{Our Mt. Fuji climb} TONS of pics

Our first full day in Tokyo we climbed Mt. Fuji. We woke at 2 a.m. and the bus left at 2:30 a.m. to head for Mt. Fuji. We arrived at about 5 a.m.  We didn't really start climbing until 6 a.m.  This picture below is us at the beginning. These are our hiking sticks.  We bought the sticks and we get them stamped with some cool japanese design at each station...each are different designs depending on each station. They are burned into the stick. Our whole stick was stamped from the bottom all the way to the top by the end of the hike. And a couple stamps extra  on the other side of the stick.

 You can't really see, but looking out we could see mountains in the distance, a big lake, and fields and fields. We hadn't even started yet, and i already felt like i was on top of the world. There were tons of clouds under us and it was really cool seeing that.

 This is something the japanese do, but i can't remember why they do it. It was a bunch of little rocks piled on top of each other and placed on top of a huge rock.  Maybe my friend Hatsuho can explain it to us.

 Darn, the picture is blurry.  This was still just as the beginning. When i think of hiking through mounttains this is what i expect when i hike. But this only lasted about 30 minutes. :)

 Can you see the lake out their in the distance?

 This is just the beginning. We climbed lots of zig zag paths to get to this point.  It doesn't look too tough or steep, but pictures can be deceiving, as is the case here. This was fairly steep and lots of work.

 Hmmm, i am not sure what station this is. I think it must be station six. We started at station five. It took a little while to make it to station six.

 The temperature....

 We got our sticks stamped here. It was either 200 yen or 300 yen for each stamp. All the stamps that we got really added up. It was PRICEY.

 Another station...

 Still climbing. I remember looking down and it seemed like we hadn't gone that far at all, and it felt like we had climbed so much farther. It was crazy. The first zig zag part that we climbed was full of thick dirt and some rocks. But by this point in the picture we reached the huge lava rocks that we had to climb. I was usually climbing with my hands and feet by this point.

 Climbing the steep lava rocks... As you can see, the weather is still decent here.

 They had lodging so you could sleep...it's mainly for the night climbers.

 At each station we snacked as much as we could for a few minutes. I was so hungry when we actually sat down. We snacked on power bars and a trailmix.

 We had to pay to use the bathrooms....

 Getting higher! We can still see and the weather looks nice...

 The higher we got the steeper it got and the more nervous it made me. i just tried not to pay attention to the height.

 Tori gate....

 3.2 k doesn't seem that far at all, does it? It is far when you are climbing steep rocks. Who knew.

 As we got higher the wind really started picking up.  The black tiny pieces of lava rock would blow in the wind and plaster us. It hurt at times because it would whip in your face so hard it would sting.

 3 more hours to the top?!?!? That's what i thought. :)

 Lots of people gathering at the station. It was so funny watching peoples reaction when they came upon the rocks they had to keep climbing after their rest. They all would yell "woah!" OR "Oh my gosh"! It was in a tone like, "Holy cow, more?!" And listening to guys do it made me feel like maybe it was hard. :)

 At this point we are getting higher and higher....the huge lava rocks weren't too bad right here. But the lack of oxygen started hitting and my muscles in my legs were exhausted.

 I think the lack of oxygen was getting to us here. :) We both look like we are breathing heavy.

 The last 2 hours of climbing felt like forever.

 There were many stations in the 7th and 8th and 9th stations. Such as 7.2, 7.5, 7.6.  So, this was just another station for the 8th station. At this point we are starting to climb into the clouds. The wind has really picked up. Visibility started diminishing.

 This is a picture we took at the top of the stairs looking down at one of the stations.

 Here's the fujisan hotel. We had to reach this point by 12:30. If we had not reached it by 12:30, we were supposed to turn around and go back. It really wasn't a hotel hotel. It was a small little area with bunkbeds.

 We reached it by 9:58. We were doing real good on time.

 Put the poncho on because their was a heavy misty rain that started.

 This was our visibility towards the top. it was very limited, plus the wind gusts had to be up to 50 mph. It was really scary to me. When the wind gust came i would just drop myself to the ground because the wind would push me if i was standing and i was afraid of losing my footing when a gust came and i would get blown off the side. SO, because of that i would drop to the ground when the gust came and then get back up and push on FAST until the next one came.

 We were almost there. At this point i was really tired. I was so ready to be done. I couldn't catch my breath very well, my legs were exhausted, and the winds were scary.

 Almost there!!! and still smiling!!! A nice young japanese couple took this picture for us and then we walked with them the rest of the way to the top.

 We made it! We just had to go pass the Tori Gate and climb a few stairs and then we reached the summit! And we have the shisa dogs guarding our way!! The wind was even stronger here.

 Here's the japanese couple we talked to a bit. They are P.E. teachers and they are getting married in October.  We took a picture with them before departing from them. :) The wind was insane here.

 Taking a rest at the top in a small hut area.

 We ate our MRE lunch here. It was packed full of hikers. It was sooooo nice knowing we made it to the top and it was sooooo nice resting!

 We took a one hour break at the top.  On our way down it was pretty scary. I wish you could have see the wind gusts and heard the sound of the wind blowing. It was so scary. About half way down the mountain the weather started clearing. Thank goodness. We ran into this little old lady and her son.  She is 82 years old and they reached the summit and were descending. AMAZING.  There are lots of elderly japanese people that were climbing. I was impressed because you wouldn't see that in America. There were also lots of young japanese kids climbing. As young as 4.  That's very impressive. This isn't any easy climb people.

 Finally at the end!! It took us a little over 5 hours to reach the summit and about 3 hours to descend. The bad weather was chasing us the whole climb down the mountain. It finally reached us at the bottom. The wind picked up even more and it started pouring rain. i was so glad we finished when we did.  The hike down was on a different trail. There wasn't any of the huge lava rocks. It was just thick dirt and small rocks. I can't decide if the climb up or down was harder. The climb down really started killing my feet and knees about half way down. By the end my big toes were all completely blistered and my toenail might end up falling off. It hurts to touch it. The hike down was very painful on the knees. I thought i wasn't going to be able to walk the next day. BUT i ended up being fine. The only painful part the next day was my blisters and toenail.

 Also, at the bottom we saw all the people who were starting the NIGHT hike. It was CROWDED. Everyone was bumper to bumper on the way up. It was insane. PLUS the weather was as bad at the bottom as it was at the top by that point. i can't imagine how much worse it would get by the time they reached the top. We were sooooooo glad we didn't do the night hike. Plus, our tour guide said it's dangerous and scary. phew.... The day we were there is one of the busiest days of the climbing season. it is the Japanese holiday, Obon. They welcome the spirits to the earth and a few days later they send them back. It's something like that. It's a very big holiday for them, almost like christmas is for us. So, during that time it's extremely busy! Particularly the night hike, which we saw first hand. yikes.

Here's shanes foot after the hike.  Our drive back to the hotel took twice as long as the drive there. We kept getting caught in traffic on the expressway....because of the holiday. It was insane. Anyway, shane's foot was so wrinkled and whiter than he has ever seen his foot. Still to this day, his big toe doesn't have full sensation back. After he took his rain gear off he realized his clothes were soaking wet from all the sweating he did. So, it was very cold for him.

We had lots of fun doing the hike. I am so glad we did this together.  I remember right after we finished we said we would never do it again. That's what everyone seems to say. We are glad we did it, but won't do it again. :)  It was a fun experience though! It's a wonderful memory and we had fun doing it together. :) And we really enjoyed talking to the japanese on our way up, usually saying "Ganbatte!"  Shane opens up and becomes quite a talker when surrounded by japanese. He soaks it in like a sponge. I have never seen him so talkative. The japanese wouldn't really say anything to us UNTIL we said "ganbatte" or "o haiyo gozaimasu"(don't think i am spelling that right)....the first means "good luck" and the other means "good morning". When we were the first to initiate it it almost took them by surprise or caught them off guard. But then they take it and run with it. They will start a conversation with you or just respond back just as nice. :) It's so fun. They are so interested in Americans, something we discovered while we were there.

Since being here in Okinawa Shane and I have conquered Mt. Fuji together, we have conquered scuba diving together, and we have conquered a half marathon together! I am already brainstorming about the next thing we should conquer together. I am thinking a vacation to Thailand WITH the kids. :) That will be a big accomplishment.

I found these too late. This is the beginning of our hike. Well, before our hike.  This is the store where everyone congregated to after the hike. It provided warmth and food. :)

 You can see the clouds resting on top of the mountain.

I will post another post tomorrow about our next day at Tokyo. :)