Well someone brought up canyoning during this conversation and mentioned that there is a place in Japan that has tours. After a few days of digging we found the Canyons Adventure Experiences company which could show us the way to even larger cliffs and much deeper water as well. It wouldn't be until over one year later that we finally pulled the trigger and setup our very own canyoning trip.
Having arrived in Minakami late Saturday night, we got a full nights rest before setting off to the Canyons office on Sunday morning. After meeting up with Mike, our guide with 12 years experience and considered to be one of the pioneers of canyoning in Japan, it was time to get into our wetsuits, strap on our life jackets and helmets. We loaded up in the van and set off for our first half of the day in Maple canyon which turned out to be a great warm up for the second half of the day. Here are the pictures from the first half of the day.
Fake smiles as everyone gets over the initial shock of the cold water
Trekking back further into the canyon
All 10 of us heading down the large slide
Sandy & I headfirst down the slide
Sandy headfirst and backwards down a slide and into a pool
While the first half of the day was a good time by anyone's measure, we were all looking forward to the second half in Fox River where the cliffs and slides were supposed to be about triple the size of the ones from Maple Canyon. Fox River did not disappoint.
From the very start we laid down in a slide and headed into the canyon. It was literally 15 minutes in and we were faced with a 60 foot waterfall which we were about to ride into a giant pool down below.
From the top you could barely see what you were getting yourself into...but from the bottom you're able to look back on what was one helluva ride.
After the waterfall we climbed up the wall and onto a pedestrian bridge over the pool that we had just been dropped into and then made our way out onto a wooden chairlift. A few pulls of a rope and we were again out over the pool, but this time suspended in mid air by a handle bar before letting go and falling over 45 feet into the water below.
As if that wasn't enough of a rush, we then took it upon OURSELVES (not part of the tour as clearly indicated by our guides) to leap from the 50 foot bridge. I think this was the best part of the entire day.
The rest of the course was just as fun but couldn't quite compare to the size of the jumps and drops above. I could put up another 50 pictures of everyone sliding, jumping, flipping, and diving from cliffs and waterfalls alike, but I think you get the idea by now.
After our tour was over we got our Canyons membership cards which opens up a whole new list of canyoning adventures. Unfortunately Sandy and I won't be able to take full advantage of them as we're now two months away from PCSing to Virginia. Maybe somewhere along the way we'll get another chance to do some extreme hiking, but until then this experience will be one not soon forgotten.
Pictures made possible by Eddie's shockproof, waterproof Olympus Camera
