Hiking Tour of Japan's Naeba Mountain
In addition to five days of biking, our tour also included a two day hike to the top of Mt Naeba - one of Japan's hyakumeizan, or "famous one-hundred mountains". The hike up was one of the most challenging trails I have come across in Japan in terms of terrain - a seven-hundred meter gain in less than 1.5 km. While it was short enough that, even after a leisurely morning, we reached the summit just in time for sunset, much of it was almost vertical (see google earth map below). It was satisfying to me to see that everyone made it despite admissions that this was the most difficult trek they had ever done.
We arrived at the top just in time for sunset and just before it started to get really cold. Although two of the three customers had originally requested "as much camping as possible" in order to bring the costs down, everyone was happy to take advantage of the reservations we had made at the hut for sudomari (basically using your own sleeping bag, stove and food - no meals or futons included) which is half the price of an all-inclusive stay that includes meals and futons.
After finishing off the 3.5 liters of beer I had snuck up the mountain for congratulatory toasts, we also were lucky enough to be given a half-bottle of sho-chu, as this was the last night the hut would be open this year and the owner wanted to make everything as light as possible for the end-of-season clean up.
Everyone slept well.
The night before I had asked the owner what time sunrise was and was surprised to hear that it was a good forty minutes later than I expected. Just in case I set my alarm for the time that I thought we should get up, and sure enough, the owners idea of "sunrise" is that actual moment that the sun peaks over the mountains in the horizon. My idea of sunrise was the time that the beautiful colors begin to light up the east skyline. Of course, being an almost full moon that night, without a cloud in the sky, we could have pretty much stayed up all night and not even have need for our headlamps.
After waking everyone up and forcing them to join me in the awe I feel shivering at 2100 meters on frozen ground watching the sky change from deep blue to purple to pink and finally, forty minutes later, seeing the sun finally pear out from behind the last mountain range that separated us from the Japan Sea and China.
There were a few other hikers staying at the hut that night, and all of them were right there with us snapping photos of the sunrise. All except one. We later found that he was the photographer who had taken all the amazing photos displayed on the walls of the lodge and, according to him, "today has nothing for someone of my level to take a photo of". It sounds a bit conceited, but it was true. After further conversation, we learned that he had climbed the mountain over 250 times in order to get the 30 or so photos on the wall in the hut, and in his book.
We also learned that he had been wanting to meet me. Yes, you heard it right. He knew of my moving to the area and had wanted to meet me! Me! I feel so important. The meeting was brief, and ended with him giving us two autographed copies of his photo book of Akiyamago and Naeba mountain, and me begging him to teach me a thing or two about photography.
Comments
I've been meaning all autumn to get back to you about visiting Sakae, but work at the university has been pretty heavy. Haven't even had time to go hiking. So it was nice to see these pictures of Naeba. I always thought it was an easy walk and so never climbed it. So much for preconceptions!
Actually I wanted to ask you about your D70 settings. While I was in Europe I had a lot of trouble with unexposed pictures and couldn't figure out what I was doing wrong with the settings. May I ask what settings you usually set the camera to? (picture size, ISO, picture quality, noise reduction, and anything else that might be better left at some specific setting?) I really love the quality of light in your photos and the clarity of your photos.
Posted by: Miguel | November 5, 2007 06:00 PM
I've been meaning all autumn to get back to you about visiting Sakae, but work at the university has been pretty heavy. Haven't even had time to go hiking. So it was nice to see these pictures of Naeba. I always thought it was an easy walk and so never climbed it. So much for preconceptions!
Actually I wanted to ask you about your D70 settings. While I was in Europe I had a lot of trouble with unexposed pictures and couldn't figure out what I was doing wrong with the settings. May I ask what settings you usually set the camera to? (picture size, ISO, picture quality, noise reduction, and anything else that might be better left at some specific setting?) I really love the quality of light in your photos and the clarity of your photos.
Posted by: Miguel | November 5, 2007 06:00 PM
I've been meaning all autumn to get back to you about visiting Sakae, but work at the university has been pretty heavy. Haven't even had time to go hiking. So it was nice to see these pictures of Naeba. I always thought it was an easy walk and so never climbed it. So much for preconceptions!
Actually I wanted to ask you about your D70 settings. While I was in Europe I had a lot of trouble with unexposed pictures and couldn't figure out what I was doing wrong with the settings. May I ask what settings you usually set the camera to? (picture size, ISO, picture quality, noise reduction, and anything else that might be better left at some specific setting?) I really love the quality of light in your photos and the clarity of your photos.
Posted by: Miguel | November 5, 2007 06:04 PM
You take awesome portrait shots - how do you do that? I love the one of your customer leaning on his staff with the moon in the background.
Like Miguel I always thought of Naeba as one of the easier routes. Looks like it might be fun in the snow!
Posted by: Chris (i-cjw.com) | November 5, 2007 07:15 PM
@miguel
The invitation to come here is open - Any time you have a day or two free.
@Chris
Thanks. I have really been making an effort to take more people photos. As the photographer we met on the mountain said, it was not really a great photo op in terms of just scenery, but I figure that if I just add a few people, anything can happen.
@both
As for the mountain being easy. There is one trail that is quite easy. A three hour hike to the top. We went up a differnt trail though. Although it was short, it was very steep. My sense of difficulty may have been skewed though as I was worried about the customers (one with a bad knee) If I was alone, I would not have felt it soo hard.
As for the photos, thanks.
I wish I could say that this is all because of my skill with the camera, but I guess most of it is a result of lots of post-processing in Photoshop.
My "usual" settings when i take photos:
I have stoped using a light meter or the built in camera meter. Instead I take a few shots, look at the histogram in the screen, and adjust exposure/f-stop to get a better exposure. I usually use ISO at 200-400, and if it starts geting dark go to 800. After that I start raising the ISO and taking some test shots to see how low I can keep ISO but still take a shot with a shutter speed short enough to be hand-held.
I have a mono-pod which I have taken hiking before. It doubles as a hiking stick, and although I cant use it to get as steady as a tri-pod, it does give a bit more stability for shots in low, but still usable light.
Posted by: kevin | November 6, 2007 06:29 AM
What a great hike. Such mornings are memories made of.
I also love the pictures you take but have been wondering more about the post processing - you set the black point up fairly high by the look of it. Any clues as to what you do would be appreciated. I've been wondering for a while.
Posted by: RedYeti | November 15, 2007 06:56 AM