of me had a half burnt cigarette in his fingers for hours but kept the urge to light it. In fact, no one smoked on this trip in the bus. Amazing show of patience. The only two things that irritated me were some passengers playing their songs on their mobile phone speakers and a guy eating process meat that smelled like coffee flavored chicken and a hint of chloroform. Smells nauseous. Overall, the trip was a lot nicer than the 12hrs bus to Xiaojing in part 2. Bearable.

Reflection on Arrow Bamboo Lake

How long? 10 full hours. We would get to see all sort of terrain. Highways first, boring and time for the ipod to keep company. Then valleys with slow flowing river, which is nothing like the ones from Xiaojing or Rilong last week, so it was about awe inspiring as cooking instant noodles to me. Then we started climbing and that’s when it started to get interesting, soon we were up in the clouds and it started to look white. Snow were everywhere, trees, ground, everywhere. The GPS was not acquiring any signals so I had no idea where we were, and afraid that Jiuzhaigou is on top of the plateau, meaning that I will have some problem with my plan since I didn’t bring any thermos. The view up there were quite spooky, and I was tempted to get the driver to stop the bus so I can set up my gitzo and take some photos up there.

Before long the road started to go down from 3200m altitude to just around 2000m. Some mountain range to cross, the snow started thinning down and soon it was back to normal terrain. Normal except the trees look redder signalling autumn time. The river at the bottom of the valley seems to be flowing faster probably meaning there is some more climb to come, long but a climb nonetheless.

Throughout the trip it was possible to see the effect of the recent earthquake here in Sichuan province. There are many tents along the way, some with Chinese Red Cross emblazoned on it, and others normal. In the town of Pingwu, there was a small area of the town made of temporarily materials with schools and sport facilities, I’m guessing for the victims of the disaster.

At 6 pm we arrived at Jiuzhaigou bus station. First thing first, bought the ticket back on wednesday right away, and there is only one bus in the morning. 7 am I believe. On the way, I saw the hotel I booked and walked there, a total of 400m or a little more in the darkening skies and cold weather.

Cheated this time and used my SPG points to stay at the Sheraton Jiuzhaigou. Since I have a platinum card which forces them to upgrade me if possible, I am staying with my backpack in a suite. Its nice to very pampered for a night before going to look for a local family to bunk tomorrow in the park. Ordered room service and just sat down to type this blog out. Will go for a nice long warm shower and long sleep in the nice Sheraton bed and will wake up tomorrow at first light to beat the standard tourists going into the park.

17 November 2008: Woke up well before first light, but as I love Sheraton’s bed, I left the hotel well after first light. Seems it makes no difference as there are no fog in the morning and being on a valley floor, Jiuzhaigou’s sights are not bathed in morning light till around 11am. Stacked on powerbars and snickers for breakfast and soon boarded a taxi for the 5 minute ride to the entrance.

This week is the first week of the off season. Tickets cost 80RMB and for 20RMB more you get a second day included. That and 80RMB shuttle bus ticket puts the day’s damage at 180. Everyone had to take the shuttle bus as some of the roads are not for walkers although it should be possible to walk on it anyway. There is a reason why they call it off season, that’s when they close some of the paths for fire hazard, they say… I guess its more for crowd control during off season. So it is not possible to walk all the way from one attraction to another in the forests, though it is possible to see path, they are sealed.

The tourist buses today goes directly up to Rize Valley right away and drop all passengers there at the end of Arrow Bamboo Lake. There is a pickup point just a walk away, and there is a shuttle there every once in a while so there is no need to rush.

Arrow Bamboo Lake

Arrow Bamboo Lake: Seems that during off season it is not possible to go farther to Swan Lake and the forests. I got off the bus at about 830am, and it was still close to 0C at that time. So cold the security guard had to run in circles to keep warm. Funny guy, we would chat for a while. The lake is blue green and tree trunks are visible in it. When I was there there was just shadows so the pictures were not too saturated. Polarizers are very useful here, and not anything that casts colours as the lake is already very colourful. Must have spent 30 minutes there.

Panda Lake: This lake has a walkway built along the cliff that surrounds one side. But off season, so it is closed. It is possible to be a contortionist and get thru but I asked a chinese man getting out of it if there is anything worthwhile and he said no. Panda Lake has some nice photo opportunities, again due to the multicoloured lake bed. Locals hang around the bus stop end of this lake to rent out traditional clothes for couples to take photos. I don’t bother.

There are three types of photographers there at Jiuzhaigou. There’s the serious ones. Then there’s the point and shooter, and third category are the boyfriends that go all the way there to shoot their girlfriend posing. I suggest they either get into the first two categories and shoot their girlfriends at home and do some photoshop masking tricks.

Again, there is a path downhill where it winds from Panda Lake past some waterfalls to the next lake, but they are closed for winter, time to hit the bus then,

Five Flower Lake

Five Flower Lake: This one is more colourful, probably because it is shallower than the other 2 and thus, it is possible to see the whole lake contents and the transition between blue and green that is the hallmark of water features in this park. There is adequate paths to find different photo vantage points and again polarizers are essential to get the most of this lake. When I was shooting this lake around 11am, the sun starts to fill the valley.

View from top of hill over looking Five Flower Lake

Five Flower Lake

I would then notice a vantage point uphill between this lake and the previous Panda Lake, and walked on the main road for half hour uphill to get there. Was hoping to see a nice view from there, and although it was ok, was missable. Loaded my 105mm and started shooting crop shots.

Taking the bus next, we would have to skip Peacock Riverbed and Golden Bell Lake as the paths are closed and there are no bus stops. Next stop, Pearl Shoal.

Pearl Shoals

Pearl Shoals

Pearl Shoal & Waterfall: Here the bus would tell you to all get off and walk. Actually in every bus there will be a driver and a girl whose job it would be to tell passengers what’s next. More often than not they will be shouting to see whether they should be stopping next.

But at Pearl Shoal, everyone gets off. It starts off as an oversized dam. Water is slowing on the surface of a slope and there are small trees and round rocks breaking the smooth flow of water, giving the look of a slope with sound of crashing water. There are two walkways, one goes straight down and the other branches left. Take left which cuts across the shoal itself. Tried to take some photos there but nothing dramatic. The path drops by way of stairs and I realised this is the famous waterfall. There is almost no way for the sun to be shining on the waterfall, always in the shadows and when I was there, there was a strong backlight and the wide waterfall was in the shadows. Saw in the distance a mountain covered in snow and whipped out my gitzo to do a hard core 5 stops HDR. The waterfall would deposit the water into a fast flowing stream, by which the path then continues all the way to a car park a few hundred metres away where the park buses would be waiting to go to next destination.

Mirror Lake: To tell the truth this one is a disappointment, it is late at noon by the time I got there and noon is not the time to look for mirror reflections. I got off the bus anyway, and snapped a few as creative I can. Next…

Nuorilang Waterfall

Nuorilang Waterfall: The bus stops at the Nuorilang terminus, which is nothing more than a glorified bus stop with some buildings near it. I was hoping there are buses to go to Zechawa Valley but seems that section of the park is closed too. A path leads under the road and into the forest, and soon after a few minutes walk past toilets and a junction, I’m at the Nuorilang Waterfall. Almost like the Pearl Waterfall, this is a long waterfall about 2 storeys high and you are very close to the waterfall. Again we are in the shadow of the sun, so any pictures that includes the sun will have blown up skies. I took a few pictures sans the skies and to add some warmth by using my Singh-ray gold and blue polarizer. It was not that easy as it is easy to get water sprayed onto the filter and bright sunlight made water droplets visible at small aperture openings.

Smaller waterfalls are everywhere at Nuorilang Falls

The waterfall runs about a hundred metres, then the path leads into the woods along the river for a few hundred metres of nice cool walk before reaching the bus stop again, and the routine continues. Its 4pm but the time I got to the bus stop.

Little waterfalls connect different lakes in the Shuzheng valley

Rhinoceros Lake: Next stop on the way to the entrance of the park, is this lake, large as is, starts to look like any other lakes in this park. Next to it is Tiger Lake. These two are connected together by series of mini waterfalls and overflows with trees growing out of it, creating a nice sound of water rushing thru obstacles. Getting sick of taking yet another lake shot, I switched to micro lenses and started shooting plants with colourful lake backdrops. This seems to work!

On the periphery of Rhino Lake

Before long it seems its getting late and the wardens are starting to clear the park. Not having time to look for park accommodation, and not really sure they exist now in off season, I took the shuttle back down to the entrance and looked for a hotel near the exit.

Flowers are everywhere on the banks of the lakes

For dinner, walked into a bright local restaurant in an evening of blackout in town (restaurant runs their own generator!) and ordered rice with Sichuan chilli yak and a dish of local vegetable that looks like black twigs. The yak dish was really good, as was the vegetable. This is china so expect it to be oily, but the cheap tea is free flow to compensate.

Will be an early night tonight while I make it back to Jiuzhaigou tomorrow morning to continue my adventure.

18 November 2008: There is not a reason to start off early today. Got out of the hotel at 8 am, and proceeded procedurally to Jiuzhaigou gate and bought a bus ticket only. I already have the second day ticket from yesterday. The crowd seems to be thicker than yesterday but maybe it is because it is now later than when I started.

Zechawa Gully: Now this trip to Zechawa valley is what I really wanted to do today. I tried listening attentively this time but didn’t hear anything about the gully being closed. The 3 valleys are Zechawa, Shuzheng and Rize valley/gully. I have done Rize yesterday and top part of Shuzheng. To get to Zechawa, take the tourist bus to Nuorilang terminal and get off and hang around the police booth on the road up, first bus seems to be at 9:30am and I waited 30 minutes for it. It should be possible to ask at the gate and get omitted board the bus that goes only to Zechawa valley. Most buses goes to Rize as this is where most of the attractions are.

Long Lake at the end of Zechawa Valley

Long Lake: This is the last stop on the road to Zechawa and is a full 15 minutes away uphill. When we got there, we were probably the first bus of the morning and there were again locals with local costumes for hire. But my attention was fixed on the lake. The sun has not really affected the lake and the wind has not blown hard yet. There was cold morning water vapours rising, I ran to the viewing gallery above the lake next to the carpark and started shooting with wide angles and short telephoto.

Long Lake is just that. Largest lake in this park and perched on top as remains of a glacial lake. The path to the next lake closeby is closed, so I am forced to take the shuttle to it.

Multi-coloured lake bed

Multi-coloured Lake: This little lake is no bigger than a large fat swimming pool and is not too far downhill from Long Lake, but is the most cozy and colourful lake in the park. There are shades of blue and green in high saturation here, and before the wind started to come in, I shot with polarizers with minimal ripples. Very nice place.

The path leads the herd of tourists into the forest downhill to a pick up area a few hundred meters away. Efficient and relatively quick if not for those noisy and slow Hong Kong tourists.

The other lakes in Zechawa are all empty of water so the bus do not stop there. The next stop will be the Nuorilang stop at the centre of the Y shaped park valley. It comes to around 11 am by the time I get to the Nuorilang Centre, lunch time.

I didn’t see the size of the Nuorilang complex yesterday. The bus would stop close to the center and I would have to walk right through it to get to the bus going through the Shuzheng valley to the other sights I want to go to on the way to the entrance. Outside are the cattle class restaurant, chinese eating instant noodles. Inside, there are many stalls selling souvenirs though I don’t think most are made in this place. They just look too manufactured. I don’t bother. I then saw the restaurant and the scale of the place. One would buy a ticket for 50 RMB and then go through a turnstile into the restaurant, I believe serving buffet style meal. Looks like everyone in this park has to eat here. I took out my soy joy and mars bar and decided to continue my trip while the masses chow.

Nuorilang Waterfall: Oh yes. I have been here yesterday buy I was hoping to get a better view from the road viewing platform today. A wide angle nicely frames half the waterfall without taking the road. I don’t know if I took a better shot but surely today’s muted weather was making it a little easier than yesterday’s strong backlight.

After this quick stop revisiting the waterfall, I backtracked to Nuorilang centre and took the bus back down Shuzheng valley.

Tiger Lake on the second day

One of the many waterfalls interconnecting the lakes together

Shuzheng Village: Took the bus to Tiger lake where I left off but again looks like other lakes I saw yesterday. Took the broadwalk down the lakes and shoals with trees growing out of it. Took some photos but nothing to shout about once you have seen the rest. Soon I would be at the village, looking around realising that in this down season, nothing is opened. Wondering if I really wanted to look for a place to stay here if it was possible. It looks as though either everyone here are working for the park and minimal agriculture happens in this village, or the real villagers have been removed and only some or only workers live here. I believe it is a combination of the two. Definitely sparse and probably difficult to find accommodation in here. I spent 10 minutes here.

Shuzheng Lakes

Shuzheng Lakes: Just at the front door of the village are a series of small lakes. It looks to me like a large area with natural dams and barriers making it look like many lakes. Water flow from one lake to another downhill. Maybe it can be easily said to be a flat looking rice terrace with trees growing on the barriers. At this time the trees are in autumn configuration, yellow and red colour, while blue transparent water filled the lakes with gradients. Wide angles do not do too well here, but short telephotos do. The platform is elevated and one side of the lakes so telephoto lens helps to isolate the autumn leaves and just enough transparent blue water to make scene. The area is so vast it is possible to stay on the platform and shoot telephoto and normal lenses the whole day if you are into that sort of thing.

Shuzheng Lakes

Shuzheng Lakes

The lakes are so clear, they make good backdrops for tree shots!

After this would be the Shuzheng waterfalls, denser groups of trees and small waterfalls rotting the landscape.

Reeds on the banks of reed lake

Reed Lake

Other Lakes: I continued walking down the park towards the entrance all the way to the reed river. There are many macro opportunities shooting plants and small fruits and cotton plants. The reed river is now brown waiting foe winter, and photo taking into account the brightly coloured reeds with the dark coloured blue water. Anyway, I took a couple more shots and noticed my D300 battery is below 10% with more than 600 shots in 2 days. As it is approaching 4 pm and already tired, I then took the next available bus to the entrance of the park, ending my 2 day trip before winter arrives.

After checking into Sheraton (again, free nights based on my SPG point exchange) its time to go out to the restaurant I went yesterday. Arriving there the owner recognised me right away and came to me without the menu. I then told him, ok I want local chilli chicken today, a plate of mountain mushrooms whatever that is and an ordinary plate of vegetable knowing here in Sichuan everything comes with dried chilli and Sichuan peppercorns. Asked also for a small portion of their self roasted peanuts. Since I did not have a proper lunch, thought it was appropriate to eat more for dinner! The meal was excellent as usual, and I have the GPS coordinates for this restaurant and once I finished and paid for the meal, we chatted a little about cooking and when is the best time to visit. Incidentally it was this year during summer when Jiuzhaigou is a little cooler than the coastal areas, and because of the earthquake, not many tourists were here. Too bad I missed it and coming at the border of autumn and winter.

In terms of purity I would prefer Siguniang shan, but Jiuzhaigou has a different feel to it. The part is run like a machine, and I can see how amusement park it can get in summer. It is possible to walk the whole park but I don’t see how to do it in 3-4 days to cover the whole park. Taking a combination of walking some part and taking buses where there are no attractions, 2 full days would be required. 1 day is enough if you stop on every stop, take the obligatory photo and bus to the next stop. It should be. I took the slow, take my time approach, taking time to setup tripod and photo and walk when needed and it took 2 days to finish the 3 valleys. But seriously why rush it? If a triage is required, I suggest doing a quick Rize and Shuzheng Valley. Actually Zechawa and Shuzheng Valley is ok too. Obviously you down miss Shuzheng Valley as you will see what is essentially Jiuzhaigou if you visit only this area. Start uphill and go downhill. Unfortunately this is what most people do. At high altitude don’t bother being a hero and move uphill.

Whatever it is, it’s a one of a kind scenery here. Very graceful the way water flows up from the mountains to the lower rivers. I’m guessing from zero geological knowledge that this is because of the high mineral contents causing the water to be colorful and calcify easily. But I leave the explanations and all the myths of naming the attracting to wikipedia.

Tomorrow I will take the slow 10 hrs bus back to Chengdu at 7am. My trip starts to get easier as it goes on! Soon it will be a panda trip in Chengdu. Unless there are anything interesting along the way, its over and out from Sheraton Jiuzhaigou tonight.

19 November 2008: After a nice American breakfast before 6 am, it is time to go to the bus station just next to the Sheraton before the sun comes up. Like most days, sleep early and wake up early. This time I get seat number 3 right in front to the right of the driver. In 10 hours I will be back in Chengdu.

Verdict: when in Sichuan, never miss Jiuzhaigou, but come with plenty of money!

Next part: Guilin, China

Mamiya RZ67 Pro II, 50mm f4.5 W, Fuji RXP, on the Senjogahara Plains

It is an early start. I’m here on the second weekend and I think I should be going back to complete Nikko, but to another direction, and another attraction… hiking in the highland marshes. This will be an ideal location to do some landscaping pictures. Of course it would be good if I was there when the sun is coming up, but no car and the first bus is later than that anyway, so got to file up the thoughts first.

Tobu-Nikko standard train (Ricoh GR Digital)

I’m not too sure there are metros running at this time of the morning, it’s 5am and I’m taking the Tokyo taxi instead, zipping past quiet streets, trying not to look at the ridiculously fast counter on the dashboard that shows the eventual 4000Yen price to get from Shinagawa to Asakusa by taxi. That’s almost the price of the all-in-one ticket to Nikko including the train fare! I’m on my way to Tobu-Asakusa Station to catch the first semi fast train to Nikko. Semi fast because the real first train stops everywhere and would take longer time to get to the destination so this is the second train it seems. Semi-fast too because if you double your fare you take the glamourously faster super-express-whatever trains that shave 20 mins off a 2hr 30mins journey. Not enough for me. I’ll stick to the cheap one.

Leica M3, 50mm f2 Summicron, Kodak 160NC, Early Morning Tokyo

748hrs: Zipping through the Japanese countryside right now in the 6:20am Tobu Express to Tobu Nikko. The train looks like a long distance metro train. Nothing bullety about it, or serious looking. I’m in the first two cars as usual, the others get dropped as we go along. I’m already a veteran on this route. This first express train for the weekend is packed with hikers. Question. Why do hikers always look like hikers? Looks like everyone is wearing flimsy cotton cargo pants from one of those outdoor brands that claim to make specialized gears, t-shirts with the obligatory checkered shirt on top of it, backpacks with things hanging on them and maps, and high cut boots that all look the same. No gore-tex jacket yet but I think I’m not far from seeing one! The other commonly represented demographic in this car are golfers. Apparently there are plenty of golf courses on the way. Here I am, only one in bermudas, t-shirt, and after last week’s rain, an umbrella just in case! My small daypack is packed with gears. As usual. Not planning to go bulky today, heavy yes, but rapid action, everything in one bag. The plan is to trek at least 10km today from Yunoki waterfall down through Senjogahara Plateau and if I have time, to Kegon Waterfall. North-south seems to be the logical path. How I miss my GPS this trip!

And the best thing: I’m going landscaping!

Strange looking battery vending machine in Nikko (Ricoh GR Digital)

Leica M3, 50mm f2 Summicron, Kodak 160NC, Workers repairing infrastructure in the vicinity of Yutaki Waterfall

This trip packs a Mamiya RZ67 with 127mm KL lens and a 50mm RZ, Leica M3 with 50mm Summicron f2 and my Ricoh GR light meter, which incidently is running out of battery when I checked in the train. I intend to load my RZ back with Tri-X in one and Fujichromes and Portras on the secondso I hope I don’t run out of battery before tonight! How I hate contraptions that run on batteries. Loads of film, and a cable release and a bagel fills the lone outer pocket of the pack. Ipod in my pocket.

854hrs: Bus 2A leaves the front of Tobu Nikko train station at exactly 8:37am and the train arrives about 10 minutes before that. Just nice. It goes to Yumoto Onsen and passes through lake Chuzenji and Senjogahara. I will take it to Yunoki Waterfall which is further up, and then walk down to Chuzenji. Just finished loading a roll of Provia 400X into my Mamiya 120 back. Some sun today, but not enough to allow Velvia 50 handheld at small apertures. Excited! Be quick bus! You move like a snail!

915hrs: Going towards Chuzenji Onsen stop, the bus winds through 20 turns uphill, more like up mountain. Steep one at that. There are signboards telling the number of the turn. Strangely the bus seems to be stopping for a break at the Onsen stop! Hey! Where is the driver going? Bon. Makes no difference to me. The sun is shining brightly thru a break. The weather forecast today is cloudy the whole day with 20% of rain. I’m starting to realise that this Plateau I will be hiking in is on top of a high moutain. Nice… weather should be cool up there. Now I know why everyone else is not wearing shorts!

Leica M3, 50mm f2 Summicron, Kodak 160NC, School kids at Yutaki Waterfall

1005hrs: Stopped at bus stop 40, called Yutaki Iriguchi, or if my chinese doesn’t fail me, looks like “Entrance to Yutaki”. I guess if it says Yutaki-no-taki Iriguchi it means entrance to waterfall. Without a go-anywhere pass it would have costed me at least 1500Yen to get here. From the bus stop its a 5 minute hike down hill to a car park where you can already hear the waterfall. Busloads of students are here on a weekend excursion. Better students than foreign tourists  in buses!  The waterfall itself looks nice. Not the type that falls vertically, but flows down at an angle, whatever the scientific name is for those. Wow google! Just checked, its a slide waterfall. Opened my day pack and started to assemble my Mamiya RZ67 with 50mm lens and Provia 400X to shoot 2 frame with an angler at the bottom. I’m sure the dynamic range sucks, but since I’m here might as well try it out.

Mamiya RZ67 Pro II, 50mm f4.5 W, Fuji RXP, at Yutaki Waterfall

Right after Yutaki its time to continue straight into the forest. There’s a path that  leads to Senjogahara and the signboard will say Akanuma, which is the bus stop entrance to that place. The trail follows a stream that winds through a forest. You don’t actually walk on the forest, there’s an elevated two laned path that guides you (not in some of the pictures though, but I can say its 90% elevated!). People here don’t leave out the details! There are not that many trail walkers this morning, just anglers fly fishing in the stream. Air is cool, I’d say about 20C temperature at the most. Maybe even lower.

Leica M3, 50mm f2 Summicron, Kodak 160NC, Fishermen along path

Leica M3, 50mm f2 Summicron, Kodak 160NC, Fly fishing on the Yukawa River

After 1 hr of walking (I take a slow path and plenty of nature appreciation breaks!) I finally come to an area that looks very much different. I dont have the map with me, but what I remembered, this looks like I’m entering Senjogahara. I know why its a marsh now, although its quite obvious. I took a couple of detours to take a wide 50mm 6×7 shot of the tundra like plains but the ground seems to be mushy and you can feel the watery squishes. No problem as my shoe is water proof. No its not quicksand and my shoe doesn’t get stuck. A couple of low level RZ67 shots and I’m back on the 2 laned elevated path. There were a couple of places with flowers where you can shoot macro, and I’m glad I had a RZ67 and not a Mamiya 7 in this instance! What I need next would be a low tripod so that I can support better. Its not easy handling a 3-4kg camera that low.

Mamiya RZ67 Pro II, 50mm f4.5 W, Fuji RXP, on the Senjogahara Plains (Looks dark on some monitor, but on slides its perfect!)

Leica M3, 50mm f2 Summicron, Kodak 160NC, White Birch at Senjogahara

The landscape is amazing at Senjogahara. Flat plains, river streams with trees. I’m sure in the morning with the mist in some areas its going to be eerie. The only issue is to shoot off the path will take some balls. In most cases, the marsh is walkable, but you will get your shoe wet. But some areas look like peat bog. Last thing you want is to be swimming in bog with your camera and tripod with you. Most of the people here are the abovementioned hiker type, but there are some misinformed tourists too. Haha. They are in Senjogahara in the countryside with high heels, makeup and generally city fashion! Lucky no glamourous goggled sunglass here.

Leica M3, 50mm f2 Summicron, Kodak 160NC, Wild flowers at Senjogahara

Leica M3, 50mm f2 Summicron, Kodak 160NC, Senjogahara's elevated pathway

1429hrs: Finally emerged at Akanuma stop number 37 after covering the route I wanted. Going to Chuzenji Onsen. If I had more time I would have walked all the way there and tested all the trails, but I want to see Kegon waterfall before going back. And since I have to be in tokyo before 9pm tonight, I need to catch the 5pm train at least. A bus arrives on time and we cram into it. The buses here seems to be the all seating type, and you’d think that they’re trying to be funny with it because seating bus, of course, takes less passengers. But there are some areas where the road winds like crazy and you get headache just sitting in it, and those professional bus drivers here take it at full speed. So standing is not a good idea. The best you get is a folding middle seat to accomodate a 5th person in the row in the aisle. Seems to be quite common in Japan, like electric automatic toilet seats. Flashed my All Nikko Pass and get the bus for free.

Leica M3, 50mm f2 Summicron, Kodak 160NC, Fishermen taking a break

Leica M3, 50mm f2 Summicron, Kodak 160NC, Yukawa River

1453hrs: Kegon-no-taki. At Kegon waterfall now. Conveniently 300m walk from Chuzenji Onsen bus stop. Quite spectacular fall, at least 300m drop from the top. Looks as though some crazy earthquake tossed land that high up and start to form lake Chuzenji. Not that I saw the waterfall connect to the lake but its a little big of common sense sprinkled here. Got a few shots with the RZ67 before a busload of loud American tourists came and hijacked the front row of the viewing platform. Wait a while and some more tourists, most likely from the same bus, pile in. I decide to move on. I don’t like sheep herded tourist spots.

1539hrs: Munching on a bagel from last night, since I have not eaten since 6am, this makes it my lunch. Now very hungry so I can wait. Waiting for the bus 2A to bring me back down the winding mountain road back to Tobu Nikko station. So this is bus stop number 24B. Starting to get cloudy now, clouds covering the mountain in front of the bus stop. It looks like the rain type, but the sun still gets to beam thru the cover. I guess it will not rain today.

1645hrs: Just arrived at Tobu Nikko station, in time. To sense how popular Nikko is, there was a traffic jam near the junction where Sinkkyo bridge is. Still. train leaves at 1657hrs and although platform 4 is quiet now and no train to be seen, I’m sure it will be on time. Like everything you see in Japan. That should get me into Tokyo before 8 pm, time to return to the hotel and attend a 9pm conference call. Could have taken the last train and miss the work, but to really cover the whole of Nikko, more than a day would be needed. Maybe thats the project for next time. Say, camping out there in the marshes of Senjogahara and catch the mist clearing in the morning.

I like hiking. I like hiking in the countryside. Better still no path, but maybe I’m not ready for that. And perfect if its hiking in the countryside with cameras. I will need to look for a small and low level tripod that I Can carry easily. After the rain soaked Nikko trip last week, this time I had an umbrella with me. Strange, but better safe than looking good in the countryside! Total photos taken, countless with the digital point and shoot as usual, but 4 rollsof 6×7 and 2 rolls of Portra 160NC from  the Leica. Nice tally. Maybe I shot too many 120, should restrain myself soon.

I think I will have to come back here sometime in the future, but maybe this time to camp so I can see the sunrise. Ok, this post is long enough. Over and out from Tochigi.

Mamiya RZ67 Pro II, 50mm f4.5 W, Fuji RXP

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Leica M2, Summicron 35mm f2 ASPH, Kodak 160NC: Tobu line Train to Tobu-Nikko

Leica M2, Summicron 35mm f2 ASPH, Kodak 160NC: Spring Water Pool in Nikko Town

Its a scouting trip because I’m fed up with the weather. Its just too much. Cloudy and raining the whole weekend and I’m here expected to be hanging around all the time in Tokyo. Rain or no rain, I’m off to Nikko to have a look. The temples will be covered today, but what I will really scout are the wilderness and mountains this place offers. Next trip will be more specialized. However don’t think for once I’m going light!

In the backpack, a Mamiya RZ67 with 50mm lens, and 2 film backs. One loaded with Velvia 100 I don’t expect to use at all considering the weather, and a couple of Tri-X rolls. In the utility pack, Ricoh GR Digital and a Leica M2 with 35mm Summicron ASPH.

Leica M2, Summicron 35mm f2 ASPH, Kodak 160NC: Forest in Nikko

Train to Nikko, or shall I say, the cheapest way to get to Nikko I can find is the Tobu line to Tobu-Nikko from Asakusa Tobu line station. Cost 1320yen. Taking the 7:10 train today. The 7:30 express train cost 1400yen extra because its more ‘express’. One thing to be really sure is that your train car actually reaches Tobu-Nikko. The last few I saw has different destinations, so my guess is along the way they drop cars so only the Tobu-Nikko train actually gets there. The train is oldish, but hey, it moves. Going to take a nap… Been a chore to get to Asakusa before 7 am.

Leica M2, Summicron 35mm f2 ASPH, Kodak 160NC: Stream on the way to Jakko Waterfall

937hrs: And it has to happen. Just arrived at Nikko and the rain is coming down hard – for Japanese standards, that is. So hard it is probably stupid to walk anywhere in this rain. So its time for a morning katsudon and salad in a restaurant next to the station. Could be a nice weather to shoot b&w in. Although this place is not full of people today (likely because of the rain) its mostly elderly hikers at the station. Should have borrowed an umbrella on the way here! The buses plying the routes here are from the Tobu group and they look quite high class for a town bus! Too bad I have plans to take the bus today. Walk is good!

Leica M2, Summicron 35mm f2 ASPH, Kodak 160NC: Spring water for washing up and drinking?

1242hrs: Finished walking throught the shrine area, skipped all except a small one. Saw the pagoda. Quite a lot of tourists there. Didn’t feel right, and everything here requires some kind of entrance fee. Not for me. I’m sure this place will be preserved can I can visit it when I can’t walk sometime in the far future. Right after walked south to route 120 and followed it westwards and branched off to the right along route 194 towards Jakko waterfall. Its a good 2km uphill on the small 1 lane road, on the right is a hill, rather steep too. There are not too many houses, on the left side of the road however, are many what looks like summer houses, or holiday homes because they all look deserted. These houses overlook a small fast-flowing stream in a  valley. The road up to Jakko falls is quiet and when I was hiking it, and it was raining… Naturally since I was going light, I did not have an umbrella with me. Had my army surplus boonie on though, but I can guarantee its not waterproof. The backpack from Arcteryx was rain resistant enough, but unfortunately not the Artisan & Artist bag. It stops very light sprays but not rain. So with no one in sight, I’m holed up at a small shrine next to the falls waiting for the rain to stop so that I can shoot some velvia (light permitting) and the go back to tokyo. This place don’t even have a mobile phone coverage or even a vending machine! But it sure is peaceful here, bar the occasional sound of planes overhead.

Leica M2, Summicron 35mm f2 ASPH, Kodak 160NC: Jakko Waterfall in the Rain

1332hrs: Still at the shrine. No soul in sight. At least no physical person is anywhere near this place and its starting to get chilly since its up in the mountains. Just checked my bags and it looks like the Arcteryx backpack is not water resistant either. The 120 magazine for RZ67 is all wet. Its wrapped in plastic, but the little holes are letting in water. Took a couple of photos of the quiet shrine with 6×7 Tri-X. Light is challenging, and I think the rain will render the scene rather soft.

Leica M2, Summicron 35mm f2 ASPH, Kodak 160NC: Shrine near Jakko Waterfall in the Forest

Leica M2, Summicron 35mm f2 ASPH, Kodak 160NC: Timber mill on the way to Jakko Waterfall, Nikko

Waited till almost 2pm when I have to go back to the station, rain or shine, in order to catch the 4pm train back to Tokyo. Can’t wait any longer. When I got my little break in the rain, meaning its drizzling a little, I ran down to the valley floor, whipped out the RZ67 camera and took a few photos of the waterfall with 1/8s shutter speed and mirror lock up with Velvia 100 film. I dont know if its going to be sharp, but I’m using a 50mm lens so worth a try.

Leica M2, Summicron 35mm f2 ASPH, Kodak 160NC: Bare Trees on hillside, Nikko

Then its time to move quickly downhill towards the mainroad. Passed some nice looking forests, but the light was too low and the rain was still coming down so no photos. Everything is now wet. Should have packed a couple of plastic bags to keep the cameras in. When I reached the mainroad, cheated a little by taking the bus for 3-4 stops before getting onto the road again. When going through the city, found a little hut with fresh spring water and a sign that invites you to drink from it. Refreshing indeed. Time to rest a little and wring water off my hat and t-shirt.

Got to the train station at about 1530hrs, and bought a cheap 1320Y ticket back to Tokyo Asakusa station. Hung around the train station and had my little snack made of coated peanuts and bought a souvenir keychain (first souvenir!). Train back to Tokyo was uneventful.

Leica M2, Summicron 35mm f2 ASPH, Kodak 160NC: Abandoned Tennis Court

Nice trip overall. If not for the rain. I should have packed some Provia 400X film into the RZ67, I think I need to buy one one of these days and keep it handy. Especially shooting nature in Japan during this rainy season. A tripod would be nice too but I dont know if its possible at all to trek with a medium format SLR and tripod. The RZ67 was fun to use, not that difficult to use on the field, and I find that eventually I use the built in loupe to focus all the time since the side walls block the light and the image looks very clear. Only issue is that looking down all the time hurts the neck! At the end, I shot 1 roll of 35mm film and 1 roll of 120 film. The Ricoh was used only as a light meter the whole trip.

Leica M2, Summicron 35mm f2 ASPH, Kodak 160NC: Steps in a Shrine

Lessons learnt: I think I need to buy a can of teflon spray and have it sprayed onto the backpack and my camera bags in general. I might be able to carry one of the weather covers from my think tank pouches too. Need to investigate that. Nikko is a nice nature trek. There are a couple of places more I would like to go to, and will involve taking the bus in the future. Senjogahara Plains is one of the choice. I’m sure my legs are going to hurt tomorrow, but all in all, enjoyed this trip. Didn’t get to see too many places in nikko, but that’s the idea: its a scouting trip and it is better to take my time and visit just a few places and suffer a little. AT least I will remember this trip for some time! Now I hope my RZ67 shots shot handheld all the time comes out sharp. Oh, another trip where I forgot my GPS so I didn’t get any coordinates at all. Then again, since I was in the forest most of the time, I doubt I’d be able to get any satellite lock on at all!

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