fuji-san

whoever suggested i hike Mt.Fuji must have been nuts!!!! actually, i don't think anyone ever said it was a good idea; they all sort of skirted the issue. i think it's tradition-- you don't tell anyone it was great [b/c it's not!], but you don't discourage them from going. AHHHHH somebody should have warned me. i had no idea what i was getting myself into!!! i can't even begin to describe my last 36 hours, but here's an attempt at summary:

*6:10 am saturday: wake up, grab my bags packed w/ rain gear galore and NO headlamp :(

*6:40 catch the 2nd train out of Himi... dead tired already!

*9am depart for 7 hour bus ride to the 5th station of mt. fuji [including one of the few good things about the whole trip-- an AWESOME bakery where i bought an awesome croissant and thought of trips to tim hortons with fanster :)]

*6pm arrive 5th station; stretch; eat terrible, not fully cooked chicken yakitori, buy water, take pictures of mt. fuji while i still thought it was pretty.

[gorgous sunset @ the 5th station; already SO high up!!!]

*7:15pm begin the hike, very optimistically!!

*9-11pm still pretty pumped up; it's quite a hike. at some points you have to walk a million switchbacks, at others you are grabbing at rocks to pull yourself up at angles of about 120 degrees.

*12am starting to get super tired, hungry, and thirsty. i have a lot of trouble making decisions about food here, so i never bought any more food or water on the actual mountain.

[hilarious sign made me crack up every time :)]

*2am last stop!!! the signs said it was only one hour till the summit, so i was totally jazzed.

*2:15am beginning of perhaps the worst 2 hours of my entire life. probably that's an exaggeration, but i can't remember the last time i experienced such misery. [if you know how i feel about motor traffic, you can get an idea of how i was feeling. multiply my bad attitude towards THAT times about 643!!!!] it would have taken an hour, but there were too many freaking people. this was the last weekend you are officially allowed to climb fuji; apparently all of Japan, Europe, and America knew this. there were hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of people climbing to the summit at the exact same time. there would be minutes at a time when i couldn't move forward at all. don't get me wrong-- the view was incredible at that elevation-- but somehow after 7 hours of hiking, the view wasn't quite enough positive to outweigh all the negative.

*4:30 or so (i had no strength to open my cell phone to see the time and i wasn't speaking to anyone in order to ask the time) EVENTUALLY... after what seems like years of pausing, shuffling forward a few feet, shoving my way forward to get around someone particularly slow, and sighing loudly with irritation... i reached the summit. the sun had already started to rise, so i didn't bother finding any of my travel companions or getting some nourishment. i sat, surrounded by japanese, on what felt like the top of the world!!! the sunrise was absolutely stunning, of course. i was cold and miserable and at that point still feeling every single negative emotion you can imagine...

[YAY i made it!!! in honor of japan, i have started doing the peace sign in almost every pic]

*6am began the hike down. this time, accompanied by friends who boosted my morale incredibly. it was pretty gross to descend; crowded, hot, dusty, and really hard on my knees. the view on the way down was really great, though [see picture below]

*12:15pm get on the bus; sleep for hours as we headed back to our prefecture

*7:40pm RUN like crazy to catch the train, so i could make my connecting train!!!

*9pm arrive in himi, bike home, shower and eat something so i could crash...

soooooo if you want a conclusion on the weekend i cannot say you shouldn't climb mt. fuji. [i feel incredibly accomplished, proud, and jazzed to have had the experience.] on the other hand, i cannot recommend you climb mt. fuji. haha, it's insanely difficult, physically and emotionally. do what you wanna do, but know what you're getting yourself into... and definitely never climb it alone or on the last available weekend...