FOR SOME REASON NOT ALL PICTURES ARE LOADING、 AND IM AT A MANGA CAFE WHERE ALL INTERNET IS IN JAPANESE AND THE KEYBOARD IS ALSO IN JAPANESE SO IT IS VERY DIFFICULT TO FIX THIS PROBLEM。SO CHECK BACK LATER FOR ALL THE PICS!
Today Tim and I woke up at around noon, ready for a big day of going to climb Mt. Fuji (as briefly mentioned previously). Tim's buddy, Peter, met us at our apartment and then we all headed out to Shinjuku to meet with Nat. We purchased 2,600 yen one-way bus tickets to Mt. Fuji (the rough equivalent of $26) and...were on our way!
Nat and I sat in the very back of the bus.
The countryside we passed along the way (it was roughly a 2 hour bus ride).
I'm pretty sure that's the beast itself, but I'm not absolutely sure. The only reason I doubt it is because we were higher above the clouds than that when we were at the top. But for simplicity sake lets just say that this is a picture of Fuji.
We passed through an extremely foggy forest as we winded up the mountain (the bus takes you up a little ways before you start the climb). These woods are famously known as a place where Japanese people (predominantly women) come to commit suicide- for whatever given reason. Therefore they are rumored to be haunted.
Tim's girlfriend, Myumi, took a separate bus from us and I guess the whole way to the mountain people were asking her if she was o.k., seriously concerned that being a lone female that she was going to commit suicide in these woods.
Getting higher up the mountain, the fog is below us and the sun is setting into it, making really pretty color...in a very non-gay way.
More pretty colors.
Getting darrrrrrrrkerrrrrrrr...
Once the bus stopped we all got off and took a minute to check our "gear," buy overpriced supplies (such as dried fruit and yogurt covered...things).
And of course there were many vending machines...
(From left to right) Me, Peter, my roommate Tim, Nat, Myumi
Of course at this point in the adventure, everyone standing around getting ready to hike are asking strangers if they can take pictures of their groups. A lot of people were asking me to take pictures of their groups, which in turn ended up befriending all of our groups making us a powerhouse of about 15 hikers, which included us, 2 couples, 2 girls that are dancers at Tokyo Disney, and a few other stragglers.
Tim and I were the only people on the whole mountain who were wearing shorts. Everyone else was using professional climbing gear/suits or multiple layers of pants. Pussies.
Moth on the ground.
BEER VENDING MACHINE!!!!!! WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! They do exist! And they exist on Mt. Fuji base camp!!!
Tim and I stocked up with a couple cans for celebrating with when we reached the top. "Kirin" seems to be the most popular of all beers here. It is easily the Molson/Miller/Bud of Japan.
A few people in our group of outlaws had flashlights, which everyone except for me was referring to as "torches." Stupid foreigners! This isn't Indiana Jones.
I was extremely pleased with how eerie everyone and their flashlights looked as we started hiking in the PITCH FUCKING BLACK.
There was nothing but steep rocky cliffs on the right of us, and a thick forest to our right.
I'm sure this sign makes sense if YOU'RE POSSESSED. .....or Japanese...
All along the way up there were little cabins to stop at and rest. Interestingly though, you were not allowed to go IN these cabins...
I would have liked to take more pictures of all of the night time scenery around us, but unfortunately human eyes are much better at adjusting than digital cameras. So you'll have to just imagine hiking though rocks/gravel and thick woods up steep hills, surrounded by creepy dirt walls, all while in pitch black.
We first believed that this was the top of the mountain (where the lights are). it turns out that that was the first major stop out of 5. (We started at station #5 and the very top is at station #10)
As we hiked further up the mountain all trees slowly disappeared, and we were simply surrounded by a rocky gravel volcanic wasteland. As we switch-backed up the mountain there were these walls constructed to keep landslides from covering the "hiking trail." And I use that term VERY loosely.
Nat, Myumi and I. Anyone that went to college with me might recall the thermal shirt and devil horn hat :)
Blurry picture of Tim, Nat, Myumi, Me, and the 2 Disney Dancers. Awwww...looking at this picture makes me miss the dancers already!
I don't even know what the hell this picture is all about. It was dark, so sometimes pictures of weird things get taken inadvertently.
The cabins that I mentioned before all looked like this. They were stocked with extremely overpriced goods...including peppermint or grapefruit flavored canned oxygen. You could also purchase hiking sticks at the base of the mountain, and along the way to the top these cabins would brand your stick with different symbols (for the low low price of a mere 200 yen).
See the sticks? Also note the 500 yen dixie cup of coffee...
Oh yeah...it was getting pretty cold too. Everyone kept wanting to stop at the cabins, so the dancers, Tim and I would often truck way ahead, then end up waiting for everyone to catch up. It was much easier to stay warm by not stopping...stupid stopping. So everyone else had coats to stay warm. Pffff. So overrated. It was no worse than an average sub-zero Buffalo spring day.
I'll cut you mother fucker.
This was the town of Fuji waaaaaaaaay below us.
Oh yeah, the moon and stars were gorgeous too! Considering there was no light pollution and we were THAT much closer to space than sea level ;)
The rocky/gravel volcanic view I spoke of earlier. This is actually our trail too...so now you have an idea of what we had to work with. Factor in the coldness and pitch black and...yeah. It was NOT an easy hike.
The same view of the town of Fuji after the clouds had cleared for a few moments (remember, the clouds are BELOW us).
The same view with a 60 second wide-open shutter. Bitchin'.
Still the same view, but shifted to the right a little so you can see the cabin we were stopped at.
I was in much better shape than expected, so I would often end up a couple hundred ahead of everyone, then find a rock crevice to duck into to shield off the wind. Then I'd get bored and take picture of myself...
The night before we had gotten about 4 hours of sleep. Then we had been up all day, and this was probably around 1am. Sleep deprivation and intense hiking...not the best combination ever.
Some random picture of other people hiking the mountain. I dunno...it kinda looks like they're doing the "Thriller" dance.
Same people.
A marker indicating that we were coming to the second to last station, #9.
There were about 300 people coming up the mountain behind us, you could see the trail of "torches"...er...flashlights, snaking up the "trail." I didn't expect to see that many people at all, but I guess Mt. Fuji has a climbing season and it's only open for about 3 months. This is the last month you can go, so...good timing for me.
The town of Fuji below us, but I'm so cold that I can't hold the camera still long enough to let it expose properly.
The snake of people coming up the mountain (the camera doesn't properly capture how many there actually were).
Tim and I VERY close to being at the top of Fuji. In shorts.
Wooooooooo!!! Almost there!
Woooooooo!!! Disney Girls!
Oh yeah, and also note my MOTHA FUCKIN' "Gogol Bordello" hoodie. I purposely choose that to be the hoodie to reach the top of Fuji san.
A bunch of people gearing up for the last stretch.
Pffff. Where are their shorts?
Creepy lights.
HOURS later, and I mean HOURS we were at the top. Well...Tim and I were, everyone else was somewhere close behind. This little tower was the first thing you see, then you come upon a little buddhist village.
At this point it was about 3am, freezing and MISERABLE.
It was so foggy and wet at the top that almost every picture ANYONE took would end up looking like this.
Or this.
All of the fog that settled on our clothes/skin would then freeze into little snow flakes. It was very strange.
Tim and I at the FUCKING TOP OF FUCKING JAPAN MOTHER FUCKERS!!!
That's Tim's "Eyyy! We're fuckin on fuckin' Fuji ya fuckin blokes!" look.
Of course there was a vending machine...fucking Japan!
There was also a mail box you could put a postcard in, and then a mail service will mail it out from the top of Fuji.
Fucking Japan.
Hundreds of other freezing people wondering why the hell this was a good idea.
Beer on the top of Japan. With a vending machine in the background. And let me TELL you. Drinking a beer and smokin' a cigarette at a high altitude FUCKS YOU UP!
At around 4am this lodge opened up and served hot ramen and hot sweet sake. It was overpriced, but what's 800 yen when you're convinced that you vital organs are going to freeze before the sun comes up.
More lodge.
Everyone waiting for the sun rise.
The fog at the top of the mountain didn't look like it was going to clear up, so the Disney Dancers and I decided to start hiking down the mountain to get out of the fog.
This was the trail down. It looked straight out of "The Princess Bride" or some shit.
This is the rock/gravel volcanic wasteland we were hiking through that I kept talking about before.
The pure definition of "creepy place."
After hiking down for about 20 minutes it finally started to look amazing.
The sun was still slowly coming up, buried behind fog and clouds.
I'm a creepy mother fucker. I don't know why I'm swearing so much typing this. Oh! Notice the snow forming on my hood? Yeah, that's what I was talking about at the top before.
Note the Gogol hoodie, and the brand new cell phone in a pouch on my backpack strap? Make that, brand new cell phone covered with frost in a pouch on my backpack strap.
Disney Dancer and clouds. The view was starting to get INSANELY gorgeous from here on out...
In high school I tried to convince my friends that I was God (it was funnier at the time). This is photographic evidence that not only am I a God, but I'm a God with a fucking BADASS silhouette.
The trail we had to hike down.
Did I mention it was one of the most gorgeous things I've ever seen in my life? (Of course the only cloud that's at our elevation is RIGHT in front of the sun)
Clouds spilling down the mountain top above us (where we were before).
I'd love to stop commenting on how beautiful the view was...but fucking look at it!!! I'm on the top of fucking Mt. Fuji damnit!!!!!!
And I'm going to eat your babies.
Greenery ho!
Little known fact: One of the hatches on the island in "Lost" leads to the top of Mt. Fuji.
I was hoping if I stood there long enough I might be able to take a first person view picture of me getting clocked with a rock.
Fog rolling down the hill past us. Very surreal experience.
Side view of same surreal experience.
Looking up to the top of the mountain, we were almost back to base.
The woods were passed through at the beginning of the night before. The same woods famous for the location of many suicides (I guess it's not uncommon to stumble across hanging people if you wander through them).
Keep in mind that at this point we've almost been awake for 24 hours straight AND we had climbed the tallest mountain in Japan. Tired doesn't even begin to describe the feeling.
All of this WAS pretty, now it's just getting old. I want food and a bed.
So. Tired.
So thirsty...but...can't make sense of sign...
The arrow is pointing to the base camp we started (and ended) at. If you look at the rim of the top you can see the lodges on the West and East of the mountain (they look like little white clusters), as well as the faint outline of the switch back trails going up and down the mountain.
And that's it! We took a bus home (for another 2,600 yen) with the Disney Dancers. Slept the whole way. Took a train back home from the Shinjuku bus station. Then watched "Mr. Dumb" (the Japanese name for "Dumb and Dumber") and fell asleep for the night.
