The Climb, Continued

Perhaps the oddest sight of the day was this guy jogging down the mountain. After he passed me, he stopped briefly to take my picture (that white thing in his right hand is a camera). I was too flabbergasted to ask him whether he had jogged up, too, but something tells me he did.











Yes, even babies "climb" Mt. Fuji. This little girl was the youngest person I saw on the trail. (The oldest person I came across, who I failed to get a picture of, was about, oh, perhaps 80! I passed him on my way down, probably at about 2800 meters. He was moving incredibly slowly and climbing by himself. I was absolutely amazed at his efforts.)














I packed plenty of snacks and drinks, but supplies are readily available on the mountain at each of the "stations" along the way, at least during the brief climbing season, which only runs from about July 1-August 31. The goods cost more than they do at sea level, but the prices are still rather reasonable.











The "stations" also serve as mountain huts. Many people spend anywhere from a couple of hours to an entire evening in the huts, trying to catch some valuable z's, usually before heading back out in the wee hours of the morning so they can catch the sunrise from the top. I decided I'd rather climb in full daylight. After the fact, I'm glad I did. The trail was way too rocky and slippery at times for climbing in the darkness, even with the aid of a headlamp. Perhaps one of the other trails is better suited for climbing at night.











I didn't expect to see any snow on Fuji, but the little snow I did encounter wasn't a surprise, either. This was at about 3500-3600 meters.











Just before reaching the top, the trail got a bit more crowded, but it was never as bad as what I expected.











Finally, just barely over three hours after I started the ascent, I reached the top of Mt. Fuji. Or did I? Actually, I reached the crater rim of the volcano, which included a shrine (rear, center) and a post office (rear, left). Do you see the guy just off to the right of center? Look carefully and you'll see that he's making a phone call. Not bad, eh?











To get to the actual summit, I had one last climb in front of me, Kengamine, where the weather station is located. That was about another 100 meters to the left and, of course, up. After a quick 10 minutes... I was finally... drum roll please...











on top of Japan!











Here's the view looking down upon the shrine and post office area.