Mt. Fuji

Day 5 (Thursday) we awoke at 5am and left our room at Camp Fuji at 530 am. We drove up to the 5th Station of Mt. Fuji (after finally reading the map and arguing if we were going the right way) and made it to a parking spot at 615am. It was a beautiful clear morning and we were so excited when we woke up and saw the view from our room. What a great day for a hike we thought.

We decided we were going to climb all the way to the top to the 9th station, 3,776 meters (12,388 feet). Originally, we were going to drive to the 5th station and just walk from the 5th to the 6th station. The day before Don talked to some people staying at the lodge with us and they had some kids a little older than Megan and Kyle and a baby and they drove to the 5th station and made it to the top, so he said we could do it. Ok, armed with tennis shoes, shorts, sweathsirts, raincoats (just in case), water bottles, snacks and walking sticks the kids bought at the 5th station, I ended up buying one on the 6th station, and cameras we were ready to go.

Doesn't she look thrilled?

The view from the 5th station looking up?

Kyle looking down, a cute shot.

Ok, here we go, we're ready.

What a view (still from the 5th station).......breathtaking!

And we're off...

We made it to the 6th station, that wasn't so bad!

Now onto what I thought was the 7th station, wrong it was the 6.5 station and it got a little bit harder. Can I say hiking boots next time!!! We actually saw Japanese people wearing crocs and flip flops... CRAZY!!!

Okay, so I thought I was about 10 minutes away from the 6.5 station (Don says longer) then all of a sudden I look up and here comes Kyle back down the mountain. I saw Don pointing but had no idea what he was pointing about. Apparently, Kyle was done and didn't want to hike anymore. I finally just got myself up to atleast making it to the next station. It was not easy, the terrain was rough, definitely needed the hiking boots and slow down. You need to kind of walk in a back and forth motion not straight up. Plus I was sweating, I was hot. SO, I was bummed and ticked that Kyle was coming down so I spent the next 1 to 1 1/2 hours getting back down with him. It was much harder going down the mountain with Kyle than up. He fell atleast a dozen times, once so hard on his booty and the way he fell on his legs I thought he broke a leg and I was going to have to carry all 63 lbs. of him down. I was cursing Don at this point. Plus, Kyle decided to have a melt down on the way down that he missed his Daddy and wanted to climb back up after we had climbed down for the past 30 minutes. I told him no way and he needed to stop crying and focus or we were both going to tumble down the mountain and neither one of us would be seeing Daddy ever again. A little harsh but the tantrum wouldn't stop and he was screaming at the top of his lungs and carrying on. Of course no one probably understood him anyway but it was a little embarrasing. Finally, he calmed down. As we made it back down to the 5th station it started to sprinkle, so we went to the car and slept for the next 1 1/2 hours while it poured and poured and poured.

Here's pictures of Megan and Don's journey. Unfortunately, do to the downpour they only made it to the 8th station. Megan was freezing and crying that she couldn't go anymore. I guess it is still quite a ways from the 8th to the 9.5 station. There is always next year with better shoes!

Then it poured and this is what they looked like when they got back down.....