Last Saturday Teru (my Japanese friend) took us to Mt. Fuji. He picked us up around 10am and we begun our journey. We took the Japanese equivalent to the interstate. That was pretty cool. The interstate here is raised above the city so for the most part we were almost level with the skyscrapers. We stopped at one of the Japanese rest stops which is extremely commercialized.

The drive up to the climbing stage was an adventure in itself. The fog was extremely heavy and thick and the road extremely narrow and wound up the mountain.

My initial thought of climbing Mt. Fuji was something similar to climbing Mt. Si back home. This did not prove to be true. The climb proved to be treacherous and most difficult. With every step we took, we slid half a step in the loose gravel. The entirety of the mountain was shrouded in mist. Every so often we’d be lucky and it would disperse a little bit but it quickly returned. My hair was drenched just from walking through it and visibility was extremely poor.

Mt. Fuji is pretty awesome though. Even though the climb brought back memories of The Nature Trail to Hell, I enjoyed it. We reached the top after much effort and enjoyed the famous view that everyone talks about.

Or perhaps not so much. Unfortunately there was just too much mist for us to enjoy the fabled view. I am going to have to come back to Japan and climb up Fuji-san again to see the sunrise.

You can see the rest of my Mt. Fuji pictures at my Google Web Album.

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