taking on a big mountain, and ikeda temples

ok, first off: "EEEEWWWWW!" this suckers about 6in long, and (thankfully) dead.

ever seen a mexican menu in japanese? now you have!
yummy-ness
now: off to ehime for a good hike!
the mystery bridge that will take us to the hiking trail.

farming.
umm, that's a big rock!
the trail...
little waterfall.

i see you too!
abandoned-mystery building. those are just low clouds up there, it'll be clearer looking down in a bit, so remember this building.
thistles!! reminds me of KS.
pretty and an indication that we're getting higher up.

bring on the creepy clouds.
remember that building? there it is... the tiny red thing along the bottom.
yeah, this was when we thought we were getting close to the top: it ended up being another hour!
these clouds are amazing!

finally the top!!

this mountain is roughly 100m shorter than tsurugi, and yet it was twice as far!
omg, i'm so tired! can you see the giant sweat ring around my neck? it's actually blended in with the armpit sweat at this point, and my hair is literally dripping! yuk!

time for eating... yummy onigiri!

hiking club in the hizzy! check out the awesome shin protectors! it's like their version of pen protectors (cuz they're nerds!). lol, i crack me up!

wait! i think i almost see something!
hey, a bit of sun!! whoot!

success is sweet!!

now it's temple time (the next afternoon)

i think this is the first time i've seen lotus at a temple, even though this is THE buddhist flower. very pretty.

pretty, pretty, pretty...
pretty, pretty, pretty!
check out the groovy gargoyal dog with the flame-tail!

whoa! crazy catapillar!
chop strap?
up the cable car! this is the nice lady that gave smitha the free tickets, that's so awesome!!
here we go, smitha!!

wow, that's really high...

write in my book!! (this is about 30 sec before the forbidden donut walked over, and by then i had put my camera away!! no!!!!)

on the porch post.
you cannot tell me that's not awesome!

does this remind you of "A Christmas Story" when the mom puts the little brother in so many coats that he can't put his arms down?
this was breath-taking.
with some backlight...
moss on a stone lantern.

oh no!! stairs!!! just when you thought you were safe!
more coolness.

dude, that's so sweet!

the inside of one of the side temples. the buddha is white, which is unusual, he's usually a dark stone in most cases.
each one represents one of the 88 temples. this temple isn't part of the 88, but it is part of a small subset of 20 that are connected.
cool little lizard with a blue tail.

ants!

we got the japanese people to check it out.
here's their front door.
which is a tiny crack in this big boy.

steps down, good grief!
looks kinds heavy...
see him down there? those 4 little dudes have their work cut out for them. keep it up!
interesting coloring.

big temple again.
and again.
i thought the metal trim on the steps was neato.
what the heck?!

agh! it's another one!!
coolness!!

this dragon rocks!