wandering Lucy: Hansel & Gretel: Tanzawa Oyama Quasi National Park Hike

Lately, my train rides have been full of the reading of Walden by Thoreau. This reading of a few pages everyday has accumulated in this weird obsession for nature. I've been encouraged a many a times by my friend Brogurt aka Ponyo, that this happens to all readers of Walden, and that I should not shy away. (Though she did warn it was probably a bad idea to read a book on the "quiet desperation of men" and a life of "simplicity" whilst living in Tokyo, but I wanted to do this for a reason, so I have forged ahead). I'm about 100 pages in to the 250 or so book, and let me tell you, it's painful to read here. Although I normally would be good for another week or two after two recent trips in to the wilderness, my level of satiation goes down with every paragraph I read, as such, yesterday, adventure Wednesday, was another day of forestry and simplicity. I boarded my train, with Walden in hand, and headed off to Tanzawa Oyama Quasi National Park (I think the quasi is equivalent to our state vs national park system, but...who knows, I'm not Japanese) out in Western Tokyo off of my line, the Odakyu. After a refreshing hour long train ride and the reading of Walden, while Japanese old men in hiking outfits sat across from me, we made our way out to Shinabasa. We then all proceeded to board Bus #2, and headed out to Oyama, our stop for the day. While sadly we parted ways, for they headed off towards the bridge, and I away, it's always nice to meet fellow nature lovers venturing out away from Tokyo for a day of SIMPLICITY! haha.

Although I was not quite so excited about the fees the Odakyu charges (even with my already closer station, good lord Odakyu...get a grip), I was excited to be out in the Tanazawa park. It was gorgeous! I thought I wasn't really gonna find any Kouyou yet, (the colors change from Hokkaido in the north and make their way down, so Nikko was further North, as was Karuizawa, Tokyo is really the middle of November), but I was pleasantly surprised to see some trees slightly changing and get a glimpse of how beautiful the park would be in a month from now.

So off I set. In true Lucy fashion, I wasn't exactly sure where I was going. Although I do have this walking book about walks/hikes within a day trippable distance from Tokyo, I have come to realize within the past week or two of Walden-y love, that unfortunately this book was written in 1992, and is out of date. Luckily, I have found a fellow blogger who likes the book, but doesn't like it's out of dateness, and has actually updated via blog a few of the walks. So with that in the back of the mind, and an outdated book, I set off for another waterfall (surprise, surprise surprise).

Here's the waterfall I hiked to! This first part took probably an hour to get to. I kept seeing these little streams and manmade waterfalls, I don't know the proper name but there is one for the garret-cataract type things, anyways, I kept seeing them and taking pictures thinking it was the waterfall. I was pleasantly surprised by the real one. hehe.

Look at those slight fall colors! Beautiful!

So this bridge was super...intense. They had these all throughout the walk! They are actually really scary. They move a lot when you walk on them! I can't imagine if someone else tried to cross at the same time.

ahhhh. lovely.

When I got to the top of the first mountain, I was pleasantly surprised by the OCEAN! I know I'm on an island, but I didn't think I'd see it from where I was. It was awesome!

This is the top of the 2nd mountain. Scorrre.

Look at those fall colors peeking through! I just know it's gonna be absolutely stunning in a few weeks!

Hahaha. Cute squirrel. They had the weirdest hiking signs.

And A LION! This one freaked me out at first. I didn't read the Japanese and I immediately jumped to the conclusion that there were huge lions out in the forest with me. I have to say, sometimes hiking and not knowing signs or kanji is a bit...unsettling. I never know if I'm on a closed path or if something dangerous is present...but I guess it does add a little spice to life.