Exotic Kanagawa

While we live in Shizuoka Prefecture, we are actually at the very eastern edge, the border being along the rim of a collapsed volcano (Hakone). The neighboring prefecture is Kanagawa, which stretches to Tokyo. The limits of geography in such forbidding terrain limits access across the rim, but we know a narrow track that isn't on the maps, and we took it yesterday morning early to catch the morning light from "the far side".

The caldera of Hakone now contains a lake (Ashinoko); here is Tracy at the waterline:

















The inside rim on our side is still active, releasing steam, gases and hot sulfur-stinking water. There are trails here, but they are closed due to the dangerous concentration of emissions. We went as far as permissible:
















And looked back to see the visitor's center and cable car terminus. We live just on the other side of the right side distant visible ridge:


















One of the reasons for the trip was to test the new lens we went 'halvsies' on: a Sigma fixed 30mm f1.4 lens, with HSM (to auto-focus even with my D40x). It can practically shoot in the dark due to the light-gathering glass, and allows a crazy amount of DOF. It arrived by mail the night before the shoot, so it was truly untested. It stayed on my camera all day, but I promise next time will be Tracy's turn!

Here is the area as seen from space: