Fuji

Trekking Mt. Fuji!

So, Hanna and I (Scott) woke up bright and early! We left the house at 0430 and arrived at the fifth station on Mt. Fuji at 0630. At the fifth station there are stores and restaurants. We bought our hiking stick (proved to be worth the 1000 yen purchase) and set off for the trail.
Here we are live and eager to climb at the trail head. As the pictures continue notice we will not look this vibrant again!

The hiking season for Mt. Fuji is in July and August with the peak of the season in the middle of August. Between the two months some 4000 people will climb Mt. Fuji. And as we stopped to talk to people it was interesting to learn where they were from, England, Ohio, Wisconsin, California, and France. In the early morning we passed hundreds of people on the way down the mountain. It's very popular to climb the mountain and stay the night in a hut to watch the sunrise on Japan the next morning. Hanna and I opted for the one day deal.

In case you can't find which direction the mountain is.

Much of the trail is like this, rocky and steep with alot of switch backs.



We recieved our first stamp at the first hut (Sunrise Hut). Below is a picture of our sticks getting their first stamp. There is a hole in the middle of the hut where they keep coal burning to burn the stamp into the stick.



What can I say, I am a stud!

I am actually out of breath.

Bring plenty of yen incase you gotta use the WC! There are toilets on the trail which you can use for a small fee. But beware when entering because most of the bathrooms are unisex and the Japanese are not shy.

Hanna is smiling because the sign says we are 900m appx. 60min from the summit.

The Tori gates were awesome on the mountain.

The Japanese wedge yen into the wood.

Looking down the mountain as a line of people hike up the trail in the clouds.


Hanna is standing at the entrance to the summit of the mountain.

12,388 ft with a great view of the clouds from the summit! Don't be fooled, it may not be raining but the dense clouds and high winds made it really cold at the top. There were lots of huts, places to eat and sleep at the top. We decided not to walk around the crater due to the clouds and wind plus we were being wimps.


It took us six hours to summit the mountain, we felt this stamp was well earned!

We sought refuge in this hut on the top to get warm and take some time to eat our lunch. For 900 yen you can get a hot bowl of soup but we kept to our sandwiches and jerky.

A group of Japanese tourists crowded in the hut with us. They were eager to practice their English on us and made quick friends. The man on the right supplied us with some good chocolate. In return we gave him some of our jerky, then one of the ladies gave us dried salmon (Japanese jerky). I would have given them something else but you can never win with the Japanese.

A break in the clouds on the way down.

It took us about four hours to descend and I was feeling the effects of a very long day. Not to mention the two hour drive back home.