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The walk to the forest wasn't a bad one. We had a lot of interesting things to look at along the way. Lots of cabbage fields. Veggie stands. Motorcycle shops. Even a little shrine, I'm guessing it's there to pray for a good harvest.
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So...back we go.
As soon as we made the right turn at the white building with the blue tarp, we saw the signs for Koajiro Forest. And, a map of the hike.
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Nice boardwalk winds down the valley, along a river, toward the inlet.
We saw several dams along the way...some natural, some manmade....Boy disputed that any were manmade and insisted there were really smart beavers in the area.
A few cool, twisty branches and the small, winding river.
Signs that Spring is on the way! Woot Woot!
Some of the wildlife we encountered along the way. This guy came out with a few of his friends when Garytt decided to eat a bag of chips. He quickly put the chips away for fear of having his hand snatched off.
Keeping watch from the trees.
About halfway through the forest we saw this:
We were quite puzzled at what it could be. I decided that it must be a long rope that someone dropped in the water. The kids agreed and we moved along.
Checking out what's floating in the water below.
A little farther down the boardwalk Garytt wanted to check out what was below. All of a sudden he excitedly insisted I come look...more ropes! So, I took of my backpack, laid down the camera, and hung over the edge myself. The ropes didn't look like ropes from this distance. I decided to pull up a reed from the water and see if I could fish out one of these "ropes".
As we stood up a group of old Japanese ladies came toward us. One of the ladies said a whole lot of stuff that I didn't understand one single word. Eventually, she just motioned for us to follow. So, we did. We walked a few steps down the boardwalk to where she was pointing. I still couldn't understand her, and had no idea what she was pointing at. Finally, I thought maybe the brown lump in the middle of the reeds was maybe a frog. I said, "ribbit", but she didn't seem to understand. Maybe Japanese frogs don't say ribbit? Then, all of a sudden, the brown lump moved! The kids screeched, the Japanese ladies said, "Aaahhh", and I pulled out my camera. Two frogs making eggs! We thanked the ladies, who went off to rejoin their group, and then Mackenzie said, "This is just like a school lesson, but in the forest!" Then, the kids started rattling off all kinds of facts about frogs, the temperature for laying eggs, the gel around the eggs, the stages of a frog's life. I said, "Wow! Where did you learn this?" (side note: this year we are studying flying creatures. No frogs in our lessons yet) Mackenzie stood up and said, "We learned this from 'Wild Kratts'. Today we are teaching you, Mommy!"
After we stood there and watched and talked about them for quite a while, the couple decided to move under a branch so we couldn't see them anymore. This is when we moved on as well.
This is where the boardwalk splits. To the left is the path that leads to the end of the boardwalk. We walked up there first, then decided to go back to the split and head to the right side of this picture.
The mud flat
Once the boardwalk veered off to the right, away from the water, we were back on a dirt path and heading up stairs to find our way back to the train station. On the way, Mackenzie squealed with delight at the bamboo tunnel she found.
In they went...
And, out the other side.
When we left the house, we were quite excited to see the beautiful blue sky. What we couldn't see from our apartment was the ferocious wind! It wasn't bad in the forest, but on the road to the park and then the road back to the station it was horrible! A few times it actually blew us backwards a few steps. Yokosuka had 30 mph winds gusting to 40-45. I'm not sure if the wind was any stronger down here by the water, but it was pretty crazy! Just look at the choppy water.
We saw a few ume (plum) trees along the way.
We made it to the station about five minutes before the train left, so we were able to grab two seats, sit and relax for the 20 minute ride back to Yokosuka Chuo.
Here is a map view of the forest. The red dot is where we entered.
After a winter where we didn't hike on a weekly basis, the kids complained a lot more than they usually do. They were very excited to have the opportunity to skip school that morning, though. I think if the wind wasn't so crazy there would have been a little less complaining. Oh, a crab sighting or two would have helped, too. Now that I know where to enter we can get back without so much walking around the city. You would think that by now I would realize that most hiking trails seem to start in someone's backyard and it wouldn't be so easy for me to miss it. Oh well! Another adventure to add to the books!
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