Fujisan!!!

I'm was so excited to finally hike Fujisan!!!  Babies and covid stopped us from hiking it summers before so even though we've been living in Japan forever this summer felt like our first real chance.  

The trail we went on, Fujiyoshida, didn't officially open for 9 more days, but we thought we could handle it anyway.  We woke up early and arrived at 8am to see it all fenced off.  I figured we would just climb over the fence.  There were signs that pretty much equated to, "Dangerous, hike at your own risk, experts only."  I thought we could handle it ok.  The only problem was there were workers there telling us they would open the fence at 9am for people to check out the 5th station of the trail.  We were not in the mood to stand in the rain an hour waiting for him to open the fence.  So when they turned their backs we found a side gate and snuck through.  

Then again at the 6th station the same signs were up saying the rest of the hike was closed.  I know a few people who have done it so I thought it would be ok.  We once again found a way around the signs and fences.

The hike was uphill the entire time.  It takes average 4-7 hours to go up and 3-4 hours to go down.  We did it in about 4.5 hours going up and 3.5 hours going down.

It was so rainy!  We were in rain gear but still ended up completely soaked though. That part was not fun.  We had a few minutes going up where the rain stopped, but really only probably 20 minutes all together.  

We hiked over a bit of snow, but it wasn't too bad. We were cold though.  I wore a long sleeve shirt, sweatshirt, ski coat, and rain coat on top of that.  My core was ok, but my gloved hands, legs, and feet were completely soaked.  My face even got burned from being pelted by the wind/rain the entire time.  

Penelope struggled a little bit going up.  She felt the altitude sickness.  She kept needing to stop and said she felt like she was going to throw up.  She never did throw up, and I was proud of her for pushing on.  I could tell she was pale and not feeling well.  She also was the smallest one of us and she is the only one who didn't have hiking shoes on.  Her feet were soaked before we even started.  Her rain coat also only covered 3/4 or her arms so her wrists and hands were numb and frozen feeling most of the time.  It was amazing how well she did under the circumstances.

We managed to get in between levels of clouds at one point and had a view.

Going up we stopped a couple times for just a few minutes to eat a protein bar and help Penelope with the altitude.

We passed a tori gate on the hike.

I have no idea what these random money posts were about.  I'm guessing for luck.

Here we were going right up to the summit.  From the 9th hut and up things were pretty bad.  It was crazy windy and below freezing.  Going down it was even worse.  It was pretty much like we were walking right into the wind the entire time.  We didn't stop even one time because it was just too wet and cold.  We really just wanted to get down.  That being said, it was a little slow going because the wind made it difficult.  I saw Penelope slip several times, thankfully no major injuries.  If I would have known how rough the top and decent was going to be we wouldn't have gone up.  It was just really difficult going down with the wind and rain pelting our faces for over three hours straight.  While at the top I wasn't sure how I was going to make it down.  If we had any other options we would have taken them.  Penelope started feeling better going down, but Tucker then started feeling sick.  I was surprised at how well Penelope and Tucker went down.  They never complained.  We just quietly marched on like soldiers or something.  I asked Penelope about it and she said she knew there were no options so it was best to not think and just do it.  Then we joked about how the other option was death.  We were not even close to death.  Because we were dressed so warmly I don't think our cores were ever really cold, just our extremities.  I will say I'm still waiting on the thankyous for that, or maybe the apologies.  Both kids complained a ton at me beforehand for making them bring so many layers but ended up being really grateful for them.

Tucker really wanted to solve a cube at the top.

The whole time we only saw one other hiker.  We shouted to each other for a minute as she passed us.  She told us it was her 35th birthday and 100th time hiking Fujisan!  Amazing.  But I figure she was going to do her 100th hike on her birthday even in horrible weather and that is the only reason she was also on the mountain.  

Tucker put together a video of the hike.

I noticed how once things started getting hard we really pulled together as a family.  At the start there were little complaints and teasing going on here and there, like normal, but those all completely stopped.  It was like we were all in this hard thing together and everyone knew that those types of things were not important.  I'm glad we got to go through this.  And I used it as an opportunity to teach the kids about how they can do hard things. 

 I'd like to hike one of the other trails but only in good weather.