mt.fuji extravaganza

Climbing up Mt. Fuji is a hiker’s dream when in Japan! A week before my departure to the UK, I went on an overnight trip to Mt. Fuji with Nessa and Abhishek to tackle the Subashiri trail with a goal of seeing the sunrise from the peak :) Everything packed in one big backpack, I left my home around 8:00 am, took some trains and arrived to Gotemba station at around 11:00 am. We had a quick lunch of tomato ramen near the station and got on our bus to Subashiri trail 5th station. We went during one of the longest and heaviest rainfalls Japan has had unfortunately but that made it more memorable for me :) Here’s a little recap of our experience!

<Day 1>

13:30: arrived at Subashiri 5th station ready to tackle the mountain!

14:00: started our hike and so did the rain :/

15:15: went through a forest and climbed lots of rocks to reach 6th station!

17:07: the wind started howling around here but we managed to reach 7th station

18:45: hiked steep paths in the rain to finally reach our hut at 8th station!

20:10: had supper and then headed straight to bed in our sleeping bags

<Day 2>

4:30: woke up to see the beautiful sunrise :)

5:20: checked out from our hut and started our climb to the peak

6:55: made it to the top of Mt. Fuji but it was too foggy to see anything ^^;

7:55: took a mini break with a breathtaking view

9:40: slid down deep and sandy paths

12:00: made it back to 5th station! We had some lunch and took our bus back down to Gotemba station

The hike was tough from the start, especially with the rain and strong wind! Once we got to 6th station, it started getting colder and the trail became steeper and rockier. The road ahead looked long and far out, but we got excited each time we reached our checkpoints :) Finally getting to see the sunrise with the clear sky was more than a reward for us ! We saw the sunrise from our mountain hut at 8th station since we were too tired to starting climbing so early in the morning. This turned out to be a good decision because it was too foggy to see anything up on the peak anyways :)

Climbing rocks in the rain, sleeping with a jacket on inside sleeping bags at 20:30, and hiking for 2 days straight were all experiences I’ll never forget :) Thanks to Nessa and Abhishek for making this hike a memorable one!