August 2013 Part 4 Mount Fuji

From the competition we hopped on a train to Kawaguchiko station (100 km from Tokyo) where we got off and walked across the street to our hostel.  There was some tea set out in our room but the smell of it was so strong I had to put it in the hallway to sleep.  We slept on traditional futons on traditional tatami mats, wore traditional yukatas to and from the shower and used the traditional communal baths.  (although I had it all to myself.)  From the window of our ryokan we could see Mount Fuji although it is tough to pick out in these pics.  If you try really hard you can see (imagine) it in the background...

We had to be up early the next morning to catch our bus to station 5 so we grabbed our lunch, some water and some canned oxygen (!) from the local 7-11 (we may or may not have eaten at 7-11 on a daily basis on this trip...) and went to bed. 

I feel the need to explain how we came to be hiking a volcano.  I guess it's Erica's fault really.  A long, long time ago when Erica was little, she brought home a library book about Mount Fuji.  Ed read it to her and thought that maybe he would like to hike it someday.  He thought it was just a little hike like Bear's Hump.  It's funny how wrong one can be sometimes.  So when we decided to go to Japan, we investigated a little more.  Turns out Mount Fuji is like hiking the last 100 steps of Bear's Hump (you know those steep giant stairs?) all the way to Crypt Lake in Waterton and starting at 7550 ft above sea level. (Crypt Lake hike ends at 6380 ft, so you start Fuji higher than you finish in our Crypt comparison.)  It was a tough hike, although I'm not sure if that was because it was a tough hike or because the elevation made it a tough hike. It is steep and you need to be physically fit, but you do not need any special technical experience. There is seriously just no oxygen at 12, 381 feet.  Edward used the canned oxygen but I didn't think I needed it.  However, I found I couldn't think clearly and I felt very slow and dumb, so maybe I should have sucked some back.  Or maybe that is normal for me. 

Going up was like walking up uneven rounded stairs/bumps of polished lava rock.  Coming down was dusty volcanic shale the entire way.  It was easy to turn an ankle and most people wore masks to keep the dust out of their airways.  Ed had a tough time coming down as his knees became sore very quickly.  He found walking backwards helped.  A kind fellow hiker thought he must be walking backwards to avoid the dust and offered him a mask.  Coming down was a breeze for me.  I skipped quickly through the shale. 
Many Japanese like to hike Mount Fuji at night to watch the sun rise.  There are huts on the volcano you can sleep in.  We opted out of this and hiked it in one day.  It was bizarre to be passing people who were just starting as we were coming down and thinking they are going to be hiking in the dark.  There were some hikers who had a very hard time.  We passed one girl who was fetal position on the ground and crying.  I wanted to help her down but her big strong boyfriend was hiking back up to help her.  It was pitiful.

At start of the hike you share the trail with the people coming back.  There is a horseback service from the 7th? station.  At one point you split and take one trail up while those on the return take another route.

Up in the clouds.

Still so far to go.

Edward re-oxygenating.

Almost there...

You can buy stuff at the top!  I would name Snickers the unofficial chocolate bar of Mount Fuji as I saw it at every single snack bar the whole way up the volcano.  We had brought our own that we purchased from 7-11. 

Classic Japanese vending machine.  Complete with a "Be quiet at night" warning...

This shot is taken at the edge of the actual volcano.  It is huge.  It hasn't erupted since the 1700's. Anciently Mount Fuji was considered sacred and was forbidden to women.  Thankfully that is not still the case.

 

 

An old Japanese saying goes, "You would be a fool not to climb Mt. Fuji once, and a fool to do it twice."  I would have to concur.