Having seen pictures of Japan’s Mount Fuji, it was a peak I had always wanted to climb. Well I finally got the chance when I was in the country last week. Fuji at 12385’ is the highest Peak in Japan, it’s located about 60 miles from Tokyo and it took me two trains, one taxi and one bus ride to arrive at Fuji’s 5th Station Trailhead at 9.45am ready to start the trek uphill. There are about four different trails that lead to the summit, I chose the “Yoshida” trail starting out at 7360’ and climbing 5000’ in approx 4.2 miles to reach the summit. The trail which is clearly defined starts out fairly level on a wide kind of dirt road, winding through the forest, but soon starts to gain elevation as it leaves the trees and vegetation behind and ascends through barren and rocky volcanic terrain. From here on the trail has a rope cordon on each side (I guess they don’t want people wandering off ). It should be remembered that hundreds of people, even thousands in the high season climb this mountain every day, to many it is regarded as a spiritual endeavor, and they are often inexperienced hikers. Many of the hikers take two days to summit and spend the night in huts/lodges that are dotted all along the trail.
I reached the summit at 1.45 pm after chatting and exchanging greetings with endless groups of friendly people all wanting to practice their English language skills on me. The summit was covered in dense clouds as had been most of the journey up, there were no views visible not even the crater and I was standing on the edge of its rim, so with the weather getting colder and after getting a few pictures of the summit monument and Lodge I headed back down to reach the Trailhead at 4.30pm.
I think most of the hikers on this board would find Fuji to be a fairly easy hike, in many ways it is similar to Baldy via the Ski Hut, just higher elevations and a little steeper. Route finding was simple despite being in clouds/fog most of the time. All in all my impression is that Fuji is more about the bond and camaraderie that hikers share than anything else, my lasting memory of the mountain will be the friendliness and laughs I shared with people on the journey which far exceeded my expectations.
Definitely a hike worth doing.
Cheers Phil
On top of Japan
Rest of pics :
http://philbrown.smugmug.com/Other/Moun ... &k=cKx459c
