Mt. Fuji trail

I've been itching to do a blog for all the adventures and travel I've been doing, but never been able to get to it. What pushed me to make time for it now, was after hiking/climbing Mt. Fuji. It wasn't an extreme hike, but there was a trail to follow, which made things convenient. We were told to have this done in the months of July and August as it is warmer to do so. Therefore, we chose July 5, 2012 to have this mission completed.

We basically started this hike at 1pm. Wore 4 thin layers of clothing that supported cold weather, had a backpack of water with the tube straw for convenience, food, gloves, head flashlight, and other small necessities needed. First thing we did when we got to the 5th station of Mt Fuji(starting point of hike) was purchase the walking sticks, which was the #1 most helpful item on this mission.

The walk up was pretty tiring as it was windy, getting colder on our way up, stepping onto ascending rocks and finding your balance, gasping for air as the altitude changes got tiring pretty quick. By the time it reached 6:30pm, we reached one of the huts at 8th station. To my amazement, the huts were well more than decent as expected. We were thinking it would be some hut with no electricity and a lamp or candle is to be used. Instead, the hut was made out of varnished wood inside, clean, and there were areas to sleep either sharing with others or you can rent a private area to sleep. Sleeping bags, pillows, and blankets were provided. Food was provided as well, after dinner we slept and woke up at 2am to make our way further up to the summit. Thankfully, our headgear flashlight was working fine.

We reached the top of Mt. Fuji at 4:30am to see the sunrise, which didn't really happen as clouds covered the sun. So, we only saw the sun when it was peaking thru. It was -9 degrees Celsius and windy at the same time, after 40 minutes at the top we made our way down for a 6 hour journey as the 3 hour descending trail was closed due to snow. It was such a relief to make it to the top, but on our way back down was another journey.

This adventure I know is not as hardcore as other mountains where actual rock climbing occurs, but for those that would want to start off to experience the pain of squatting and stepping up, Mt. Fuji would be a great start. I'm glad the walking sticks we purchased will become a great souvenir of remembering this experience, as our sticks are branded/burned with stamps we purchased each time we got up to a hut. The stamps cost 200Yen each, and some indicated the year 2012, station number, or how high we were in the mountain. If I ever do Mt. Fuji again, definitely need to reuse that stick so I can brand it with future indicated years.

I'm glad I got to experience this with my significant other, I would have never been able to complete this without him (taking into the account I was not 100% recovered from a bronchial sickness, crazy I did this 2 days after my sickness started going away). I did notice much older couples in this trail compared to younger ones. I was told, that before a Japanese couple passes away, they are to complete Mt Fuji for a sense of accomplishment of honor to their self especially at their old age in their culture. Makes me wonder if I can do something like this 30-40 years from now.