Summer Camp with tokyo grapher – How to enjoy summer camp Vol.3
Enjoy the beautiful water and light of the valley.
After enjoying coffee in the sunshine filtering through the foliage, everyone starts cleaning up.
Leaving their tents, which were soaked in last night's rain, at the end, they quickly cleaned up the remains of the bonfire and the shared spaces such as the kitchen and dining room. Recent camping equipment is well made, and the table, chairs, stove, etc. that were spread out in quite a lot of space can be folded compactly in a blink of an eye.
Finally, after putting away our tents and sleeping bags, we packed our luggage into the car and checked out of the campsite a little early.
It was past 10:00, and the cars that had come for the day camp were already lined up, and the narrow roads in the valley had started to get congested.
Somehow slip through the side and aim for the target abyss. This deep pool was found when I first came to Atera Valley last June. It was just before the end of the rainy season that day, but it was miraculously sunny, and I was moved by the beauty of the emerald green water.
This time, the plan is to explore the depths with a SUP (stand-up paddle board) and take aerial shots of the situation with a drone. It was an exciting time from the planning stage, and today is the perfect weather!
Nature turns us back into children.
Looking down from a large rock, I could see an emerald green water surface that glittered in the sunlight. How deep is it? If you look closely, you can even see through the pebbles at the bottom. What transparency! !
The Atera River is so beautiful because there are no villages or dams upstream.
This place seems to be a diving mecca, and several people from elementary school students to university students are waiting for their turn on the big rock.
Within five minutes of arriving, two of the younger members started jumping off the cliff. There is a strong person inside, and he does a backflip from a height that makes his legs cramp and falls to the surface of the water. . .
The temperature exceeds 30 degrees and feels quite hot, but when you dip your hand in it, the water temperature is numbly cold.
Looking at everyone made me want to get in the water. To keep my heart from stopping, I poured some water over my body to get used to it and then tried swimming lol. Even so, my hands and feet started to go numb after just one minute, so I quickly went up to the shore and helped set up the SUP board.
The river here is just curved and the topography changes, and the flow is gentle, so it is perfect for enjoying SUP. Even a beginner can stand up and paddle with a little practice. The members are enjoying a mountain stream walk in turn. If you aim at it from the top of the big rock, you can take a very interesting picture.
The water is so clear that the board looks like it's floating in the air. I've seen this kind of sea in Italy on TV, but I never thought I'd see it in Nagano.
This gathering started as an adult camp. He enjoys being particular about his utensils and food.
But at the end of the day, I think the most fun thing is to adapt to nature and enjoy the time, be it sunny or rainy, hot or cold, bright or dark. Nature turns us back into children.
End
Text & Photography by Koichi Miyase
Photographic equipment / iPhone 6S + tokyo grapher
