Since we’re talking hiking and mountains and climbing... In 2017 I hiked Mt. Fuji, aka Fuji-san.
My SO at the time wanted to do it so we scheduled it for July along with her friends. I was in decent hiking shape at the time but in May I had hernia no. 2 surgery. After 1 month of rest my doctor cleared me. That left two weeks to go before the hike to get back into shape.
Fuji-san’s summit is 12,388 feet. Mt. Diablo’s is 3,848. Not even close but every little bit helps. Every night after work I either ran laps at the summit of Mt. Diablo or rode hills on my MTB. Every night for two weeks.
On to Japan...
We stayed one night in Tokyo then took a bus to Fuji-san the next day. Our group included the SO and her friends: 1 guy and 3 girls. They were all fit and much younger than me.
We arrived at Fuji-san around 2 pmish. The plan was to hike at night so we could summit before dawn to catch sunrise. Suddenly at 3 group leader said let’s go. I was a little caught off guard as I thought we were going to start later. We hired a guide as did many other groups.
Fuji-san is a volcano with barren slopes. We had headlamps, water and carbs. It was uphill the whole way. Every two hours we would take a break. Sometimes the ground was soft lava rock: one step forward and slide two steps backwards. One two-hour section was climbing steps onto rocks & boulders. Along the way there were small stores where you could buy drinks, food and even oxygen. I thought about oxygen but decided I didn’t feel any altitude sickness so i passed.
As the sun went down, the stars appeared. We were lucky to have been greeted by a clear and cool sky. As the sky got dark you could look up or down Fuji-san and see many many other hiking groups. Their headlamps glowing in the dark. Moving slowly like caterpillars. It was very peaceful
Sometime around 10 pm we stopped at a lodge. We were fed beef curry and rice then took a two-hour nap then back to hiking. More uphill. Legs burning. The moon appeared. This edited pic looks like sunrise but its actually the moon:
More uphill hiking. It was tough especially since I wasn’t in the same shape as our group members.
We summited around 5 am. It was still dark. Quite a few cafés on the summit. We grabbed a bite and waited for sunrise.
And then the sun appeared:
It was quite magical because it was so quiet. If you’ve been to Japan before you’ll know that the Japanese are not only polite but quiet except when slurping ramen lol
It was peaceful and beautiful. The sky was so clear! We hung around for a couple of hours then made our way back down.
I thought going down would be easier. Um, wrong. My legs felt like the bones were surgically removed. I had to stop every so often because I bonked. The SO styaed with me while the others cruised down to base (fucking 30-somethings!).
On the way down, you got a sense of the height of Fuji-san when you could see a blanket of clouds BELOW you:
When the SO and I made it to base I craved a COLD Coca~Fucking~Cola! And I found one. Undoubtedly the most delicious Coke I have ever drank. A melange of caramel goodness, lovely honey sugarness and bubbles that fibrillated my scrote.
Fuji-san was tough for me. It was 11 hours up and 5 hours down. Basically 16 hours on a Stairmaster. Would I recommend it? Hell yes! Just don’t hike with friends 20 years younger than you nor 6 weeks after surgery Lol
Say hello to Fuji-san (not my pic):
) and got home about noon. Decided I needed more, so drove out to Bachelor and skinned up to mid-mountain for a couple laps. Total climbing yesterday was well over 4000 feet and I'm not a bit sore. Tonight is gym, tomorrow is an easy 45 minute run, and then two more significant climbs this weekend, over 5000 feet each.
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