aomori bokeh 青森暈け: 紅葉: Fall Color around Hirosaki

It's getting on to late fall up here in Aomori, and the trees have been turning since mid-October. I've gotten out a few times for walks and hikes with my camera, so here are some of the best shots. Not too much to say about the hikes themselves, just lots of nice 紅葉 (koyo, autumn foliage).

紅葉 can also be pronounced momiji, when referring to maple trees

Shiroiwa Hike

On a drizzly mid-October Sunday I reluctantly dragged myself out of bed for what turned out to be a pretty awesome day- a 7-mile hike in the area around Shiroiwa Woods, followed by my first trip to the onsen (or sento, public bath house) and a shopping trip to ELM shopping center where we also ate delicious chanpon dinner.

I don't know much about Shiroiwa Woods except that the name, 白岩 (shiroiwa, white cliff) comes from the white rock substrate that is exposed quite dramatically in some areas of the park. Sarah spotted a wild deer, I saw a frog, and we all saw swans or maybe geese migrating overhead as we snacked at the lookout point.

(note: I didn't bring my camera so these pics are from my phone, and seem to be a bit blurry; also, several of the pictures were taken by my friend Kyoko.)

Mostly still green, with a little orange mixed in

First red tree!

The trail was a little steep...

...but at least it was mostly stairs (picture courtesy of Kyoko)

Surprise lookout point! No idea which city we're looking at

Beautiful mountains fading into blue

We made it to the top! (picture courtesy of Kyoko)

Stairs all the way down

The white cliffs that give the wood their name (photo courtesy of Kyoko)

Kyoko demonstrates how we made two wrong turns and walked pretty much every trail on the map.

Anmon Taki Hike

Anmon Taki (Anmon Falls) are a series of waterfalls in Shirakami Sanchi, a UNESCO World Heritage Site containing the largest virgin beech forest in Japan. The trailhead for the hike to Anmon Taki is about an hour or less outside of Hirosaki proper. Most of the drive is on city streets and wide open freeway, but for the last ten minutes the expressway abruptly becomes a winding, barely-two-way forest road reminiscent of the last part of the drive to Muir Woods near San Francisco, except possibly even more winding than that.

A quaint little farmhouse is actually the restrooms at the trail head

A manmade waterfall at the start of the trail

Reds, greens, yellows and oranges

The nameless stream flowing from the falls

Another waterfall along the hike (not one of the big three)

Much of the walk was on a tinker-toy-like elevated walkway

Super clear water in the nameless stream

Waterfall #3 (the trail to #2 and #1 was closed)

Yeah, about those rocks...

Hiking out

Spectacular tree in the parking lot

Culture Day

Culture Day is a national public holiday that happened to fall on Tuesday November 2nd. After I turned all my furniture upside down and vacuumed the whole place, I took the 100 yen bus up to Saisho-in, the temple with the five-story pagoda that we visited during Silver Week. I happened to run into one of my teacher co-workers there, and he told me that Saisho-in is like a mini-Kyoto, referring to the many famous temples and shrines as well as the beautiful autumn foliage. I had to agree.

After Saisho-in I walked to Hirosaki Park to see the nighttime illuminations that are part of the Chrysanthemum Festival currently underway. On my way I ran into another teacher co-worker, my desk neighbor in fact, on her way home from an ikebana competition. In the twelve years I lived in the SF area, I don't think I ever randomly bumped into two people I knew, or who knew me, in the same week, let alone the same day. Of course there are so many factors to why that is, but it's still really striking to me.