unintended flower photo walk up the nagatoro mountain trails

we were hiking one fine saturday morning up mount hodo. hodosan (san means mountain in japanese) is just a short mountain rising at 497 meters in the nagatoro area of chichibu region, saitama prefecture. nagatoro is actually regarded as one of the 100 best cherry blossom spots in japan (link). but since the weather is actually not predictable these days, sakura season is also getting hard to predict.

weather was actually not that fine, a bit cloudy in fact, but it is good enough for a hike. i was in the hopes to see a few blooms, but expectations were kept low. the main intention was for a hike, and not for flower viewing. i was low key expecting a little drizzle, great that it did not rain at all. but it was quite humid and the trail was a bit taxing, i was drenched in sweat. but allow me to talk about the hiking experience another day. this time, i am here to share about the unintended flower walk up the mountains and down back to the city center. allow me to add to the ever growing amount of flower posts here in this platform.

the moment we leapt off the train in nogami station, we were graciously greeted by this huge sakura tree: a sign perhaps of a great flower viewing experience. this is the only one around the station though. and the only one after walking meters to the actual hiking start point. that is not a good sign at all. but then came the flowers!

the pinkish purplish ones

i took pictures of this pinkish purplish flowers up the mountains without knowing the name, to be honest. i just found them beautiful. (i also do not know the real colors, forgive my colorblindness). i searched for the name online and they were azaleas. つつじ in japanese and they are abundant in hodosan. they even have a festival with these flowers at the spotlight around early may. those vibrant colors and long filaments immediately caught my attention.

the pinkish white ones

these do not even need any introduction, the national flower of japan, the sakura. 桜 or the japanese cherry is famous all around the world. and it seems that many varieties can be found here in hodosan. the color ranges from plain white to more strains of pink. most trees were still not in full bloom, blame the weather for that. but those that were, were breathtaking. even bees adore them (that is an exaggeration). sakuras are the perfect example of how ephemeral life is, the flower usually falls off a week after they bloom. very fleeting, very short, very fragile.

here are more pics of these flowers. unintended but welcomed and enjoyed. my feet and legs were hurting while taking these pictures, some of them turned out blurry.

we went down the mountain on a different town, nagatoro. sakuras were everywhere, truly a great area to view the blossoms. trees lined the streets, if only these were all in full bloom, they would surely be arching over, enveloping the skies with those little white blooms. truly a sight to witness and to cherish.

of course i knew of the possibility of seeing flowers on this hike, i chose this area for that reason. but still i was blown away by the beauty. and that has made the hike for enjoyable.

as always, AMPING KANUNAY MGA MAANYAG!

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^{all content is by yours truly unless otherwise specified}

^{all photos are taken with a galaxy s23 ultra}