The apple’s crunch stayed with me through my autumn break Take in the larch-covered slope and the Saku Plain from the car park at Takamine Highlands

I tucked an apple I’d bought in Komoro into my bag and headed for Takamine Highlands. As I climbed, autumn began to show in the trees outside the window. I’d planned to take in the view first, but once I parked the red car, I wanted to bring the apple along, too.

I pulled my fleece a little tighter around me and looked at the slope from beside the car. The larches stretched all the way down it, with the town on the Saku Plain beyond. The view past the painted lines in the car park made me realize just how high up I was. When I looked away from the building on my right, the valley on the left opened out, deeper and wider than I’d expected.

The apple crunched as I bit into it. A moment ago, this hand had been gripping the wheel; now it held an apple. That’s when the change from driving to taking a break really sank in. I looked out at the distant town while the sweetness lingered. Had I climbed up from somewhere around there? I started wondering where the road led next.

In autumn, sunlight seems to reach right between the larch needles. Rather than photograph the whole slope as one broad pattern, I framed it with a branch in the foreground. I still had an apple in one hand, so I took a quick shot with the other. After I finished and lowered my hands, I felt I could really linger over the view.

By the time I put the apple away and headed back to the car, I felt like I’d be going home with memories of the town as well as the mountain. Maybe it was because today’s drive had brought me from Komoro’s orchards all the way to this car park high in the mountains. On the way back, I wanted to stop in town once more and choose some apples to take home. Autumn in the highlands had given me something else to look forward to.