So I climbed Mount Fuji Thursday and Friday. I was in the first bus there, so I left the Yoshida fifth station at 8 pm. I bought a really nifty staff that proved its worth time and again. The major sad thing is that I broke my camera card, so I couldn't take a lot of pictures of what I am talking about here. Some yes, but I'll have to upload them later when I get an adapter for the phone card(or if I have nothing to do, I might put it in my phone and send it that way).
Back to the actual trek. I started out with a group of people, but they were too slow for me. *wink* So I ended up with two of the high school interns, Katie from my team, and Jordan from the Mitaka team, and we stayed together the majority of the mountain. Going up the first little bit to the sixth station was a pretty well beaten down road. In fact, we had to go to one side to let a car go by us on one tricky woody spot. It took no time to get to the sixth station, really easy.
After the sixth was when things got interesting, and definitely after the seventh. To the seventh was a little steeper zig-zags. It was good to talk to people, though, and I really didn't have any desire to pull out half the things I brought, including my iPod.We sure rested a lot, but ironically Katie found the zig zags harder than the literal climbs we had to do. When we were walking to the seventh station, we thought it was the top! We could only see the lights from it. But really it was just a set of huts nowhere near the top.
I think the station that lasted the longest was the eighth. Every time we got to another building, we thought that surely it was the ninth station, but it was only the '8st' as it said on one of the signs. Somewhere along there, I got a really bad cramp in my left leg, but just sat down a minute and then walked it out, and it was okay. I was just about to cry about not being able to make it up. And then after putting on the penultimate layer of clothing, we anticlimatically pass by a hut with no light on outside that says 'ninth station.'
A good portion of the journey, we walked with a fourth member, Alison, who is a friend of a missionary family here and a one-week volunteer. She and I ended up leaving Jordan and Katie behind[(don't worry, they sanctified it, so it was ok- as long as we're in pairs, daijobu desu(it's ok)]. So Alison and I, after passing through the lion gate and going through the last portion of crazy rocks, were the second and third people to get to the top from our group. One guy was crazy and ran up the whole way-it took him between 3 hours and 20 minutes to 3 hours and 40 minutes to make it up there. It took Alison and I five. 8 PM to 1:05 AM. The girls came thirty minutes later, so they were in the top five. None of us except maybe Justin expected to be up so early in the group, but we did have a good head start on many.
So, practically, what does being the first up mean? It means that you're the first to stop moving your body, the first to get extremely cold, and you get the honor of being the one with the longest time in the freezing wind and clouds. I should have brought another layer, but with good strategic places out of the wind and snuggled together, we survived. One Japanese man made a bench out of loose parts of the temple we were sitting beside, so for a couple of hours I, Justin, and Alison stayed there. Then I had practical needs and was curious as to how the rest of the group was doing, so I went and saw the edge of the crater(in the dark, not much to see), and when I got over to them, decided they were just as warm, and migrated my gear to outside the hut door they were packed in front of. The cold makes people react in many different ways, but we were sure goofy. The clouds passing over, revealing and cloaking the stars, were interesting to look at, although the wind that accompanied them cut to the bone.
About 3:30, an hour before the sunrise, all of the huts started to open up and we had to get out of the way of the door. The nice part: warmth, because they would let you go inside. Saw an American girl there who was working for the summer. Just out of college, speaking Japanese for eight years. She sounded like a native when she spoke. I could see myself doing that.
The sun did indeed rise, but we got to see the before and after. Right when the ball of hydrogen was supposed to show its face, a dark cloud came and sat on the top of the mountain, the jerk. We did get to see it as through a dirty window a little later, but it was a little dissapointing, to say the least. I would say that at least I got to get an awesome burned-in stamp on my staff as recompense, but I lost that a long time later, in a bathroom in Gotemba, of all places. Still, it was worth it.
Getting down was a completely different experience than getting up. Around six, Jordan had enough, so we decided to descend together. The clouds and sky and sun were beautiful. Pretty soon, we could take off layers of clothing and be free! At the seventh station, I was back in less than what I started my journey in: shorts, t-shirt, and shoes. Most of the way down was a race, because gravity made you go down faster than you wanted. The rock was small and gravelly and made for great skiing/running.
We found a couple of other interns, so we decided to all descend together. We passed through different environments: dead to small plants to bugs and and small plants to trees. Those bugs were so annoying, and there was a cloud of them at one point. Kinda felt like the babies of the bugs from that movie 'The Mist.'
After one point, it was steep, steep, steep most of the time. The rocks were just deep enough for good wading/running. They just went on forever!!! An elderly man kind of followed us. We'd skip down, rest, he'd pass us, etc.
Finding the trees was encouraging, although the whole time, we had suspicions of something. When we finally got to the bottom around 9 AM, our suspicions were confirmed: we had been on the wrong path ever since station 7! Sure, we were going down to station 5, but it was Subashiri station 5, not Yoshida station 5. We were on the wrong side of the mountain!
What to do? My Japanese skills were utilized, but the bus company guy I asked didn't want to deal with foreigners- but he pointed us in the right direction. The next guy I asked- a store owner- didn't speak English either, but after me asking that simple question, he showed me directions for either getting to the other station or getting home to Tokyo. It was a godsend! Mylea tried to call people, but no one would answer, so after talking out all of our options, we decided to just get on a bus to Gotemba and go home. We would never be able to get to either bus in time, because one left at 11:00, and another at 12:00. It took us three hours to get down. It would take more than that to get up, and then the same to get down the right path.
On the bus, the missionary got a hold of Mylea and said he'd try to tell the others what was up with us, but said to go ahead. The bus driver helped me to buy tickets back in the store. Who was I to know we'd have to go to a random store to buy them? I actually had to run out to get more money. For the four of us, it was $60.
So at Gotemba, we decided to send the GTs to Shinjuku via an Express train for $30 and me on a local route for about $18. I lost my staff at this station.It took me houurs to get home, but it saved me some money. And it gave me some more confidence. I can do trains if you give me a map!
I left at 11:25 and got home around 3. Saw three others from our group, Alison, Teron, and Sydney apparently randomly. They got off at the wrong stop, and couldn't get in the train car before me, so we met. It was encouraging and funny and great. They left for home another way, though. A couple of stops later, I met a Marine from Okinawa just partying and having a break at Fuji and Tokyo. Nice travel companion 'til we parted ways at Chigasaki.
So apparently when I've been awake for more than a day, putting music in my ears helps me to get to sleep. I definitely napped in that super-long local train I had to take to Himowhatsitsname. Then a quick trip to Hachioji, then to Tachikawa. Then the 15 minute walk home. HOME!
What an adventure!
I definitely slept after my shower to 5:30, then from eight to ten something this morning. Glorious!
Two things today: randomly happened upon a matsuri(Shinto/Buddhist festival). GT Sayonara party. Got there and back via train. Almost got lost, but God guided my steps the opposite direction I was going to walk. It was really sad to say goodbye, although we'll get one more chance to do so tomorrow.
Back to the actual trek. I started out with a group of people, but they were too slow for me. *wink* So I ended up with two of the high school interns, Katie from my team, and Jordan from the Mitaka team, and we stayed together the majority of the mountain. Going up the first little bit to the sixth station was a pretty well beaten down road. In fact, we had to go to one side to let a car go by us on one tricky woody spot. It took no time to get to the sixth station, really easy.
After the sixth was when things got interesting, and definitely after the seventh. To the seventh was a little steeper zig-zags. It was good to talk to people, though, and I really didn't have any desire to pull out half the things I brought, including my iPod.We sure rested a lot, but ironically Katie found the zig zags harder than the literal climbs we had to do. When we were walking to the seventh station, we thought it was the top! We could only see the lights from it. But really it was just a set of huts nowhere near the top.
I think the station that lasted the longest was the eighth. Every time we got to another building, we thought that surely it was the ninth station, but it was only the '8st' as it said on one of the signs. Somewhere along there, I got a really bad cramp in my left leg, but just sat down a minute and then walked it out, and it was okay. I was just about to cry about not being able to make it up. And then after putting on the penultimate layer of clothing, we anticlimatically pass by a hut with no light on outside that says 'ninth station.'
A good portion of the journey, we walked with a fourth member, Alison, who is a friend of a missionary family here and a one-week volunteer. She and I ended up leaving Jordan and Katie behind[(don't worry, they sanctified it, so it was ok- as long as we're in pairs, daijobu desu(it's ok)]. So Alison and I, after passing through the lion gate and going through the last portion of crazy rocks, were the second and third people to get to the top from our group. One guy was crazy and ran up the whole way-it took him between 3 hours and 20 minutes to 3 hours and 40 minutes to make it up there. It took Alison and I five. 8 PM to 1:05 AM. The girls came thirty minutes later, so they were in the top five. None of us except maybe Justin expected to be up so early in the group, but we did have a good head start on many.
So, practically, what does being the first up mean? It means that you're the first to stop moving your body, the first to get extremely cold, and you get the honor of being the one with the longest time in the freezing wind and clouds. I should have brought another layer, but with good strategic places out of the wind and snuggled together, we survived. One Japanese man made a bench out of loose parts of the temple we were sitting beside, so for a couple of hours I, Justin, and Alison stayed there. Then I had practical needs and was curious as to how the rest of the group was doing, so I went and saw the edge of the crater(in the dark, not much to see), and when I got over to them, decided they were just as warm, and migrated my gear to outside the hut door they were packed in front of. The cold makes people react in many different ways, but we were sure goofy. The clouds passing over, revealing and cloaking the stars, were interesting to look at, although the wind that accompanied them cut to the bone.
About 3:30, an hour before the sunrise, all of the huts started to open up and we had to get out of the way of the door. The nice part: warmth, because they would let you go inside. Saw an American girl there who was working for the summer. Just out of college, speaking Japanese for eight years. She sounded like a native when she spoke. I could see myself doing that.
The sun did indeed rise, but we got to see the before and after. Right when the ball of hydrogen was supposed to show its face, a dark cloud came and sat on the top of the mountain, the jerk. We did get to see it as through a dirty window a little later, but it was a little dissapointing, to say the least. I would say that at least I got to get an awesome burned-in stamp on my staff as recompense, but I lost that a long time later, in a bathroom in Gotemba, of all places. Still, it was worth it.
Getting down was a completely different experience than getting up. Around six, Jordan had enough, so we decided to descend together. The clouds and sky and sun were beautiful. Pretty soon, we could take off layers of clothing and be free! At the seventh station, I was back in less than what I started my journey in: shorts, t-shirt, and shoes. Most of the way down was a race, because gravity made you go down faster than you wanted. The rock was small and gravelly and made for great skiing/running.
We found a couple of other interns, so we decided to all descend together. We passed through different environments: dead to small plants to bugs and and small plants to trees. Those bugs were so annoying, and there was a cloud of them at one point. Kinda felt like the babies of the bugs from that movie 'The Mist.'
After one point, it was steep, steep, steep most of the time. The rocks were just deep enough for good wading/running. They just went on forever!!! An elderly man kind of followed us. We'd skip down, rest, he'd pass us, etc.
Finding the trees was encouraging, although the whole time, we had suspicions of something. When we finally got to the bottom around 9 AM, our suspicions were confirmed: we had been on the wrong path ever since station 7! Sure, we were going down to station 5, but it was Subashiri station 5, not Yoshida station 5. We were on the wrong side of the mountain!
What to do? My Japanese skills were utilized, but the bus company guy I asked didn't want to deal with foreigners- but he pointed us in the right direction. The next guy I asked- a store owner- didn't speak English either, but after me asking that simple question, he showed me directions for either getting to the other station or getting home to Tokyo. It was a godsend! Mylea tried to call people, but no one would answer, so after talking out all of our options, we decided to just get on a bus to Gotemba and go home. We would never be able to get to either bus in time, because one left at 11:00, and another at 12:00. It took us three hours to get down. It would take more than that to get up, and then the same to get down the right path.
On the bus, the missionary got a hold of Mylea and said he'd try to tell the others what was up with us, but said to go ahead. The bus driver helped me to buy tickets back in the store. Who was I to know we'd have to go to a random store to buy them? I actually had to run out to get more money. For the four of us, it was $60.
So at Gotemba, we decided to send the GTs to Shinjuku via an Express train for $30 and me on a local route for about $18. I lost my staff at this station.It took me houurs to get home, but it saved me some money. And it gave me some more confidence. I can do trains if you give me a map!
I left at 11:25 and got home around 3. Saw three others from our group, Alison, Teron, and Sydney apparently randomly. They got off at the wrong stop, and couldn't get in the train car before me, so we met. It was encouraging and funny and great. They left for home another way, though. A couple of stops later, I met a Marine from Okinawa just partying and having a break at Fuji and Tokyo. Nice travel companion 'til we parted ways at Chigasaki.
So apparently when I've been awake for more than a day, putting music in my ears helps me to get to sleep. I definitely napped in that super-long local train I had to take to Himowhatsitsname. Then a quick trip to Hachioji, then to Tachikawa. Then the 15 minute walk home. HOME!
What an adventure!
I definitely slept after my shower to 5:30, then from eight to ten something this morning. Glorious!
Two things today: randomly happened upon a matsuri(Shinto/Buddhist festival). GT Sayonara party. Got there and back via train. Almost got lost, but God guided my steps the opposite direction I was going to walk. It was really sad to say goodbye, although we'll get one more chance to do so tomorrow.
Kelsey,
ReplyDeleteWhat a journey you have had this summer! I think that your climb up Mt. Fuji symbolizes all that you have stuggled through during your stay and overcome with flying colors!
I love you and am so proud of your tenacity!
Mom