the ever gorgeous nishizawa gorge: July 7 2024

July 2024 · 6 min read · Yamanashi

nishizawa gorge (西沢渓谷)

before anything, what is a gorge? if it is short for gorgeous, i would accept that as well. let's stop the dad jokes for now and learn definitions.

according to the oxford languages dictionary, aside from to eat a large amount greedily, a gorge is a narrow valley between hills or mountains, typically with steep rocky walls and a stream running through it. with that definition, i'm sure that it was a gorge that we went to, we were surely eating greedily when we were there.

here is my entry to #aroundtheworld photo contest hosted by @bucipuci

nishizawa gorge is located in the chichibu tama kai national park. this national park is so huge that it occupies parts of four prefectures, including parts of tokyo. this gorge that we went to is located in the yamanashi prefecture side and is carved by the fuefuki river. the yamanashi travel website boasts that nishizawa gorge is famed for captivating waterfalls including one listed as one of japan's top.

but before we even face that, we have to go to the gorge itself. the area was so far, we had to leave at 5:30 in the morning and travel for two and a half hours by train before transferring to an hour ride by bus. probably it is due to this inconvenience that nishizawa gorge is not crowded at all. we reached the area and started hiking alone. we even joked that this must be a wrong path, but the map tells otherwise.

the first major milestone was this suspension bridge over a man made dam. not for the faint of hearts, the bridge wobbled with every step we made. and as the resident trickster, i had to make it extra wobbly.

the trail started ascending and bending in between trees. it is a forest after all that we are in, a very well maintained one. even the man-made stairs were well maintained, there might have been mosses but the wood were sturdy. these chains they installed will be very useful in the trail path later on. and this ended the mountain trail.

the trail started going downhill, literally downhill. we must have went over the mountain ridge and we were now following the river. big stones were everywhere and we had to step on them, some were not stable and produced some scares. but the sight was breathtaking and the air was cool despite the warm sun. walking beside the river sure kept the temperature down.

here is my entry for this week's #POBphotocontest on "ROCKS" hosted by @friendlymoose, this only shows how strong the river is to have transported these rocks.

if not stepping on the river rocks, we were scaling the stone walls beside it. those rocks were constantly wet, very prone to slippage and that is where those chains helped. big steps were needed in some parts, i felt sorry for one of my companion but she managed well.

waterfalls came in all heights one after the other. and some pools looked incredibly deep as seen from the crystal clear waters. these waters were so inviting, all i could do was touch and feel how cold they were. swimming in these pools were most likely prohibited, one could easily drown or be carried by the strong current.

being this deep down in the gorge, light plays a huge part in creating the mood. it sometimes feels like you were transported into the fairy realm if that even exists.

up ahead, we were greeted by a sign which says kaeru-iwa, or frog rock. and the frog definitely looked like a rock, or is it the other way around?

here it is at a closer look, the rock looked like a frog perched on some rock looking up the skies as if waiting for some insect to fly by. it even looked like it had eyes. do you see it? or is my imagination just too crazy? frog or not, that was the only frog i saw in this river.

then we were greeted by another waterfall, this is the famous one. but i was underwhelmed, i could not see it clearly at all, it was behind rocky walls.

we continued the path and we were led up to an ascent which had a very wide view of the whole thing. this is the nanatsugama godan no taki or the seven-pool, five-step waterfall, designated as one of japan's "100 best waterfall" by the ministry of the environment. it was very tall and very strong and very beautiful. i can now clearly see why it was in a prestigious list.

long plight of wooden steps dominated the next part which led to the somehow "peak" of the hike. we were really not here for the peak but for the gorgeous gorge so there was really nothing left to see.

at the "peak", we ate our packed lunches together with the different very active animals of the class insecta. i am just happy that they were not aggressive but they were every where, even inside toilets.

after getting stuffed, the walk home felt like a breeze. we were going downhill after all so it was faster and felt easier, but it was long. we had to walk faster though, buses were limited and the last one leaves while the sun is still up. though there were no more waters to see, we were on the mountain part of the trail still in the middle of primeval forests.

it was clear that hikers down this path had nothing else to do that they resorted to rock piling. there were so many of those on the trail, and we might have toppled down some when we tried to add big rocks on top as we over estimated our rock balancing skills.

we finally reached the bus stop and was glad we arrived early. the last bus we were originally aiming for is not running this season. we had to stand inside a very wiggly bus the whole ride home for an hour. that might have made more stress to my legs than the actual hike.

in total, we hiked for a little less than 6 hours including two hours of break. walking for around 10 km of around 750 meters of elevation up and down. we were surprisingly faster than planned, that cool refreshing environment surely helped.

now i wonder where our next hiking destination will be? in all honesty, this trip was rescheduled for a couple of times due to the rainy weather and it seems the next weekend will again be wet. who knows when the next hiking trip will be, but i sure hope it will be soon.

as always, stay safe!
AMPING KANUNAY!