No Pain, No Gain

After returning from Guam, we drove to Mt. Fuji (Fuji-san) with three other couples. Mt. Fuji is about 3.5 hours from Nagoya by car.

Travis had already climbed Mt. Fuji last summer, but he was up for it again this year. They say "one who never climbs Mt. Fuji is a fool and the one who climbs twice is twice the fool." Now I know why.

We got off to a late start and finally arrived at Mt. Fuji around 2 p.m. 

This was our view from the car.

The ascent up the mountain is divided into different trails varying in difficulty. The hike is split up by ten stations, starting at the bottom. The typical hike starts at the 5th station, which is where we began. We parked in a lot at the base of the mountain and rode a bus to the 5th station. We started our hike by purchasing wooden hiking sticks. Upon arrival at each station, we paid to have a stamp burned into them, and they ended up being pretty dang cool souvenirs.

We took the second most popular route, which ended up being a bit more difficult than we had anticipated.

This smile didn't last long.

When we started the hike, it was pretty hot outside, but it quickly began to cool off. The first hour or so wasn't so bad, but the hike quickly became the most physically challenging task I had ever completed.

We nicknamed Travis "The Bounty Hunter." I was a bit concerned at first because if he was "Dog," that made me "Dog's" wife. Yikes! The nickname did seem appropriate, though.

Hillbillies do exist on Mt. Fuji.

Hikers typically plan to hike from the 5th station to about the 8th station for some R&R before going to the summit. That was also our plan. We made reservations to spend the night at a little inn at the 8th station to get some rest and to fill our bellies. Although our intention was to make it to the inn by dark, we quickly realized that it would be impossible. We hiked and hiked and hiked. My legs felt like wet noodles and my thighs were on fire. I literally questioned every step I took. It was painful and grueling.

It got dark and cold and windy, but the view from the mountain was spectacular. We could see fireworks shows lighting up the sky, and the sky felt enormous. We were walking in the clouds.

After what felt like ages, we finally arrived at our inn. There are many inns on Mt. Fuji, and they typically consist of little wooden lofts covered in sleeping bags. The inn we booked was a little smaller than most and only slept around 200 or so people. It was far from glamorous. They put all eight of us in a tiny little area filled with sleeping bags, complete with a curtain to draw. We basically ended up sleeping with only an inch or so between us. The inn was very stuffy and humid, and most of the other guests opted to get up between midnight and 2 a.m. to climb to the summit, which meant it was extremely noisy. To boot, they decided turning the lights on at 1 a.m. would be a good idea. Needless to say, none of us got more than a couple of hours of sleep, if that.

We decided the night before that we would wake up around 4 a.m. and watch the sun rise from our inn so we could avoid the mass crowds at the summit. So, after some Excedrin and a granola bar, we began our ascent.

We were so well rested. Doesn't he look like a million bucks?

It hurt, but it was so worth it. I have never seen such a breathtaking sunrise.

Amazing.

Here are the girls posing with the sunrise. I don't think I would have made it to the top without their encouragement. The camaraderie was a boost for us all.

After about three or so more hours of hiking, we finally made it to the summit. And what a joyous occasion it was! I was absolutely famished and was thrilled to purchase a bowl of hot ramen. It tasted sooo good. Unfortunately, it was the brick kind, but I didn't care.

Yummy in my tummy.

We made it to the top! 3,776 meters and Japan's highest mountain.

The only downside was, now that we had made it to the top, we had to go back down. The descent was much faster, but not nearly as easy as I had hoped. Just imagine walking downhill in loose sandy volcanic rock for 3.5 hours. My thighs and hips were killing me, and I got three enormous blisters to top it off. I was absolutely ecstatic to finally get off that mountain. 

It was worth it, but never again. Ever.