The expected hike was going to take roughly 14 hours, which is pretty decent. But this was not to be, more on this later. The initial plans went off without a hitch. All the CJCPrs met up at Shinjuku Station and we grabbed the next bus to the Base of Mt. Fuji.
After a 3 hour bus ride, we all grabbed some grub at the Kawaguchiko train station. I went with the horse meat udon.
Disappointing to say the least. First of all, I`m sure horses are much bigger, give me at least like a leg or something. Second of all, it`s probably just beef in disguise. Nonetheless, it was still tasty.
Here`s Keith, not eating horse. We goofed around for a bit then grabbed another bus to the Gogome, 5th station where the hike usually starts.
Upon arrival we were all pretty anxious to get goin. But we need proof we actually started the hike, so we took pictures.
After all that hoohah we started blazing some trails. Spirits were high, and alot of smack talking was done about Mr. Fuji. Our breaks consisted of banana chips, mixed nuts, incorrectly wrapped O-nigiris, laughter and smiles. The latter of the choices was delicious. Thomas warned us about rocks and Japan was safe again. The group became divided early on but we managed to assemble together at Base Station 6.
Rockin the Fuj early on.
After that, the group became permanently divided. A slower group and a faster group. For most of the hike, Keith Mah was with me up front, blazing some trails. The trail was highly trafficked so me and Keith spent the majority of our time weaving through people, throwing bows, and taking some unbeaten trails. We took a break at every station and waited for the front group to assemble each time. These breaks, again, included banana chips, mixed nuts, and laughter.
We continued to rip it up. At a certain point I got far ahead, but was alone, and thus bored. Also the trail was moving slower than snails pace since there were hundreds of people on this mountain. At this point, I decided to lie down by some rocks and wait for some CJCPrs. About 20 minutes later, Keith and Steph show up and I continued the trail with them. There was very little left to the trail, but traffic was so bad, we were inching foward every 15 minutes. Upon the sight of the Red Line on the Horizon, we knew we had to do some sick manuveours to get to the top ontime for the sun rise. At this time, we had lost Keith, but me and Steph decided it was Through or Bust. With some weaving and dodging we got to the top 30 minutes before sunrise, as we were told by a Japanese local. Me and Steph picked out a windy spot, but also front row center seats for the sunrise. We were suprised by Keith, when he came pouncing on us like an axe murderer. He had also made it on time. The following events ensued.
I saw the Rising Sun at the highest point in the Land of the Rising Sun. While eating a bacon, pastrami, spinach bagel sandwich. Best day ever? It gets better. So after seeing the Rising Sun destroy the night sky we had to gather the troops. We stuck around till the majority of the group had assembled. Needless to say, everyone was beat. I arrived at the scene to see a sleeping Thomas and a sleeping Rumiko. Everyone else looked absolutely bagged or really cold. However, spirits were still high. I went to help Amelia snap a couple shots on her camera. This distracted me just long enough so that as I turned around I see everyone wearing party hats, singing happy birthday, and holding a cake. For those unfamiliar with the character of Alex Yuen, his birthday is on July 8th. I was particularly touched and suprised that someone would remember my birthday prior to climbing a mountain and ontop of that lug a cake up a mountian for me. Thanks Guys!
We had to rep Canada as well.
So, seeing the sunrise from the highest point in Japan, eating Bagels at that altitude, and having a suprise birthday party. Pretty good day if you ask me.
A little while after, we decided it was time to go. Having the majority of the group, we started our descent. Nothing particularly interesting on the descent. Except for the bathroom at station 7, with the strange coloured water.
We finally made it to the bottom at around 9ish. At the base I got some ice cream and just relaxed. The hike was super solid and I had a really good time. Unbeknownst to me, the day was far from over, in fact it had just started. We had to wait for everyone else to arrive before we could leave. By the time 10:00 rolled around, everyone but two people were missing. Numerous attempts to contact the last two were thwarted due to crappy Softbank reception. At 1:00pm we decided to send the majority of the people home, since that was the original plan. A few of us including Steph, Rumiko, and Qijin stayed around to deal with the situation of the missing people. After getting a hold of one person, we told him to make his way down ASAP. Several hours later he shows up. We were told he had seperated from the last person. After thinking through several options, we made some phone calls to important people. After inquiring locals about this individual`s whereabouts, and after a couple runs back up to Station 6, we found our last man at Station 6. We hustled down to Gogome then grabbed the 8:40 bus back down to Kawaguchiko.
Since the trains were out, we stayed at Kawaguchiko for the night. We celebrated our triumph over Mt. Fuji and safety of all the members by eating 7-11 food and drinking Asahi. After a 4 hour wink, we got up and were on our way to work.
This epic tale was only made possible by banana chips and a big mountain. Please use the buddy system and stick to it if you ever climb this thing. Oh its not a walk in the park by the way. Its a pretty good hike.
Stay tuned for a tribute to my fridge, Or a blog about Okinawa, for I am there tommorow.
1 comment:
Your posts always make me laugh. :)
Good recounting of the crazy Fuji adventure...
"BANANA CHIPS?!?!"
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