Recent Hikes

I have seen many interesting mushrooms while hiking this month! I had four consecutive hikes in rain hard enough that I had to move my phone and wallet to my waterproof bag, and the rain has brought out the mushrooms. My favorite is the Amanita caesareoides. It is called タマゴタケ in Japanese, which translates to “egg mushroom,” describing its egg-like shape before the cap opens up. You can see some nice photos in an image search. I saw one beautiful specimen with the egg shape and have since seen many with open caps.

The rainy season ended a few weeks ago, and I went hiking with a friend in Yamanashi on the 17th. We had a nice hike in sunny weather! At one point, we may have gotten off of the trail and hiked a pretty steep embankment by following the footprints of other hikers. Probably due to this steep hike, my broken foot started to hurt again! It hurt for three days, was numb for one day, and then was fine. I hope that such exercise is beneficial for recovery.

I have been finding lots of deer tracks lately, and we spotted a dear on our hike on the 17th! I was able to snap some terrible photos on my phone to show my wife and daughter. My wife was able to spot the deer immediately, which I found impressive considering the quality of the photos. Our daughter, on the other hand, had a very difficult time spotting the deer in the photo even when I zoomed in for her.

That reminds me of a time when my wife and I took our daughter on a hike and found a mamushi. Our daughter was about two, and my wife and I took turns carrying her in a baby sling. (I am not sure if “baby sling” is the correct English term. It is 抱っこ紐 in Japanese, a backpack like thing that one wears to carry around an infant/toddler.) My wife spotted the snake waiting in ambush underneath a bush. We pointed it out to our daughter, who was unable to spot it from her position strapped to my chest. She could later easily spot the snake in the photos, however, and found it hard to believe that she was actually there with us when we found it!

Strangely, my friend and I did not see a single snake during our hike on the 17th! I saw many snakes on earlier hikes this month and have seen snakes on two hikes since, and the hike on the 17th was longer than my usual hikes as well as further from the city. I bet that at least one snake watched us and we just failed to spot it.

I enjoyed a hike this afternoon, happy to get one in before the typhoon hits. The approaching typhoon is a weak one, with no eye, but it is notable because it is passing near to Tokyo during the Olympics. There were many worms out today, and I guess they may be able to sense the approaching typhoon and are preparing for the rain.