It stopped raining! Long hike around Otaki in Chichibu City.

Greetings cave cretins, I mean creatures.

It finally stopped raining.  I'd been chomping at the bit to get into the mountains for about a week so I planned a longish day hike for when I could finally get out.

Much like the original D Day, my plan was pushed back a day for weather.  When the, seemingly clear, day for my hike arrived, this is what greeted me when I walked out the door.

Not too shabby!

About 3 hours later, nearing my destination in Otaki in Saitama, this is what I saw at the Futase Dam.

Signs and wonders . . . 

This picture is taken upstream from the dam.  This is the Arakawa River, by the way.  It starts at Mt. Kobushi at the intersection of Saitama, Yamanashi and Nagano and eventually dumps into Tokyo Bay.

Unfortunately, the beautiful blue skies didn't last beyond the morning.  I did get these pics before it got too cloudy, but the rest of the day was not one for taking in distant sights.

The rest of the day was like this.

(That picture is Karisaka Pass.)

OK, I actually do like that kind of picture.  I often feel like I'm in Middle Earth when I'm in the mountains.  Sometimes it's like the Shire.  Sometimes it's like the Misty Mountains.  (I wonder how many of you just started hearing "Walking in the park just the other day baby . . ."?)

One thing that was cool was all the water.  We have had so much rain lately.  The falls, streams and rivers gushing off the mountains were truly awesome.

In case you're curious, this is the route I took yesterday.  It was a long one with an elevation change of over 2,300 meters up and then over 2,300 meters back down.  Adding onto the hike driving about 3 hours each way made me one tired puppy when I got home.     

I'm happy whenever I can get into the mountains but do feel a bit bummed out when I can't see anything.  I'll have to go back here if I want to know what it's really all about.  I've already planned 2 more hikes adjacent to this route.

As Abu says, "Thank you.  Come again."