My first eagle

Yesterday I caught a really good look at an eagle on the top of Iwaki mountain. I've seen buzzards before, and other birds of prey, but never an eagle. I think it was a golden eagle, but I'm not entirely sure.

Here's a picture.

The hike was, expectedly, much like all the other hikes up Iwaki that I've done before. I really enjoyed it though, and I'm thinking about spending a night up there before going to Yamanashi ken next month for the big three day Southern Alps tour I'm planning on. I need to test my equipment you see.

Lately I've been pining for snow. It happened like this around the same time last year, and I've been getting the same symptoms. I see snowy mountains in my dreams, and I keep getting all my ski gear out and looking at it. I've been trying my ski boots on and I've found myself looking at ski magazines, making 'whoosh' sounds as I imagine the skiers in the pictures descend big powdery mountains. I know it's sad, but last season was cut short due to me breaking my arm and I feel sore about that.

However, the colours are changing round here now, at least further up the mountain they are, and autumn will soon be upon us. And that should be a pretty thing to see in the coming weeks. This shot shows how all the rice has turned yellow now.



Well, it would have done if I hadn't messed around with it in photoshop. It looks a bit psychodelic now.