Fuji-san 2014

Two fools paid another visit to Mount Fuji to collect our sunrise. Or so we hoped. Last year we had failed to see the sunrise due to a raging storm on top of the mountain. The two hour bus ride from Shinjuku did not look promising as we approached Fuji Hakone National Park as the summit was nowhere to be seen. Fingers crossed.

We got off the bus at the Kawaguchiko 5th Station and milled around for about 45 minutes to acclimate ourselves to the 7,545′ elevation. Using the bathrooms on Mount Fuji is not free and the toilets are non-flushing with microbes added to decompose the waste. Get use to that smell.

Not an auspicious start to our hike as our goal was nowhere to be seen.

For $3, you too can sit on a horse and get your picture taken. Just like at the State Fair.

Before Mount Fuji was declared a World Heritage Site last year, it cost nothing to enjoy this iconic symbol of Japan. Now they have a tent set up to ask for ten dollar donations to help with the conservation of Mount Fuji. We gladly donated. A small price to enjoy such beauty.

Deja vu. We pushed off the trail at 10:50am with high hopes as the weather forecast had predicted no rain. They didn’t say anything about the clouds though.

We began our climb towards Fuji-san. Saw a lot of day tourists taking the lower trail.

The clouds seemed thicker and lower than last year.

Japanese tour guides often have flags with them so that the group can easily find and follow them. This was no tour guide.

Greetings of ohayo gozaimasu ( good morning ) rang through the crisp morning air from white garbed monks coming down from their mountain pilgrimage. They were happy. They were finished with the hike.

This guy took the horse ride down. Took a load off his feet and lightened his wallet by $30 too.

This concrete tunnel was built to protect hikers from falling rocks.

The first station hikers run across is the sixth station, where they are nice enough to pass out hiking maps. I’ll take my maps in English please. Other choices were Japanese, Chinese and Korean. Sorry, none in Hawaiian. Auwe!

The signposts made it quite difficult to get lost.

Mari smiling on the trail. Let’s see how long that lasts.

Looking down at the hikers coming up the switchbacks.

Switchbacks make up the bulk of the trails leading to the summit, rarely will you find a straight up trail. While this makes it easier, it also stretches out the time spent on the trail.

Rows of brightly colored miniature backpacks lined the sides of this switchback.

Huts that offered shelter, snacks and stamps started popping into view.

The owners coming back to reclaim their backpacks. This trail is usually one way going up. But who’s going to admonish kids going the wrong way? I gave them credit for making it this far.

The seventh station marks the beginning of the roughly dozen huts that dot Fuji’s backside.

A dog was enjoying an afternoon nap, seemingly unbothered by the passing huffing and puffing of hikers.

That’s 2.36 miles for metric challenged folks.

Mari developed a slight headache at the beginning and was struggling a bit.

Still on the seventh station?

Every hut hawked shelter, snacks and stamps. Thirsty? Try the Pocari Sweat? Not as bad as it sounds. This year, I didn’t buy a hiking stick and get them stamped at each hut. The novelty had worn off from last year. Besides, the stamp price had gone up from $2 to $3. If you get a stamp from each hut, that would cost you around $60! More money to buy Pocari Sweat.

If one hikes Mount Fuji outside of the official hiking season of July and August, no huts will be open for business.

Mari’s headache wasn’t going away, so she slapped on a nose strip which helped. We saw a couple other hikers wearing the same type of nose strip that probably had headaches as well.

One step and stick at a time. Slowly but surely we will get to the top.

Need medical assistance? Just a stone away.

Most huts require advance reservations. This one had openings.

Higher altitudes means snow on the mountains, even in summer.

We were leaving the clouds below us as we climbed higher.

Have we reached the promised land yet? Not by a long shot.

It’s always surreal to be hiking into clouds.

Some hikers started yelling “look at the cloud finger!” So I had to turn around and look. Can you see it?

A lot of hikers on the trail made for a slow pace. So I veered off the beaten trail sporadically. Not recommended. Safety first.

Mari taking one of many breaks to the top. Still smiling.

We finally moved up a number. Thought we were stuck at seven. From the seventh to the eight station, the huts are spaced out every 20 minutes or so. Many opportunities to stop and take a break.

Getting closer or 1.67 miles left to the summit. The air got noticeably thinner and colder. Time to break out the jackets.

Ganbatte!

Click here for the larger image.

Taking a photo opportunity at one of the rest stops.

Time to break out the oxygen tablets.

Mari inhaling compressed air to combat the effects of the thin mountain air and hoping it would get rid of her headache.

Are we there yet?

Shashin o totte kudasai or please take our picture.

I wish I had paid more attention to a guide that was educating her group about this particular shrine perched on the slopes of Fuji. The group was foreigners comprised of Chinese and Westerners, so she was speaking English. Even more so, I should have paid attention.

Little more than a mile left!

We reached our hut, Tomoe-kan at an altitude of 11,154′ around 5:30pm. Home sweet home. At least for the night.

The musty futons from last year had been replaced by tacky, thin plastic sleeping bags that was permanently damp from the cold mountain air. Usually each “room” is shared by 10 hikers. Communal living at it’s finest. Luckily we only had to share it with four other hikers.

Nothing like eating your hamburger steak and curry washed down by hot green tea while being loudly reminded that anpan, postcards and trinkets were available for sale.

We woke up at the ungodly hour of 1am to get ready for the final push to the summit. The only good thing about waking up this early was that Mari’s headache was gone. Going to the outside bathroom in the middle of the freezing mountain night is not fun. Thank goodness for those heated toilet seats!

While the weather was not stormy like last year, the wind chill kept it freezing cold. Stark reminder that we were on top of a mountain. In the wee hours of the morning.

Snails pace going up behind other hikers shuffling up the mountain to catch the sunrise. Cruel joke.

The lion statues and torii welcomed us again to the summit of Mount Fuji at 12,388′ at 3:20am.

And then the clouds cleared. Actually this was taken later in the morning when the crowds had thinned out.

Twin beacons of hot and cold beverages tempted us with their neon glow. Vending machines are everywhere in Japan, even on top of Mount Fuji.

As we sat and shivered in the freezing wind, we bought $4 cans of hot cocoa to warm ourselves up outside and inside. Some enterprising hikers had brought their own stove with them and were busy cooking up hot ramen. The sun rises at 4:30am. So we all sat and waited with baited breath. Is that the sun we see? Not again! The mythical Fuji sunrise has eluded us again for the second time. Fools we are! After the major disappointment, we retreated into one of the huts to slurp down their $8 pork miso soup and $9 chewy ramen.

At 6am, we ventured out into the whipping wind to capture our consolation photo.

Peering into the maw of Fuji’s crater. Most people don’t realize that Fuji is an active volanco, with the last recorded eruption in 1708. One study speculates that the 2011 earthquake has made another eruption more likely.

Going clockwise around the crater rim that is known as ohachi-meguri. There are supposed to be eight peaks ringing the crater rim. Last year, we were unable to hike the rim due to a raging storm.

Passing the post office. Yes. A post office on an active volcano.

Walking up the “horse’s back”, the slippery and steep slope to kengamine or the highest peak on the crater.

Last manned in 2004. Now a fully automated meteorological station that sweeps for incoming typhoons and heavy rain showers.

Standing on kengamine, the highest peak in Japan at 12,402′.

The snow was still pretty thick up on the rim. Took about an hour to traverse the entire rim.

After the wind had died down somewhat, we went down the Yoshida trail around 8am.

Japanese soldiers coming up the mountain. Part of their training in case Mount Fuji gets invaded by the North Koreans.

The views were definitely better at the lower elevations than the summit. Go figure.

This is how supplies, workers and sick hikers get up and down the mountain.

Munching on the best anpan ( sweet bean filled buns ) on the mountain. Well, that’s what the salesman said! It was actually pretty good and Mari’s favorite anpan in Japan.

It’s all down hill. Just don’t fall down again.

The day was drawing to a close and with no customers, this old man closed up shop and rode his horse back to town.

We could see the 5th station where we had started from the day before.

We made it back down the mountain around noon, happy and disappointed that we missed the sunrise again. Third time is the charm? Perhaps. The Japanese have a saying that you would be a fool not to climb Mount Fuji once, but a fool to climb it twice. So what would that make us if we do it a third time? We will be back for our sunrise to find out the answer!

Tagged as: crater, fuji-san, fuji-yama, Hiking, japan, kawaguchi trail, kengamine peak, mount fuji, ohachi-meguri, volcano, yoshida trail