Green Falls - Above 飛竜の滝@箱根

Green Falls
Originally uploaded by typh00nrider

I went for a long day hike in Hakone this past weekend, starting out in Yumoto Onsen and climbing Sengen Mountain then walking a full circle back down the old Tokai Road back to Yumoto. Altogehter it was about a 20 kilometer trek. I started the trek from Yumoto at about 7:45 a.m. (leaving home at about 5:45 a.m.!!) and ended back up in Yumoto at about 14:30. Of course, after completing the course, I got into the hotsprings and relaxed with a good one hour bath and some food.

This part of the river is just above Hiryu Falls in Hakone. I was walking down the trail and just as I started to hear the falls, and the trail took a left turn, I looked to the right and saw a very narrow trail. It looked like a fox or rodent trail. I followed that trail down and found a small reclusive opening, where I proceeded to remove my backpack, relax, and take a few photos. It was very dark and surrounded by trees, so I had to do timed exposures to get anything of good quality - sorry Ken Rockwell, the tripod is not dead!! I pulled out the Manfrotto tripod and took a couple of shots. The hard part about this shoot was trying not to wash out the whites in the water, which I even managed to do with this shot, but limited the wash out area with some creative post-processing.
If you have any tips or ideas for taking a photo like this, please comment. 日本語でも大丈夫です！