Rob Oechsle
Member
THE URA RIVER for FAMILIES WITH KIDS — A Great Spot on a Hot Day While Up at OKUMA, or While Day-Tripping the West Coast in Northern Okinawa.
Hop out of your car, the river is right there, and it's all yours 'till you want to call it quits.
AN OPTION MOST KIDS PREFER TO HIJI FALLS
For many, a stay at OKUMA usually means dragging your kids up to HIJI FALLS (where you can't swim), or risking a case of Leptospirosis by walking or playing in the river (which they tell you not to do), all after paying a fee to enter, then wind up seeing more boardwalk than you do river walk.
The URA RIVER—just minutes away to the north—has what looks like a 250-meter stretch of clear-running mountain stream, built by a race of Dwarf Engineers from another planet, who used the spot as a "practice river" for building various water control dams, chutes, and break-waters... then planting Egyptian Papyrus all along the banks before they left, never to come back.
Although this URA RIVER site might look a bit "dumpy" to us adults, adventuresome kids will think otherwise. Any kid—from toddlers through Elementary School age—will, under parental supervision, actually have some fun while exploring around here at their own pace.
They'll also learn a few things from the rustic, kid-sized engineering structures, and have plenty of natural pools, boulders, and greenery to balance out the concrete.
THE STEPS TO THE RIVER are just a few yards back down the road from where you park. The gap in the fence at the wide spot along the river is pretty obvious. You can also park right by the steps if you want to.
You can trek upstream as far as the SABO DAM, whose "adult" dimensions and high-walled "catch basin pool" form a natural turn-around endpoint to your kids' play and exploration of the river.
Sorry, no bathrooms. You can head back to Family Mart (or Okuma) for that!
The URA RIVER PICNIC AREA is one of FOUR different (and unadvertised) river-walk and pool options in the Okuma Area that are largely missed, all in favor of the HIJI FALLS experience.
Can you picture yourself here having a picnic with family and friends? Yeah. Me, too.
However, if you've got kids in tow, and want a little more variety to counter the Salt-Water, Sand and Sunburn of Okuma Beach (and not repeat the long Hiji Falls trek), your kids will thank you for these little side trips on a hot summer day.
♦ NOTE TO PARENTS: Although the river usually looks like it does in my photos, and is generally SAFE at all times, river levels can change with every rainfall. Immediately after a day (or days) of HEAVY RAIN, the river might see temporary "flooding", or at least some level of strong torrents. These situations usually subside in a day or two. In any case, TAKE A GOOD LOOK AT THE RIVER, and decide if it's OK for your kids. This rule goes for all "Family River Trekking" on Okinawa!
2.7 miles / 4.3 km from the OKUMA Main Gate to the URA RIVER parking spot.
The STAIRS down to the river are right behind me. You pass them while driving into the parking lot over by the Picnic Pavillion (you can see two cars already parked over there).
Two boys exploring Indy Jones' "Lost River" in the remote rain forests of northern Okinawa (about 50 feet from the parking lot and picnic pavilion!
Cheers!
Hop out of your car, the river is right there, and it's all yours 'till you want to call it quits.
AN OPTION MOST KIDS PREFER TO HIJI FALLS
For many, a stay at OKUMA usually means dragging your kids up to HIJI FALLS (where you can't swim), or risking a case of Leptospirosis by walking or playing in the river (which they tell you not to do), all after paying a fee to enter, then wind up seeing more boardwalk than you do river walk.
The URA RIVER—just minutes away to the north—has what looks like a 250-meter stretch of clear-running mountain stream, built by a race of Dwarf Engineers from another planet, who used the spot as a "practice river" for building various water control dams, chutes, and break-waters... then planting Egyptian Papyrus all along the banks before they left, never to come back.
Although this URA RIVER site might look a bit "dumpy" to us adults, adventuresome kids will think otherwise. Any kid—from toddlers through Elementary School age—will, under parental supervision, actually have some fun while exploring around here at their own pace.
They'll also learn a few things from the rustic, kid-sized engineering structures, and have plenty of natural pools, boulders, and greenery to balance out the concrete.
THE STEPS TO THE RIVER are just a few yards back down the road from where you park. The gap in the fence at the wide spot along the river is pretty obvious. You can also park right by the steps if you want to.
You can trek upstream as far as the SABO DAM, whose "adult" dimensions and high-walled "catch basin pool" form a natural turn-around endpoint to your kids' play and exploration of the river.
Sorry, no bathrooms. You can head back to Family Mart (or Okuma) for that!
The URA RIVER PICNIC AREA is one of FOUR different (and unadvertised) river-walk and pool options in the Okuma Area that are largely missed, all in favor of the HIJI FALLS experience.
Can you picture yourself here having a picnic with family and friends? Yeah. Me, too.
However, if you've got kids in tow, and want a little more variety to counter the Salt-Water, Sand and Sunburn of Okuma Beach (and not repeat the long Hiji Falls trek), your kids will thank you for these little side trips on a hot summer day.
♦ NOTE TO PARENTS: Although the river usually looks like it does in my photos, and is generally SAFE at all times, river levels can change with every rainfall. Immediately after a day (or days) of HEAVY RAIN, the river might see temporary "flooding", or at least some level of strong torrents. These situations usually subside in a day or two. In any case, TAKE A GOOD LOOK AT THE RIVER, and decide if it's OK for your kids. This rule goes for all "Family River Trekking" on Okinawa!
2.7 miles / 4.3 km from the OKUMA Main Gate to the URA RIVER parking spot.
The STAIRS down to the river are right behind me. You pass them while driving into the parking lot over by the Picnic Pavillion (you can see two cars already parked over there).
Two boys exploring Indy Jones' "Lost River" in the remote rain forests of northern Okinawa (about 50 feet from the parking lot and picnic pavilion!
Cheers!
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