a walk in the park
Yesterday Melissa and I decided to go for a walk during our downtime, between check out and check in. We packed a lunch a headed north for Kirifuri falls. The road lead us to the entrance about 3 Km away from home. We knew it was our lucky day when a beautiful red snake stopped to say hello, and let Melissa pet him.
A long winding path of cobblestones and bamboo handrails delivered us to the look out point. We had an amazing view of the surrounding forest hugging the beautiful falls. Kirifuri falls is about a 75m drop of mountain water cascading over ridges and boulders. Its not the biggest or most famous, of the many falls around, but its up there. It’s nice to see and we enjoyed a picnic on the deck and benches, but we wanted to experience something a little more tangible.
After lunch we made way to the hiking paths to find another close waterfall, we thought. There were only deeper paths into the mountains, and they seemed to lure us in. We weren’t really prepared for such an expedition in our birks, but our addiction to nature got the best of us.
After a long walk through dense forest we came to a river that opened up to many gorgeous pond like areas. Eventually after following many signs in Kanji characters we found Chojino falls, the hidden falls. We had to stop and sit for a while. The area is so secluded, it seemed as if it was just for us, for the time we had to spend there. I wondered how many monks, travelers, and people of all callings had sat at this very spot, in silence and harmony. Listening to the water and feeling the strong breeze cool our entire bodies, while being completely alone in the wilderness, was a dream come true.
After absorbing some sort of energy from Chojino falls we felt up to taking a short cut back to the road. Straight up. In shorts, and stockings we climbed quite vertically for about 45m. Our Indian Caves climbing experience definitely paid off. What an amazing afternoon.
Tags: Japan, Travel
Zach
wow that looks beautiful… so many trees!! Nice shot of Zach, btw. I wish I was there to enjoy the nature with you…