My group gathered up in Shinjuku to take the Shinjuku Express bus to the fifth station at 19:30. The ticket cost ¥2600 one way and the ride was about two and a half hours. Anyway, so it was extremely muggy that day. The humidity was like 100%, no joke. I showered and felt like I never dried off. So I went in a tank top and shorts. Of course, I brought clothes with me because it tends to be cold high up in he mountains. When we got off the bus, I was taken by surprise right away how cold it was. I imagined it'd be cooler than normal, but never thought it'd be that cold. It was really windy and right away, I had to put on three jackets and two pairs of pants. We went to the souvenir shop to eat and buy some hiking sticks, etc. and then headed out to begin our climb.
It was really dark, though, and I couldn't see any signs (if there were even any), so I really had no clue which direction to go. However, there were quite a lot of people, so we just moved as a group.
The first part of the hike was okay. It was tiring for me because there were a lot of slippery rocks and soil on an incline. I had my hiking stick in one hand and hand flashlight in the other. It went pretty smoothly for about half an hour before we reached the fork, where the two trails divert. We chose to take the Yoshida trail because research indicated it was a good trail to see the sunrise and also because it would lead us to the station to a hotel I booked for us to stay in the following evening.
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| There were quite a lot of people planning to climb Fuji that day, as expected. |
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| The trail we took to hike up was the Yoshida trail because it was known for nice views of the scenery and sunrise. |
Anyway, so it got pretty warm as we moved up and I soon had to remove two of the jackets I put on. The first thing I noticed as I was climbing was the beautiful starry sky. There were so many stars in the sky, I couldn't believe it. Perhaps, because scenes like these come so rarely for me. Someone even spotted a shooting star! And on the left of trail, you can see the scenic Fuji Five Lakes (well, that direction) and the lit up Shizuoka Prefecture.
We reach out first stop (sixth station) after about an hour of climbing.
So the hike continued and each stop led to a different kind of hike. For example, the beginning was very rocky and soily, the second was a lot of steps/stairs, the following was a lot of large rocks, etc. We hiked up for about six hours, but somehow time just flew by. It was really tiring, and after a third of the way through, we were already within the clouds. The wind picked up and it started raining. It continued to rain and the winds became stronger as we ascended. I also started layering my clothes because the temperature dropped. In the end, my shoes and clothes, and bag-everything!-was soaked to the point of dropping and that's when it became really cold. The wind made it feel as if I was going to become frost bitten.
Towards the last hour of the hike, I began feeling extremely tired and short of breath. It was probably slight altitude sickness. My friend bought oxygen and gave me some, and I felt much better after using it. My heart still continued to beat really fast and I was still breathing really heavily, but my head cleared and I gained the strength to finish the hike.
The last hour of the hike was also the toughest. It was a combination of very steep large rocks and loose rocks covered in rain water. As we approached 4:00 (the sunrise was supposed to be 4:30), the sky suddenly began to brighten up, so we quickly rushed up. We got to the top around 4:00, where there was a hut selling food and drinks. I was so eager to go in because I was freezing! I've never been so cold in life. My clothes were all soaked and the wind was blowing at 80km per hour (50mph). My hands were frozen and I wasn't even able to take off my own gloves (I had someone help me). I was shaking really badly (I'm not even joking--my entire body was trembling). And by the time 4:30 came to see the sunrise, I was already knocked out. It was really cloudy and the weather was terrible, so we couldn't see the sunrise anyway, but somehow, I feel that even if it was a clear day, I wouldn't have been able to go out to look because it was so cold. So I passed out for about an hour, with a hot can of coffee buried inside my jacket. Everything I brought with me, including clean clothes to change into, was soaking wet, so I couldn't do anything about it; I could only squeeze out the excess water and bear with it. Thus, I have no pictures of the sunrise (since there wasn't one).
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| very unclear in the photo compared to the actual view |
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| My sandwich was about to explode because of the high pressure. |
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| Last resting point before the top! The people that I met along the way gave up here and couldn't make it to the top in time to see the sunrise. |
After about two hours of resting, we decided we wanted to go down. We really needed to change and shower and rest. However, the problem was the weather. It was like a storm outside. The wind was so strong and it was so cloudy you couldn't see anything. However, one of the shop employees told us that mountain weather was really unpredictable and it seemed like it would continue to be that way for a while. Well, I couldn't stand staying at the top, with no clothes to change into and freezing, so I mustered up the courage to go out and face the cold. It was really cold, indeed! And the strong winds were actually able to lift me off my feet and throw me off balance. I fell down a numerous amount of times (probably more than ten times) and the rocks scraped the palms of my hands. My pant leg also ripped and my right shin was cut by the rocks. The low temperature made things worse because my fingers and skin hardened and the pain intensified by like ten times. Anyway, I struggled through the wind for about half an hour. After that, though, the wind simmered down a little and the temperature also rose a little. Also, because of the strong winds, which I do not know if it was a good or bad thing, my clothes dried quite a bit. The rest of the hike down went pretty smoothly. The lower we got, the clearer the weather became. Soon, we were able to see the scenic Fuji Five Lakes and the white moving clouds below us. And I must say, that made everything worthwhile.
I was pretty upset that we weren't able to spot the sunrise, and I also realized I was so distracted by the cold that I forgot to do the one thing I looked forward to the most since planning the trip: to shout o-tsukare-sama to everyone at the top. So I was feeling disappointed. However, seeing the beautiful scenery and the remainders of the purple hue of the sunrise really made up for everything. We were above the clouds, looking at a scenery as if in a three-dimensional movie theatre, except everything was real. Jay and I took the sunabashiri trail down and went on ahead of Alexie.
The hike down was pretty easy. As the name indicates, it is literally a sand run. The trail was a bunch of loose soil and small rocks-you just slide down. It reminded me of the time I went snowboarding in wet snow. There was a but of resistance, but if you keep your weight to your heels, lean back, and keep your knees bent, you're set. That's all you do for about two, three hours. And all the while, you watch as you get closer and closer to the clouds. And even though it was the same scenery, the different levels really made a difference.
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| steep! |
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| My sneakers! Still intact--I was surprised. It was just really dirty because of the dirt and sand. |
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| and after cleaning up my leg :( |
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