Mt Fuji Hiking in Late September

Saturday September 29th 2012: This morning I woke up naturally at 5 or 6am after going to bed the night before at 1am on my college roommates couch in Tokyo, Japan. After spending a day off with him on Friday, today I was going to start 3 days of exploring on my own. Ryan my old roommate and I did some research on hiking Mt. Fuji and that has become my goal for Saturday and Sunday. A goal I need to get on fast because there is a Typhoon threatening to come through late Sunday morning. This morning after packing lots of warm cloths and anything else I could think of I left with Ryan's Tokyo roommate Mike to get on the same trains to get me to the busiest station in the world, Shinjuku Sta. Mike went off to work from there and I waited in line to buy a 5,500 yen ($70usd) round trip ticket to Mt. Fuji. When I got to the counter they said I was at the wrong place and very poorly directed (pointed) me to where I was suppose to go and wrote out(because their English wasn't good) to me that the office I needed (JR East tourist information center) opened at 10am. It was only 9:30am. I found this extra time to be good for loading up on food for my hike and food for my breakfast. The first stop I got tons of power bars, energy jells, and other snacks that looked like they had lots of calories. I also got some Tylenol in case the altitude gets to me while hiking. I didn't know if it would do anything, but that is what I think Ryan suggested. My second stop was KFC next door to get a sandwich set that came with a bigger than expected OJ. Then my third stop was Family Mart to get 2liters of water and 2liters of Pocari Sweat. After that, it was time to find this office that I was pointed to, which I thought meant it was close and should be easy enough to find. I didn't see it but asked some other Japanese speaking JR East employees where I needed to go to get this (pointing at the flyer I had for the round trip ticket). He was able to point and say, "down and left." So, following his accurate directions it still took 10 minutes to walk there. Buying the ticket was easy and a very helpful english speaking employee was able to answer all my questions. The next train wasn't for over an hour at 11:30am. During the wait I bought some more food from Good Times bakery to add to my breakfast. In Japan they have designated areas to smoke and on the train platform they had some rooms they made for all the smokers to congregate and bestow their smoke to each other. Walking by one of these rooms I saw this little 5 year old in one and I was a little worried. What's he doing in there? Someone has to get him out of there. Looking a little closer I noticed his dad standing over him in this smoke filled room. I was a little more angry than worried at the point. I had to take a picture for evidence of the child abuse.

Waiting for my train I was able to find a seat and some WiFi to check my messages and the like. The first train ride connection I was able to get a 20 min nap for the 1 hour ride to Otsuki Sta. I was glad to only get 20 mins because the views were amazing on this train ride. It kind of reminded me of taking the train through France, with gorgeous mountains and valleys and small villages. These valleys also had deep lakes and canyoned rivers below all the amazing green mountains. There were many tall pines within the views that had a Japanese feel about them. From Otsuki I had to get on the fujikyu railway train that was decorated with lots of different Mt. Fuji cartoon characters that had different shapes and facial expressions. This fujikyu railway train took me on another beautiful ride up into the city of Mt. Fuji, Fuji Q amusement park and Kawaguchiko Sta. in the city of FujiKawaguchiko or the Five Lakes area. I found a map and talked to the information lady to see where I wanted to explore before I took the Fuji Tozan (climbing) bus up to where I would start hiking. At this point in was about 1:30 or 2pm and I wanted to catch the last bus at 4:50pm to the Fujisan Gogome (fifth station) on Mt. Fuji. I wanted to explore this city and the biggest of the Fuji Five lakes with this extra time. Walking around this town it really had a european feel, almost a German or any other mountain european town feel. I walked down to Kawaguchiko lake through the tight streets with the vehicles driving on the left hand side of the road just like in europe itself. I really need to be careful with this because many times I want to look the wrong way to see if cars are coming. This could be deadly, and I heard that it is for many tourist not used to the changes. These streets led me to a very beautiful lake that was very active with Japanese fishermen and women, speed boats, paddle boats, and other outdoor enthusiasts. Surrounding the lake are beautiful steep green mountains and lava rock coastlines; an amazing testament to Mt. Fuji's closeness and forming influences on everything I see around. As I walked along some of those rocks and around some of the lake I took pictures of it's beauty and tried getting pictures of what I now noticed was Mt. Fuji being hidden by many clouds. I walked along a big bridge that crossed the big lake to get more great views. Looking back I should have just sat and soaked in the great views as I had lots of time before the bus.

I took different roads back to Kawaguchiko sta. Half way back up I found another Family Mart corner store where I got another 2liter of water as I was hoping to finish the first one before I started hiking. I also bought a really good sushi tray and a meat dumpling for my dinner. I ate it back at the train station and then asked the information about the weather for the night and tomorrow. It looked pretty good with chances of thunderstorms tomorrow afternoon, depending on the direction the threatening typhoon decides to take. I asked about the temperature on the mountian top also, and she said negative temperatures (C degrees) at night. They have had snow on the mountain already over some of the nights that melted during the warmer days. Well I am glad I packed many layers and borrowed a winter cap from Ryan.

While I was still in a short-sleeve shirt and the temp was around 80deg F, my plan was to hike Mt. Fuji at night so that I can be at the summit at sunrise. This is a normal thing to do with this mountain as I have seen pictures of the trails lit up with hikers headlamps during the normal busy season during July and August. But, this is not the normal season, it is almost October and getting colder. Still, it is probably doable as long as you don't ask the Japanese. I have been told that they like to follow everything by the letter of the law, and the open climbing season for Mt. Fuji and this Yoshida trail is only July and August. They think you have to be crazy to do it another time, or you can't it isn't possible. After the weather news I wanted to find a watch in case my phone dies during the night. I would like to know the time as I am hiking to try to make it before sunrise. I didn't find a watch, but I did people watch waiting for my bus to take me to the the fifth station. Mt. Fuji has different trails and all of them have around 10 stations of huts along the way to the summit. These stations are where you can buy expensive food and drink and sleep in an expensive bed or probably an expensive spot on the floor. The buses will take you up the fifth stations at four different sides of the mountain. These stations are usually at least half way up. This leaves 5 to 6 hours to hike the rest of the way to the top, and another 3 to 4 hours to get back down.

The bus taking me up was with just one other guy; a Japanese(I think) guy that looked like he had water and food for a hike, but didn't look like he had warm clothes. During the hour bus ride up I dozed off a few more times and woke up to amazing views about the first layer of low stratocumuliform and stratiform clouds. The bus started at 800m altitude and is taking me to about 2300m. Which leaves another almost 1500m to go up by foot. I got to the fifth station around 6pm and many were lined up to take this last bus down for the night. Not many people are up here and everything is closed as it gets dark. I take a few pictures and look around a little. I find a nice clean bathroom which is also warm to put on more clothes. Then I look around a little more to see if the information office is open; Nope, that is closed also. I don't think they expect people here at this time of night, this late in the season. Well, I don't want to start hiking because I don't want to wait on the frozen top for hours for the sun to rise. I head back to the nice warm bathroom and scope out a good place to rest.

I found a large separate handicap bathroom with motion lights. There was two handicap bathrooms so I didn't feel bad about taking one, and I don't think there will be too many handicapped people up here this time of night wanting it. I lock the door and set my stuff down to make myself a pillow of clothes. As I lay down I notice that the floor is heated! This is going to be a perfect place to rest for a few hours before I want to hit the trail. I set my alarm for 10:50pm to hike 5 or 6 hours to make it for sunrise. I end up sleeping from 6:30 to 8:30pm. It was great and really warm. It was also sometimes dark based on how much I moved around. I have a good eye shield to block the light for when I am not still. There are many people coming and going out of the bathrooms, which I kind of surprised by because I don't know where they are all coming from. The noise slash excitement and nerves keep me awake the rest of the time. This created a great time on a warm bathroom floor to write this all in my journal. I left for the trail before 11pm, but talked to some hispanic Americans for a little while then went at it. I found a good walking stick that someone left and I would find to be very thankful for as I get further up the mountain; many times it saved my legs and saved me from falling.

The clouds for the most part were light and the moon a day before it's fullest was bright. For a good part of the hike I didn't even need a headlamp because it was so bright. It was also feeling a little warmer than when I first got to the station at 6pm. I met a large group not too far up the trail and they were heading back down. From then it was hours before I saw anyone else. I saw some lights every once and a while either above me or below me, but I never seemed to be able to catch them or vice versa. The first person I saw was sleeping in a sleeping bag at one of the station platforms. I don't know which station it was because I found them to be very poorly labeled and hard to keep track of which hut was an official station and which wasn't. None of them where open at this time of year and/or this time of night. Back to the man sleeping, I had stood and rested many times coming up the hill. I was getting defeated by the hill, the breathing cardio, the cold, and the hour of day. When I saw the other man sleeping that was too tempting for me. So, I added my thick raincoat to my already 4 layers of shirts. The raincoat was to help keep the heat in and the wind out. It worked a little bit and later on I would notice how much is keep the sweat in as well. Well, I did fall asleep for a while I think but woke up colder because of laying on the cold ground and not working up my body heat. I kept pushing on exhausted, but with a little more energy. I needed all the energy I could find. I haven't worked this hard in I don't know how long. I haven't hiked this much constantly up in I don't know if ever. I continue to stop and go and grab more snacks and drinks here and there. I am glad I brought a lot because all of the stations were closed. At one moment and one slip of the foot I dropped my water out of my REI pack pocket and the cap popped off. It drained a good amount. Less Weight! Less water. While trying to pick that up quickly the other bottle of Pocari Sweat fell out and bounced down the rocks. It tore the wrapping but nothing was spilled. Keep going. I sit down to rest once and take my pack off and really feel the cold on my sweaty back. I am so tired I dose off a little. I think I am starting to get a little head pressure pain now as well; maybe because of altitude change, maybe because of dehydration, maybe because of exhaustion, maybe because of the winter cap, maybe because of the layers on my head pressing my glasses to my face tightly and out of place, maybe just because of the cold. I don't know, I haven't figured out my body out yet of why I get these weird headaches(maybe migraines, maybe not) and I don't know why these headaches often lead to me vomiting, more on that later. Well, keep pressing on and up even though many times I think of excuses why I should quit or slow way down so I don't make it by sunrise. That goal keeps fading away as it gets closer to time of lightening up. I remember Ryan's voice saying you better not come back without making it to the top. I also think, I might never get this chance again to climb My Fuji. I am not a quitter, all the time. I keep going and pass another sleeper in a bag. Later I notice what might be little snow flakes; it might also be just dust from the wind disturbed mountain. The lack of significant cloud cover makes me think the later, but I want to believe the first thought. I finally run into my first awake hikers. It was a group of 3 guys heading back down the hill. We small talk. They say it is really windy at the top, you won't be able to stay there long, and won't want to. They ask me when sunrise will be. I guessed maybe 4:30 or 5am after they told me it was already 4:15am. I hadn't checked my watch/phone in a while. According to my first given estimate I should be to the top already if it wasn't for my few breaks/naps. The 3 guys tell me I probably have another hour till the top. We head opposite in directions, me taking the harder road. I notice it starting to get a little light and I don't think it is just the moon. I am still feeling really exhausted and beet and feeling a little ill. I sit down on another inviting rock this time keeping my backpack on to keep in the heat. I doze off again. I get woken up by another hiker heading up. He asks me if I am alright. I partially lie and say yes. I find out later this is a Russian man who has been in Japan for a long time. There is another Japanese man that I think is with him a little ways behind. I start hiking again before he passes me, I look back and noticed him sit down where I got up from. It was cold and windy, but it wasn't until I saw the icicles dripping off the rocks that I knew it was at least freezing. Freezing, but hopefully getting warmer while it starts to get lighter. There were two forces working against that, however, increasing elevation and increasing windspeed. One thing that helped was increased body heat that came with the exhaustion.

The last stretch I could see the top or what I thought was the top. I keep taking pictures as the sun working it's way into view was supplying great views. I had to be careful because my camera battery seems to drain faster with colder weather. I see the last stretch up to the asian lion statues and arch gateway, and I see the sun close to poking it's sphere above the horizon. I hurry up to the gate and take many pictures until it is not nice to take them.

A few more steps up and I am to a small village on the top of Mt. Fuji! The village is closed tight like everything else on the mountain. It is also hard to stand still in because of the super strong winds. I explore a little to find the amazing crater and take a few more pictures.

I consider walking the 45min loop of the crater, but decide to start heading down out of the wind and cold. I start to descend with the Russian man and the Japanese man, leaving a few others at the top. It was good getting to know the Russian man a little. We were descending the same way we came up; lots of rocks, lots of steps, and lots of thankfulness for the found walking stick. I was feeling good and awake talking with my new friend. Then realizing I still had a full normal hike ahead of me of 3 or 4 hours. It took me 7 hours to get to the top with all the naps. I got ahead of the two guys and then last them. I think they switched over to the descending trail, which I didn't know existed. Well, I didn't know it was going to the same place and didn't know it was specifically designed for descending. It was less rocky and less steps to try to find your step on. I passed many people that were heading up and I was hoping that they would make it down before the threatening typhoon comes up. Some of them I was not betting on. I thought for a while about rushing down to make the 9:40am bus, but then I felt the lack of sleep creeping in. I found some good ground and dozed off again. It was warming up nicely and I decided to get rid of the raincoat layer. When I did I found pools of sweat. I tried to drink a lot of Pocari Sweat on the way down to wash away any chance of dehydration and hopefully headache. I needed Tylenol to also try to fight the headache, but it doesn't seem to work. Coming down the mountain in the light was a whole new experience with amazing views, different terrains that I don't ever remember seeing on the way up or ever in my life. Volcanic rock everywhere, and green down below.

It was a beautiful wasteland. The hike really felt like two different trips, night and day different, literally. I made it back to the almost flat land and returned my walking stick to where I found it so that another ascender could benefit from it. I took many pictures of the mix of of red and black lava rock and yellow shrubs and green pine and other trees.

When I reached the fifth station again I went back to my large bathroom and cleaned up a little and changed. My headache wasn't getting better, but I was back to the bottom. I made it there by a little after 10am, 4 hours to get down and an 11 hour total trip. My bus was at 10:40am, so I had time to try to heal my head. I laid down for a while. It didn't go away. I walked over to the bus and sat outside it for a few minutes. When the driver let me on I had a seat for a few minutes then felt the head pressure kicking in my vomit reflexes. I rushed off the bus with a plastic bag in hand that I grabbed for the occasion. The bus driver got off also and went to find more plastic bags. The vomit tasted like Pocari Sweat, not to bad, if you wanted to know. I still didn't feel very well, but well enough to get on the bus to fall asleep. When I awoke I felt a lot better. I pushed the button to get off of the bus around the train station. I had about 15-20 mins to catch my train. But, I couldn't find the station. I did see the Fuji Q amusement park not too far away. I tried to walk there quickly to make it to the train stop there. The last 10 mins I was running and made it 2 mins before the train arrived; safe and sound ready for another nap. I woke up in time to wait for a train to take me back into Tokyo. On the trains home, especially on the crowded ones, I noticed people noticing my smell. I don't think what they noticed was something they liked. I also don't know why people keep sniffing when they smell something they don't like. You would think you would want to try less to smell in those situations. I stopped a few places to walk around in the light rain coming from the front of the typhoon. I made it back to Ryan and Mike's apartment. Mike was has home and noticed my oder right away as well. He threatened to kick me out if I didn't wash up quick, and wash my clothes. I did and then chatted with the Mike and Ryan about the adventures.