First, the good news! I hope that you are seeing images and text interspersed instead of all images being at the end. Yay! On the Blogger app on my phone, I can't control the order or location of images. But now, I can, thanks to my tiny computing thing.
So, yesterday was just a gorgeous fall day. I had lots to do around the house, but really wanted to take advantage of the nice weather. After lunch, I hopped on a bus and made my way downtown, where I started hiking uphill towards Wakkanai Park.
There were some beautiful leaves. I thought the yellow and red together was rather pretty.
I continued hiking through the park and towards the 100 Year Memorial Tower. From the ground to the tower is about a mile, but most of it is pretty much straight up. I love the views of Wakkanai from the area around the tower.
I didn't linger too long around the tower. I was eager to get to the trail. So I headed up behind the tower towards the trail entrance via a gravel road. It was then that I remembered that gravel roads in minimalist shoes are a little ouchy. But then I got distracted by a pretty view, so it was OK. Can you guess what that pretty view was? If you guessed Rishiri, you are right! It was one of those afternoons where Rishiri is barely visible through the haze.
On these kinds of days, Rishiri reminds me of something from a dream. There, but almost out of sight.
Ha, now that I think about it, I was at a point where I could see the sea in both directions. Here's the other way:
I continued on hiking, down hills and up hills (we need a nice bridge).
Eventually, I decided to take a break. I brought walnuts, water, and my Kindle. Don't worry, I didn't eat the Kindle. Haha. Anyway, as I was enjoying my break, I remembered something. The Instagram (photo sharing app) weekend project this week is to try to take a self portrait. As I looked around at the 3 benches, I realized that I was in a good spot to try to do a self portrait (I could rest the phone on a bench).
This was my original attempt. Nice and sweet, with Kori.
But then, I think I temporarily lost my mind. It was action time! First, I thought I'd try a handstand.
It didn't work out very well.
So, I decided to try jumping off a bench and got these gems:
and
Finally,when it seemed that all hope was lost, I picked up my phone after a jump, and saw this:
I was very happy! And a little tired from all that jumping. I still had quite a long way to hike before dark, so I packed up my stuff and went on my way. It began to get cold as the afternoon went on. I continued going up and down hills.
Then I came to the gazebo where I had stopped with some kids I went hiking with before. Wouldn't this be a pretty place to sit and read?
I started descending for good once I passed the gazebo. One thing I like about going on a solo hike is the fact that you can just relax and let your senses all take in the surroundings. To be honest, I didn't use taste much!
Eventually, I came to a fork in the trail (for taste? haaa). I wasn't sure which way to go. One way looked like the trail I'd been hiking on, and the other was dark forest. As I stood there pondering, I heard a crashing that was definitely NOT a sparrow. This was a large animal. My adrenaline rose a little, and then the large animal turned out to be a jogger. Well, I knew it wasn't a sparrow! I then headed down the dark forest path, thinking it might be fun. It was really dark!
But when I came out, I had another lovely view of Wakkanai.
Then it was time for one final descent and ascent. Unfortunately, the final descent was really steep and muddy and I wound up taking the express method for a portion of the trip. But then I picked myself back up for the last part of the descent, which involved ropes and a ladder. Yay.
Finally, I was back to civilization and sooo tired. I knew I was pretty muddy, but I decided to take a bus anyway. Of course, the bus was full of people when it arrived. That rarely happens in Wakkanai. I finished up my evening with some soup curry at Cafe Zazie. It was tasty after a long hike.
I was really glad that I went out to enjoy the day yesterday, because today was overcast. But now, I still have quite a lot on my to-do list. Oh, well.
Wow, if you made it this far, I'm impressed! Thanks for sticking with me!
So, yesterday was just a gorgeous fall day. I had lots to do around the house, but really wanted to take advantage of the nice weather. After lunch, I hopped on a bus and made my way downtown, where I started hiking uphill towards Wakkanai Park.
There were some beautiful leaves. I thought the yellow and red together was rather pretty.
I continued hiking through the park and towards the 100 Year Memorial Tower. From the ground to the tower is about a mile, but most of it is pretty much straight up. I love the views of Wakkanai from the area around the tower.
I didn't linger too long around the tower. I was eager to get to the trail. So I headed up behind the tower towards the trail entrance via a gravel road. It was then that I remembered that gravel roads in minimalist shoes are a little ouchy. But then I got distracted by a pretty view, so it was OK. Can you guess what that pretty view was? If you guessed Rishiri, you are right! It was one of those afternoons where Rishiri is barely visible through the haze.
On these kinds of days, Rishiri reminds me of something from a dream. There, but almost out of sight.
Ha, now that I think about it, I was at a point where I could see the sea in both directions. Here's the other way:
I continued on hiking, down hills and up hills (we need a nice bridge).
Eventually, I decided to take a break. I brought walnuts, water, and my Kindle. Don't worry, I didn't eat the Kindle. Haha. Anyway, as I was enjoying my break, I remembered something. The Instagram (photo sharing app) weekend project this week is to try to take a self portrait. As I looked around at the 3 benches, I realized that I was in a good spot to try to do a self portrait (I could rest the phone on a bench).
This was my original attempt. Nice and sweet, with Kori.
But then, I think I temporarily lost my mind. It was action time! First, I thought I'd try a handstand.
It didn't work out very well.
So, I decided to try jumping off a bench and got these gems:
and
Finally,when it seemed that all hope was lost, I picked up my phone after a jump, and saw this:
I was very happy! And a little tired from all that jumping. I still had quite a long way to hike before dark, so I packed up my stuff and went on my way. It began to get cold as the afternoon went on. I continued going up and down hills.
Then I came to the gazebo where I had stopped with some kids I went hiking with before. Wouldn't this be a pretty place to sit and read?
I started descending for good once I passed the gazebo. One thing I like about going on a solo hike is the fact that you can just relax and let your senses all take in the surroundings. To be honest, I didn't use taste much!
Eventually, I came to a fork in the trail (for taste? haaa). I wasn't sure which way to go. One way looked like the trail I'd been hiking on, and the other was dark forest. As I stood there pondering, I heard a crashing that was definitely NOT a sparrow. This was a large animal. My adrenaline rose a little, and then the large animal turned out to be a jogger. Well, I knew it wasn't a sparrow! I then headed down the dark forest path, thinking it might be fun. It was really dark!
But when I came out, I had another lovely view of Wakkanai.
Then it was time for one final descent and ascent. Unfortunately, the final descent was really steep and muddy and I wound up taking the express method for a portion of the trip. But then I picked myself back up for the last part of the descent, which involved ropes and a ladder. Yay.
Finally, I was back to civilization and sooo tired. I knew I was pretty muddy, but I decided to take a bus anyway. Of course, the bus was full of people when it arrived. That rarely happens in Wakkanai. I finished up my evening with some soup curry at Cafe Zazie. It was tasty after a long hike.
I was really glad that I went out to enjoy the day yesterday, because today was overcast. But now, I still have quite a lot on my to-do list. Oh, well.
Wow, if you made it this far, I'm impressed! Thanks for sticking with me!
Comments
I checked out your blog after posting on your Sparkpage! Love it - and loved the photos of your hike. I had to laugh because my older daughter (the one born in Tokyo) is totally into jumping self-portraits!
- Pat44 of SP