{"id":863,"date":"2014-07-20T20:26:46","date_gmt":"2014-07-20T11:26:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/persimmon-dreams.com\/blog\/?p=863"},"modified":"2014-08-20T12:46:23","modified_gmt":"2014-08-20T03:46:23","slug":"midday-mist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/persimmon-dreams.com\/blog\/2014\/07\/20\/midday-mist\/","title":{"rendered":"Midday mist"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"140713_aozasayama_summit_mist_600\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The midday mist<\/p>\n

turned us into shadows,<\/p>\n

the rooty, spongy ground<\/p>\n

lightened our step,<\/p>\n

and once we were wet to the bone–<\/p>\n

and\u00a0knew we would get no wetter–<\/p>\n

we minded not<\/p>\n

when gusts pelted us with rain,<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/a>\"140713_maple_long_branch_900\"<\/a><\/p>\n

for we could marvel at the maple leaves,<\/p>\n

themselves appreciating greatly<\/p>\n

that time-proven\u00a0partner<\/p>\n

–the wet gray–<\/p>\n

who enabled\u00a0 them to show off<\/p>\n

(so nimble on their firm little stems)<\/p>\n

what\u00a0dancing stars they were,<\/p>\n

\"140713_trees_mist3_300\"<\/a><\/p>\n

and what\u00a0rollicking constellations they could\u00a0be\u00a0\u00a0. . .<\/p>\n

and I knew I’d been on Aozasa Mountain before,<\/p>\n

long ago,<\/p>\n

as a little boy,<\/p>\n

half a world away,<\/p>\n

on a bright\u00a0June day,<\/p>\n

barefoot,<\/p>\n

lanky legs flying through fescue,<\/p>\n

a skinny arm extended,<\/p>\n

raking white petals<\/p>\n

in\u00a0a long\u00a0line of gardenias,<\/p>\n

then stopping,<\/p>\n

turning to see,<\/p>\n

through a single eye,<\/p>\n

\"140713_foggy_lens_trail_300\"<\/a><\/p>\n

a single squinting eye<\/p>\n

(a\u00a0foggy lens,\u00a0the center wiped clean and clear),<\/p>\n

the swirls of\u00a0fragrance<\/p>\n

rise up to mingle<\/p>\n

with green pine and\u00a0blue sky . . .<\/p>\n

a fragrance unforgettable,<\/p>\n

a fragrance\u00a0soon to be forgotten.<\/p>\n

*\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 *\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 *<\/p>\n

July 13. Aozasayama (Aozasa\u00a0Mountain).<\/p>\n

We’d driven up through\u00a0 the hamlet of Utogi and reached the parking lot at Aoi Kogen. Now two of us were sitting in the back of the car, the raised hatchback shielding us from\u00a0a rain that had just started back up, and two of us were standing out<\/em> in the rain, rain coat hoods in full use. What to do? Call it a day? Go through with the hike?<\/p>\n

The rain was supposed to\u00a0have started\u00a0later in the day, and now we all surely knew that, the most favorable scenario was going to be (most likely, probably)\u00a0five hours of walking through intermittent rain. Still, when the rain would stop for a moment, I’d (we’d?) think, for just a moment, that maybe\u00a0the\u00a0heavens would clear up.\u00a0 That surely indicated something about what I (we) thought we were going to get that day, up along the ridge, whether it\u00a0rained cats and\u00a0dogs\u00a0or not.<\/p>\n

So we hiked as planned \u00a0. . . and part of the time it did rain cats and dogs. Maybe it even rained a few tanuki<\/em> and inoshishi<\/em>. But once you’re\u00a0wet, you’re wet, and it makes no sense to worry about it. So you don’t. You just enjoy what there is to enjoy.<\/p>\n

\"140713_jizo_toge_sign_700\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The sign said this way<\/em> to Jizo Toge (Jizo Pass), so we headed off that way, along the asphalt\u00a0 road for a while,\u00a0until we\u00a0came to the Jizo Toge trailhead . . . where one of the many Mr. Jizo’s was there to greet us. “You’re good,” he seemed to say. “No worries.\u00a0 I get wet all the time and look at me.”<\/p>\n

\"140713_jizo1_300\"<\/a><\/p>\n

It was windy as heck up at the Toge Pass, but fortunately\u00a0 another<\/em> Mr. Jizo had a little shack of a shrine that he hung out in, and he invited us in for lunch. Delightful indeed.<\/p>\n

And then on we went.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\"140713_trees_mist_400\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Along the ridge. In the fog and mist. Among the big \u00a0beeches and maples. Bamboo grass everywhere. Sasa<\/em>. Thus the name of the mountain.\"140713_mushrooms_clapping_400\"<\/a>From Toge Pass, it’s a gentle ascent, but we were happy, just the same,\u00a0to have the mushrooms applauding our efforts.<\/p>\n

\"170713_Steve_by_tree_300\"<\/a><\/p>\n

A little wet, yes, but that is<\/em> one happy hiker, don’t you think?<\/p>\n

We walked on to Mumei no Toge (No Name Pass), then on up to the summit of Aozasa (top picture), then doubled back to descend from Mumei.<\/p>\n

\"140713_mossy_tree2_300\"<\/a><\/p>\n

That way\u00a0back down to Aoi Kogen\u00a0was a bit steep and I thought I’d rather go up <\/em>it than down, but there was lots to please the\u00a0eyes. Long stretches of\u00a0cool moss and rock. Then wasabi fields.<\/p>\n

\"140713_wasabi_300\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Wasabi fields. Wet, wet, wet<\/em> wasabi fields. I’m not sure, but I’m guessing this is where we picked up the leeches. If that was<\/em> the case, it was lucky we didn’t<\/em> ascend this way. Those little suckers would have had four or five hours to find our sweet spots. As it was, we got down in about twenty more minutes and found only about\u00a0twenty leeches in our boots and on our clothes. Only one leech had latched onto human flesh. On a wrist.<\/p>\n

Leeches are not only talented vampires, but also awesome gymnasts, amazingly flexible, and capable of extraordinary leaps and somersaults. Yes, there were a few shrieks, and a few uncomfortable moments yanking off that wrist leech with tweezers, but back in the car, down from Utogi and back on the road heading back to town, we were already laughing at the leeches. The rain, as a problem, we’d dismissed hours before.<\/p>\n

\"140713_driving_home2_400\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Note: One leech had hidden really well. One of our hearty hikers found it on her shin,\u00a0after she’d gotten back home. She reports it was easily done in with salt.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The midday mist turned us into shadows, the rooty, spongy ground lightened our step, and once we were wet to the bone– and\u00a0knew we would get no wetter– we minded not when gusts pelted us with rain, \u00a0 for we could marvel at the maple leaves, themselves appreciating greatly that time-proven\u00a0partner –the wet gray– who … Continue reading Midday mist<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-863","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/persimmon-dreams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/863","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/persimmon-dreams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/persimmon-dreams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/persimmon-dreams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/persimmon-dreams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=863"}],"version-history":[{"count":24,"href":"https:\/\/persimmon-dreams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/863\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1067,"href":"https:\/\/persimmon-dreams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/863\/revisions\/1067"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/persimmon-dreams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=863"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/persimmon-dreams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=863"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/persimmon-dreams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=863"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}