Climbing Mt. Fuji: The Descent

-Introduction
-Strange Pilgrims
-Lights Above
-Into Sleep
-Life
-The Summit
-The Descent

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After the 11 hour hike up, and the non-existent "mountain-top experience," I began my descent. I imagined it as a gently sloping path that would take twenty minutes to go down.

I don't know what I was thinking. I reached the half-way point over an hour and a half after departing from the summit.

The descending trail is longer in distance than the trail up. It makes long zigs and zags across the slope of the mountain. The ground was made up of that volcanic gravel (basalt I think). It was wet, rough, and red underfoot. There was almost no vegetation on this path.

The path was wide and at just enough slope to allow for these huge tractors to ascend to bring supplies to the summit. A few times, I had to hug the side of the trail to make room for one of these tractors. Watching one of these huge vehicles ascend was amazing. They didn't have enough room to turn through the zigs and zags, so they have to alternate going forward and then reverse up different sections. They would go forward on a "zig." Then, when it came to the "zag," it would go a little past the intersection, and then go reverse up the "zag."

About an hour into my descending hike, it began to rain, hard. It didn't take long for me to be soaked through. I felt like a big idiot. The few people on the trail with me were all properly prepared with rain gear, and boots, and plastic bags to cover their backpacks. I was wearing a fleece "hoodie" and jeans. I think the water added twenty pounds to the weight I was carrying.

Sometimes though, I was alone on the trail in the rain. Being in the cloud was cold and hindered vision. I could see only about halfway down one of the sections of trail (a zig or a zag). So, I never knew if the next one was where the trail leveled out and lead back to the 5th station. It was like a maze or something. Endlessly going forward, but never leaving. Unlike the trail up, the trail down was three hours of the same. The gravel all looked the same, each zig looked like the other. I felt like I was in limbo.

Finally, the trail leveled out back to the 6th station, and then down to the 5th station. There, I found my mother and my brother waiting for me. They had arrived back down at the 5th station around 7 am after their botched attempt up the mountain. I arrived at 1:30pm.

We hugged as if we hadn't seen each other in ages. We bought some clothes for me so I wouldn't have to wear my soaked clothes through the long bus ride back to Tokyo. I was spent, but pretty proud of the accomplishment.

Climbing Mt. Fuji: The Summit

-Introduction
-Strange Pilgrims
-Lights Above
-Into Sleep
-Life
-The Summit
-The Descent

-------------

When I arrived at the top of Japan's most sacred mountain, words aren't adequate for all of my feelings. I was relieved to be finished with the uphill portion of the trip. I was disappointed that the entire mountain--including the top--was blanketed in wet clouds blocking the view. I was exhaustedly, hungry and broke. When I arrived at the top, it had been 11 hours since I left station 5 the previous night.

The summit looked to me like some old west down--like something out of Deadwood. There was a wet, gravel road that ran through the middle of the encampment. After the shine at the top of the trail, the buildings looked makeshift and were made of wood and sheet metal. These buildings were like the huts that lined the trail below, but they were open to the air. Instead of doors and windows, the entire outer wall was open to allow people to freely come and go.

I decided to get some food since hadn't eaten for fourteen hours or so. I entered one of these rest/food buildings and collapsed. I had 600 yen, which is around $5. That was enough to buy a bowl of rice. As I began to eat the plain white rice, I began to feel sick--not a good sign when you are up at 12,000 ft. I forced myself to eat half of the bowl and begin the trip down.

Despite being at the top of this great mountain, at the peak of the accomplishment, I have to admit, my feelings were dampened a bit by the fact that the clouds kept me from seeing any view--or more than twenty yards in front of me.

Climbing Mt. Fuji: Persistence of Life

-Introduction
-Strange Pilgrims
-Lights Above
-Into Sleep
-Life
-The Summit
-The Descent

-------------

The surface of the reddish bassalt that covered the upper parts of Fuji reminded me of pictures of Mars. The fact that I had just finished re-reading the Mars Trilogy didn't help this fact. It amazed me to see such expanse of barren, lifeless ground, and then without warning a sprig of green pushing its way out.

In addition to the lack of topsoil on the mountain, and the fact that much of it is above the tree line, the mountain is also covered with snow for 10 months out of the year. Nonetheless, life persists on Mt. Fuji.

Maybe its because of the amount of light filtering through the clouds, or maybe its because of the contrast to the red ground, but all the plants had a vibrant green color. I saw this lime-green colored lichen on some of the rocks that seemed too bright to be natural.

The picture to the left shows the reddish gravel covering the mountain, the chain barrier marking the trail, and a little plant life ahead. This is somewhat lower on the mountain. Higher up, the vegetation is much more scarce. Below right is a picture of a rock covered in lichen. This lime-green stuff is fairly common from what I could tell.

Its quite remarkable that life would exist in such a barren place. That it would spread up a mountian covered in snow for 10 months, grow for a couple, only to be killed off and make way for the next generation.

What a great image, a cold dead rock, covered in life.

Climbing Mt. Fuji: Slipping into Sleep

-Introduction
-Strange Pilgrims
-Lights Above
-Into Sleep
-Life
-The Summit
-The Descent

-------------

In many cultures there are spiritual stories associated with the climbing of mountains. Moses on Mt. Sinai and the Eastern traditions of mountain-top gurus are just a couple examples. Leaving the discussion about the validity of those particular experiences alone, I have to say that I can understand how such spiritual experiences would be possible.

As I made my ascent--alone after my mom and brother went back down--I became acutely aware of my my body and spirit. My prayers on that mountain seemed to have an unusual clarity--and so did my dreams.

As I mentioned before, my ascent included stops at those huts, and sometimes just on a large rock along the trail for naps. I would sit, and fall asleep fast and hard. It was something out of my control. These short naps were filled with dreams that seemed to last much longer than the sleep they inhabited.

Below are some bits and pieces of some of my dreams. I'm not claiming anything spiritually enlightening or anything at all like that. Its just interesting what my brain came up with during lack of oxygen, lack of sleep, and the strenuous climb.

The Postal Service
The clearest dream I can remember involves me and music. If I am not listening to music, I'm often humming or whistling my own little tune. During one of my dreams, I was sitting on my bed just listening to music--much as I did back in junior high and high school when I'd get a new CD. I was thoroughly enjoying the music when I thought, "Wait what band is this." I remember consciously thinking that it sounded like the Postal Service, but the songs weren't from any of their published CDs. I was listening to a new Postal Service CD!

When I got back down the mountain, I looked it up, and indeed there is a new album on the way. I wonder if it will sound anything like the album I had in my dream.

Below is a picture I took on Fuji on the clouds below.

My Father
I had a less vivid dream while on the Mountain, this one about my father. I can't remember many of the details, but he was on the Mountain with me. And we weren't just climbing, but we were on some sort of journey with a purpose and destination.

My Brother
My youngest brother and I are a lot alike in many ways. This can lead to some conflicts when we are together. We argue quite a bit, although never about serious things, and we don't hold grudges. However, I distinctly remember two of my dreams on that mountain involving arguments I was going to have with my brother (one when I got down the mountain and the other days later). I didn't end up having the arguments by the way.

Old Friends
In my dreams on the Mountain, I also encountered some old friends. These friends were from high school and I hadn't really been in touch with them for years. This isn't a completely new experience though. Since living in Korea, I've had two such dreams about childhood friends that I haven't seen in over twenty years! Yet they popped up in my dreams, and spurred me to try to find them. I've been unsuccessful so far.

Climbing Mt. Fuji: Lights Above

-Introduction
-Strange Pilgrims
-Lights Above
-Into Sleep
-Life
-The Summit
-The Descent

-------------

It was very dark that night on Fuji. It was cloudy most of the time--blocking out the light from the moon and the stars. When we began, the only light we saw was from our headlamps, and two yellow blobs above on the trail.

In my mind, I imagined that one of those yellow blobs of light was the summit. Later, I'd find out that this was only the first of many outposts, and that the actual summit was a kilometer above the clouds--far out of site.

The map I got from the park ranger had about a dozen named huts lining the trail up the mountain. Each hut had a different name and varied a little in their details, but shared the same concept. They exist to serve exhausted travelers on their treks up the mountain.

Many people would begin their hike in the evening, then overnight at one of these huts, and then get an early start the following morning. I talked about this in my previous post about the Mountain.

Some of the huts provided small kitchens--serving hot rice, noodles, and soup--while others just provided drinks, bathrooms, and place to sit outside. I used those hard benches to catch my breath, pass out, and sigh at the length of the mountain that lay ahead.

Around 4am, when the sun began to illuminate the clouds above, the lights of the huts dimmed and they became a little less magical. They were no longer heavenly guides hovering above me, but merely soggy, worn buildings where I could sit and rest for awhile.

I arrived at the Fujisan hotel, at the 8th station, about 8:00am or so and was surprised to find as close to a hotel as one could expect on the side of a tough volcanic mountain. People were stirring, food was cooking, and they accepted credit cards.

On the trip up the mountain, had been buying a bottle of water at every other hut, giving them my empty water bottle, and moving along. But by the time I reached the Fujisan Hotel, my Yen supply was getting low and I knew that I had to make it the rest of the way up the Mountain, and then back down. So, I used my credit card to buy two bottles of water (cost about $5 per half-liter).

They had a wireless credit card machine! I knew in theory they existed, but what a better place for such a thing--on the side of a mountain where communications cables were impractical or impossible. However "up" they were with the technology, they were very down in courtesy. While each hut previous had allowed me to leave empty water bottles when I bought a new one, Fujisan Hotel refused.

I was not happy. I had two full water bottles, and no room in my bag for the empty one. As I turned the corner, I placed my empty water bottle on the windowsill outside. The courtain was closed. I got a few steps away, when someone called after me. I rolled my eyes and turned around. One of the workers from the hut came jogging toward me.

"Card," he shouted. I had forgotten my credit card with the cashier. That would have been a story--losing my credit card on the side of Mt. Fuji.

He had not noticed the water bottle I left. In my peripheral vision I kept my eye on the water bottle and thanked the man. I turned and walked away, my credit card in hand and that empty water bottle on that window sill.
---
Links:
Mt. Fuji Huts List

Climbing Mt. Fuji: Strange Pilgrims

-Introduction
-Strange Pilgrims
-Lights Above
-Into Sleep
-Life
-The Summit
-The Descent

-------------

Mount Fuji holds a sacred place in the history of Japan. According to Wikipedia, its first ascent was made in 663 A.D. It was off-limits to women and foreigners until the 1920s. I can assure you that I had no idea of any spiritual significance to Fuji before I began the hike. But along the way, I encountered some very interesting people.

The Son and His Mother
My brother and my mother told me to go ahead of them. They said that if they didn't catch up, they'd meet me at the bottom. So I continued along and eventually was far from them. This was still in the middle of the night--around 1 am or so (recall we began the hike at 11pm). Every now and then, I'd turn around and flash my headlamp at them and they'd flash back--until it was too far to see.

Around 3am, I passed out on a bench outside one of the huts--between the 7th station and the 8th station. After some strange dreams (more on those another day), I stood up, got my bearings and began the hike again. Just as I was leaving a woman in her early 50s and a man in his early 30s were leaving the hut.

We inadvertently kept the same pace for quite some time. They had been re-energized by a nap at the hut and were keeping good pace. As I was focused solely on the mechanics of climbing--taking deep breaths in the thin air, pacing my breathing, making my muscles work--they were stopping to pick up trash. The son had a bag attached to the back of his backpack and he was cleaning up.

I would never litter on the mountain, but at the same time, I'd never take it upon myself to clean up the mess of others. This son had not only the task of climbing the mountain himself, but also that of helping his mother AND picking up the trash. I was impressed.

The Canadians
Eventually, I got ahead of the son and his mother and continued up the trail. As I neared another hut, I came upon a family of tall blond Canadians (they had Maple Leave patches on their bags). I rested on the bench and silently watched them prepare. They too were just getting up and readying for the rest of the hike after a night spent in the huts. I was amazed at how prepared they were. Straps, and bags, and these covers they put over their shoes. I glanced down at myself--old tennis shoes, jeans, and a fleece hoodie. I was an amateur and these were the pros. The parents were probably in their early 40s and their son and daughter both appeared to be high school aged.

The dad and the son were fussing over the mother because the strap on her shoe-covering thing had broken. She tried to brush them aside, but they insisted on fixing it. The son even had some extra elastic cord--like the type used on the shoe covering. I watched as they cut, and restrung the cover.

I waited for them to leave ahead of me so I wouldn't be put to shame when I had to stop to rest long before they needed to.

The Husband and Wife
Also at that hut, I encountered an older couple--late 50s or early 60s. They had slept there and were just starting their day.

They took more breaks than I did, but I took longer ones since every time I sat down, I closed my eyes and passed out. We reached the summit about the same time. Once there, I was totally focused on wanting to go and collapse on a wooden bench, and get something warm in my belly. The first thing I saw them do was enter the shine and kneel their head to pray.

The Man and his Daughter
The descent was possibly worse than the climb up. It was long, I got soaking wet, and my toes got stubbed and were bleeding. More on that later. Along the way down, I heard behind me a little "iegh, iegh, iegh" like the squeak of a mouse. The fog--or should I saw cloud I was in--was too dense to see where the noise was coming from at first.

When the squeaks got closer, I saw a man and his young daughter--around 7 or 8 years old. They were well geared with rain suits (hers was bright pink), good hiking boots, and climbers poles. They were making good time down the mountain because their poles kept them from slipping in the loose red basalt gravel that covered the descending trail.

I was thoroughly impressed that this girl had made it all the way up the mountain in the first place. Her little sighs of agony with every food step did nothing to take away from that accomplishment. She was merely vocalizing the pain she was feeling every step in a way that I've been socialized not to.

Although I do have to admit--about 12 hours into the hike, when no one was in earshot and it was just me and the Mountain, I would punch the volcanic gravel let out a grunt. It made me feel better--even if just for a second.

---
I chose the name of this post from Gabriel Garcia Marquez's short story collection of the same title. On a basic level, the collection is a look at Catholic faithful converging on the Vatican.

Climbing Mt. Fuji: Introduction

-Introduction
-Strange Pilgrims
-Lights Above
-Into Sleep
-Life
-The Summit
-The Descent

-------------

As my mother was planning the Japan leg of our trip, she casually mentioned wanting to visit Mt. Fuji. As the time grew closer, it became clear that this "visit" was going to be a climb. It sounded good at the time.

The plan was to begin the climb at night, climb through the night and then reach the top in time to see the sunrise. Well, the first thing that went wrong was our transportation to the mountain. We were staying in Tokyo, which is about 2 hours from the base of the mountain. There is a bus directly from Tokyo to Station 5--the point where most climbers begin. Well the hotel concierge didn't arrange the right bus for us.

Long story short, we got to the bottom of the mountain, then had to get a cab up to the 5th station. We didn't start climbing until 11pm. With our headlamps on, dressing in jeans and sweatshirts, we headed up. At the 6th station, we got a trail map from the old park ranger who peaked out his hut when he saw me walk by.
As we began our ascent after that 6th station, it began to snow. I realized it was going to be a long hike.

Japanese Product Reviews: Cream Collon

One of my little hobbies when traveling is to check out strange local products. Japan did not dissapoint. My first night in hotel, I was cruising the hotel convenience store for a snack fix, when I came upon a snack food named "Cream Collon."
These semi-sweet snacks are, well shaped like a colon, and are filled with a cream-type filling. I don't know if they thought this name through. I did a search for these on Google and the a sponsored link at the top came up for a "Colon Cleanse."
Maybe "Collon" doesn't remind Japanese of the rear-end of the digestive system, but that was the first thing that came to mind when I saw the picture and the name.

These weren't bad, but I'd pass if I were you. The okay taste isn't enough to overcome their bizarre name. However, they're widely available in Japan, and at least one western importer (in the UK) makes them available for those out of Japan.

Japanese Product Reviews: Ice Cucumber Pepsi

Ice Cucumber Pepsi is one of the strangest sodas I've tasted. The strangest and grossest is Chinotta soda that I had in Italy. While not being gross, it certainly is a close second in terms of strangeness. It was released as a special summer soda in Japan.

Although there was no actual cucumber in the soda, it tasted like I was drinking a cucumber. Hmm... must be personally tried to be understood.

Japan Day 6: Travel

Not much to ride today. Most of our sixth day in Japan was spent on trains. We spent the morning in Nara Park checking out the "biggest bronze Buddha" and feeding the deer--pictures and video to follow in a couple days.

Tonight, we are staying in Hiroshima. We'll be visiting the Peace Memorial tomorrow. Then, its back to Fukuoka, aboard a ferry, cross the sea between Korea and Japan, a drive to Geoje, and its back to my Korean home.

Japan Day 5: Rest

After the exhausting 14 hours on Fujisan yesterday, I got a good 10 hours of sleep last night and awoke for a day of touring. My family left Tokyo down toward Kyoto, and then to Nara. I had never heard of Nara before now--mostly because I have never studied Japan with much interest.

Nara was the first capital of Japan and now seems to be mostly a tourist place. They have what they claim to be the largest bronze Buddha, the largest pagoda, and a city park filled with 1,000 tame deer.

We saw the pagoda today, offended some Buddhist faithful with our fun near the temples and stuff, and then strolled through the park. There were deer everywhere. They really were tame. Like most "tame" wild animals, they don't necessarily like humans, they just want food from them.

These deer weren't looking to be petted, they just wanted a biscuit treat. There were funny signs around warning about how to treat the deer. After finding the Buddha closed, we wandered into what apparently was a deer nursery. We found a small area in a park with knee-high ferns where several does were looking after their babies--some of these were still awkward on their feet.

We also came upon a single adult doe leading maybe 15 little ones behind her. It looked like a teacher on a field trip with her little charges behind her. I got some video of her telling the little ones to cross the road.

Anyway, it was a nice laid-back day after the rough trip up and down Fuji. I hope to post pictures and video tomorrow.

Japan Day 4: Me vs. Fujisan

When planning the trip to Japan, my mom brought up a possible climbing of Mt. Fuji pretty early on. I had no idea what I was getting in for. I am out of shape, was ill-prepared, and ill-equipped, but today, I conquered Mt. Fuji. We went up at 11pm, planning on getting to the top to see the sunrise. Fourteen hours later, I finally arrived back at the base station. I came down many pounds heavier because the last three hours were through rain. I was soaking wet in my jeans, shoes, socks, shirt, and fleece sweatshirt.

I have planned out a week-long series on Mt. Fuji that I will begin posting next week. For now, the day-to-day postings about the trip.


My planned titles for the series:

• Station 5, the beginning


• The Outposts


• Strange Pilgrims


• The Visions


• The Summit


• Persistance of Life


• The Descent

For now, enjoy a brief slideshow of some of my Mt Fuji pictures.

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Japan Day 3: Earthquake #2

Day 3 in Japan: Early this morning, we got word there had been another earthquake, this time in the sea between Korea and Japan. I didn't feel this one. However, I was a bit concerned about the news of a radioactive leake. Several hundred gallons of radioactive water was released into the sea.

Hmm... Let just hope that that earthquake combined with the radioactive material doesn't awaken the greatest Japanese disaster of all: Godzilla!