Mt Fuji

Okay, Crystal went off to Hawaii to visit with her sister, Rachel.  Since Crystal already climbed Mt. Fuji back in high school and since climbing season was coming to a close, I figured I better get hiking.  I bought some supplies and food and hopped on a train for Kawaguchiko.  Along the way I took a picture of Fuji in the distance.  

Hmm, pretty daunting.

I heard that a night hike was a good way to experience Fuji.  It allows you to get a view of the sunrise from 3700 meters up.  So, I arrived at about 8:00 PM at the fifth station (the tradition starting point, although it's possible to start way down at the base, but not recommended). It was here that I bought a hiking stick.  At each station you can get it branded to mark your progress.  It's also an indispensable tool to aid in the difficult climb.

Here's my hiking stick.  On the left (going up the stick) are brands for the 5th, 7th, and 8th stations (I missed 6 for some reason).  On the right is the top of completed stick with the brands for the Fuji summit.  It's a little dirtier and a little bloodier (from my hands) from when I bought it, but it sure was a help. 

Okay, here's the 5th station.  You can see the hulking outline of Fuji in the background.  Gulp!

A night view of the surrounding cities from around the seventh station.  The blank areas without any lights are lakes.  Very nice places to visit for views of the mountain.  It got really cold on the mountain.  While it was probably around 70 F down at sea level, it was below freezing at night up above 3000 meters.  C-c-cold.

I stayed in this little hostel/lodge to get a little rest and eat some expensive cup-o-noodle.  This is the eighth station right around sunrise.

A very tired, very sweaty Erik ruining a nice view of sunrise. :-)

Still not done with the hike, I had a few hours to go.  This is what the path looked like most of the way.  Pretty much just a lunar-like landscape.  Honestly, not very attractive...

...but the view out from the mountain was really nice.

A good idea what the climb was like.  Tired just thinking about it.  The air at 3000+ meters gets really thin and what looks easy normally suddenly become quite a chore.  Huff puff.  There are many, many switchback up the mountain.  Basically, it's just climb for a while, rest for a while.  It seemed that no one was making fast progress. 

Well, I finally arrived at the summit. Woohoo! There a torii gate marking the entrance to the top.  Whew!!

As you know, Fuji is a active volcano, which means there's a crater up top.  Here's what it looks like to look down into Fuji. 

The hike down was possible harder than the hike up.  The decent was remarkably difficult.  It's all gravel and sand for miles at a considerable slope.  My knees and feet were really unhappy with me. 

I'm thankful to God for protecting me and for the great weather.  The views were fantastic and seeing the sunrise from two miles up was quite an experience.  The saying is something like "'He who climbs Mount Fuji once is a wise man, he who climbs it twice is a fool."  I think I'll keep my wise status and just enjoy Fuji from afar from now on.  :-)  Just check out the view from Lake Kawaguchiko:

One of our old pictures from wintertime but it really shows off Fuji.