Hiji Falls and the stairs of doom!
Written: Feb 20 '04
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Beautiful, pristine trek to a gorgeous waterfall. Cheap
Cons: Can be a difficult climb/walk. The summer is hot and steamy.
The Bottom Line: I would recommend taking this trip in the Okinawan Winter. It is well worth the hike if you enjoy nature and the cost is minimal.
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| LuzonTS's Full Review: Hiji Falls, Japan |
beep beep...beep beep...beep beep...beep beep...ouch that alarm came fast, it was 7am and my bud was gonna be there at 7:30 to help guide the way to Hiji falls.
I should have skipped the beers and the slots last night and gone straight to bed but oh no, not me, gotta milk every last bit of fun out of the 4 day weekend.
Not much of a hangover but I was tired. We were on the road by 8pm. Now the last time I went by Nago I took highway 58 straight up but it took about 2 hours. This time we took the expressway out of Okinawa City and cut the drive to Nago to about 30 minutes, of course I was a touch over the speed limit courtesy of Mr. Whistler.
Once off the expressway, it's back to highway 58 for about an hour all the way up to the intersection that has the sign that says Okuma to the left. At this point you want to take the right. We never really noticed any sign that indicated that Hiji Falls was to the right.
Once you make the right turn then the signs start to pop up. Just follow them all the way to the wooden log-like building. If you get there around 10 am then you can be certain you will get choice parking even though the place opens at 8am. I am guessing all those who are hung over like me are still in bed.
Tickets for the kids are 100 yen and adults are 200 yen. At press time the yen dollar rate is now about 105-110Y to 1 USD.
Now you may think this is one of those bring the whole family jaunts...[b]IT's NOT!!![/b] If you have young kids, are out of shape, obese, pregnant or older family members who cannot walk more than an hour at a time or climb long flights of steep stair steps then do not bring them. Sounds like one of those warning signs for a psychotic gut wrenching roller coaster ride, doesn't it?
You want to be wearing loose fitting, light comfortable clothing with a pair of good athletic or climbing shoes. The stairs are very steep and can be slippery at times. You will sweat like a stuck pig. If you are rather rotund, there is a spot that you may find getting past a difficult challenge. About 90% of the way up the trail a tree has grown to block a good deal of the path and you must either stoop low or squeeze by this very thoughtless tree.
http://www.ccat1.com/files/higi_signx.JPG
If you can handle the stressors described above then walk on. It is about an hours worth of mostly up and down traversing of stairs and a couple of bridges. The view along the way is very scenic with many photo ops.
http://www.ccat1.com/files/higi_stepsx.JPG
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At the top of the trail is the main waterfall area. It is about a 75 foot drop from the top into what appears to be a deep pool surrounded by many fallen rocks in a shallow area that rings the pool. The rocks are very slippery and the area that goes off to the right has very pointed rocks that will crack open the cranium of anyone screwing around or being just plain careless.
http://www.ccat1.com/files/higi_fallsx.JPG
The view is very nice and worth more than a few photos but it is almost not worth the walk/climb up to it. By the way it has not rained in Okinawa in something like 2 weeks but the moment we got up to the top it began to rain. The rain only lasted 20 minutes or so and it was nice and steamy by the time we began our descent.
If you take the "path" off to the left to come up from the center, the rocks are very large and it requires people who are at least 5 foot tall with some coordination to get to the main pool area using this "path".
Whatever path you take, you will get wet in the goal of reaching the main rock that is right at the very edge of the deep pool.
During the climb up you will see a great number of flora and fauna that you will not see in most other parts of the world. There were a few types of plants that looked like something I had seen in one of my childhood dinosaur books.
For those with really sharp eyes you can spot the many orb spiders who have spun their large webs in hopes of catching one of the many brightly colored insects. There are also many species of frogs, geckos and lizards hiding amongst the debris along the rivers edge or enjoying the cool shade of the trees.
There is no swimming or fishing in this area. They have taken great pains to keep litter out of this park so that it is pristine. Please do not trash the place if you go there. It is probably the only natural place in the world I have gone that has not been trashed or defaced in some way.
While climbing around the rocks in the pool area I noticed a few crawdads/crayfish scuttling about. I got into a game of tag with the little buggers but could not quite actually catch one with my bare hands. None were big enough to pop into a crab boil in any case.
The walk/climb back to the entrance went by a little quicker. Once back at the log cabin we stopped inside to have some soba noodles and fried rice at the little restaurant. Each dish was about 500 yen. The food was good and we were all fat, dumb and happy by the time we pulled out of the parking lot.
The restaurant had a modest selection of food but most of which could be enjoyed by westerners as well as Asians. In addition to the restaurant was a small store with enough supplies like snacks and batteries to help make your trip up the falls a more memorable if not enjoyable experience.
All said and done the trip took us round trip total of about 6 hours from Okinawa city.
If you wish to learn more about Hiji Falls Okinawa, please visit:
http://www.virtualokinawa.com/tour/hiji/
Recommended:
Yes
Best Suited For: Couples
Best Time to Travel Here: Dec - Feb
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Epinions.com ID:
LuzonTS
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Location: asia
Reviews written: 103
Trusted by: 46 members
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