Wednesday, July 22, 2015

Camping at Anmon Falls

Right before we left to the states to be with my Mom, before we knew that anything was wrong, we went camping at Anmon Falls. This trip I will always remember as my last refuge before we had to get used to a new normal. I am grateful for this nice overnight trip we had before life got turned upside down.
We got there about 1 pm, and set up our camp. Camping in Japan is truly a experience to be had. There are so many conveniences, stores, onsens, nice bathrooms, not at all like stateside camping; it's my kind of camping.
Anmon Falls is a series of 3 waterfalls with an unusual walkway to get there. Only the first waterfall had access at the time, the trail was closed to the other two.
Our group.
Rayce is a professional hiker, no joke. He even came prepared with a first aid kit in his makeshift plastic bag backpack, which we ended up needing.
The trail, well man made trail. It looks like scaffolding.
After a pretty short hike we got to the first fall.
Pretty!
Because we got kinda a late start we couldn't stay too long because the trail was closing, yet another reason we need to go back.
and then Rayce found a huge, very gentle frog.
As we got back from our hike the sun had come out and the trees looked amazing.
The kids had their own fire.
We fell asleep pretty early and awoke pretty early...to monkey's!
Yep, real live monkey's!
They were everywhere and they were loud.
Mountain man Rayce.
I get a little emotional looking through these pictures thinking about myself and my family and the storm of a trial that is about to arrive.
We left right after lunchtime and on the way home we found a shrine I was anxious to visit. It is carved out of a mountainside, very cool.
There is a small trickle of water coming right now the middle, I guess it freezes in the winter for a pretty spectacular sight.
I'm grateful for this peaceful trip. There are always tender mercies amidst the trials of life.