Red Leaves at 面白山高原・紅葉川渓谷

On 6th November 2010, I went to 面白山高原 to see 紅葉 aka red leaves.

the moment I reached the station, I was greeted by this fantastic sight

Leaves in vivid colours of red, orange, yellow, green, brown, etc covering the whole mountain. It was simply breathtaking! Even though this is already my 3rd autumn in Japan, it was the most beautiful and natural red leaves I had ever seen.

so I whipped out my camera and began taking pictures furiously!


sign at JR 面白山高原


the other end of the station


I first explored the side that was nearer the station


it led to this great waterfall called 霰滝


fantastic view at the end of the short course


back at the station, there were many people that day cos of the nice weather


as well as many photographers on the bridge above the station waiting for photo opportunities when the train passes by


this is the view from the bridge, without any trains =P


then i embarked on the main hiking course of the day - 紅葉川渓谷


first sight that welcomed me was this waterfall 藤花の滝


mi & 藤花の滝


had to cross a few bridges


mi on one of the many bridges


totally live up to its name of 紅葉川渓谷, which literally means "red leaves, river, valley"


walking along the river


close-up of some red mix yellow leaves

Now, hiking along 紅葉川渓谷 wasn't an easy task, especially for a city girl like me!

wet and muddy ground due to rain from the past few days
(in fact, my shoes turned half-brown after the trip!)


steps and bridges that obviously did not have a solid base


walking along mountain edges where one misplaced step could send me rolling down the valley


and finally, shaky bridges with warning signs like this


seriously, i think this bridge was actually scarier than the famous かずら橋 in 四国 which i crossed 3 years ago


here's an interesting shot i captured by accident before crossing the bridge

my camera sorta slipped while i pressed the shutter and resulted in this! each time i look at it i feel like i'm being sucked through some time travel fantasy. haha~ what do you think? ;)

so anyway, a picture to commemorate my victory of crossing the bridge safely


walked a little bit further down along the river


attempted to take a "natural" shot of me walking but it turned out super fake *haha*


finally came to another waterfall called 布引の滝

This waterfall was very small compared the two shown earlier, and it totally reminded me of Kobe cos there's also a waterfall called 布引の滝. (Check out this old entry of my hiking trip in Kobe that I just reposted if you are interested.) Anyway, I decided to u-turn back from here cos it was already getting dark.

random pic of how i set up my camera to take pics of myself =P


and that was the end of my 紅葉狩り 2010