I had class until about 2:00 PM and right after, I planned out our trip to Fuji with Harry (another TUJ student) in the computer lab. We found a website with all the info we could ever possibly need about climbing up; it had suggestions on what to bring, how to get there, what to expect. After we had it figured out I went over to Tokyo's Patagonia to buy some climbing pants, a flashlight & gloves for the cold. It was a good thing I got the flashlight...
So we eventually got the group together for the hike around 6 PM and it consisted of: Harry - from Temple U, Nick - from Amherst, Kevin - Temple U who served as an invaluable translator throughout the trip, and myself.
(me, kevin, harry, nick)
We had to take a bunch of different trains to finally get over to the beginning point of Mt. Fuji's main path called the Yoshida Trail. By the time we started climbing up it was 11:00 PM and pitch black! Thank God I brought the flashlight, we would have been stranded without it.
The path was littered with dirt pits and rock beds and since we were working with limited light it ended up being very similar to running an obstacle course blind! It was very steep going up-hill the whole time and we had to take a bunch of rests but after about 3 1/2 hours of climbing, we made it up to the first rest hut on the mountain. It was 2:30 in the morning and we all slept like babies after the hard work that we had put ourselves through.
But it was just the beginning. The next day's hike would prove to be one of the hardest physical tasks I've ever done in my life... Stay tuned for Part II
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1 comment:
yeah, ok beast.
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