Getting to Mt. Fuji was more difficult than we anticipated. We left Kyoto about noon and didn’t begin hiking until about 9 PM Monday. The plan was to hike all night and reach the summit before the sunrise at 5:41 AM. I was prepared enough to have my hiking boots with me but foolishly left my one jacket in my luggage in Korea. It had been sweltering our entire time touring Japan, but climbing up 3,700 m in the dark can get quite cold.
The hike up was difficult but not painful. We took breaks at all the way stations and started early enough that we could eat ramen at the last restaurant on the way up. Really we just wanted a break from the wind, which was a good thing because the food was terrible. Towards the top it really started to get crowded, but we managed to find a good spot to sit well before the sun began to rise.
It really was a fantastic thing to see the sun rise over from Mt. Fuji, one that can’t be captured in pictures. In just a few seconds the blood red sun was completely over the horizon and people began their descent.
The return part was something none of us prepared for.
After spending the whole day traveling and the whole night climbing, the alternate downhill path was grueling. The switchbacks were entirely too steep and the path was laid with essentially loose gravel, making it very difficult to keep balanced. Almost 5 hours later I was at the 5th station where we started, hungry, tired, and in a lot of pain. I pieced together a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and we got on the bus back towards our hostel and unused beds. The owners were kind enough to allow us to shower even though our room was already occupied by another group. We dressed and packed in the lobby and started off for Tokyo.
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