Staying Overnight and Watching the Sun Rise at Mt. Fuji

We took this picture on the Mt. Fuji Summit

We got up to the summit of Mt. Fuji about three hours later than we had expected. Started  climbing at 10a.m. in the morning, we thought we should summit at 4p.m. at the latest. But that 6 km to the summit was much harder and took much longer than we had anticipated.

We reached the summit at about 7:30-8pm and it was dark already. We could not see anything down below save for the lights that came on in those houses.

Descending Mt. Fuji in the dark

Reaching the top of Mt. Fuji,we were filled with sense of exhilaration ! But the worry of getting back down safely of the mountain in the dark began to overtake us.  We would had preferred staying in a mountain hut for the night and going down at sunrise. We asked if we could stay at the summit hut for the night.



Since we had no reservation. and the place was full, we had no choice but to head down the mountain in the dark.

Mt. Fuji - Seen from the 5th Station at Sun Rise

We attached ourselves to a group of climbers  and among them there was a couple of very experienced Japanese climbers.  There was a climber who could speak English therefore we were able to communicate with the others.

We started making the descend in the dark. It was not easy.  Since we only had regular running shoes on instead of proper hiking boots, my toes were killing me. The pressure from going down put a lot of strain on my toes. My husband was smart enough to walk on his heels instead. ( He told me much later. Now my toes have been bruised and my big toe nail has been  lifted up and will fall off at any time.)

Nonetheless, we were  glad that we were not alone. Our fellow climbers knew where they were going in the dark and they led us safely down to the 5th Station where we started..A few times, I almost fell, but the Japanese climber held my arm and made sure that I was safe at every step. I was very grateful for his assistance.

Watching the Sun Rise on Mt. Fuji - taken  from 5th Station

 I was surprised that there were also climbers climbing at night heading towards us as we descended. Finally after almost three and half hours, we were safe back down at around 11:30pm.. We missed the buses going into town. We also remembered that we had deposited our extra belongings including our passports in the store locker prior to our climbing. We had no choice but stayed on the mountain until the morning so that we could retrieve our backpack.

Though the restaurants and the shop were closed, there was a waiting area and the washrooms were opened. We sat, waited and at times went into the washroom to get warm. It was chilly in the middle of the night on the mountain. Luckily, we could still purchase some hot drinks from the vending machines. M husband and I kept each other company and we watched many young Japanese starting their climb around 2-3 a.m. from the 5th station!

 It was not so bad after all spending the night on the mountain as we got to see the early sunrise on Mt. Fuji.  It was extraordinary! Spectacular scenery indeed!  An unplanned activity for us but we had another pleasant experience.

View from Mt. Fuji , 5th Station at Sun Rise

We caught the bus at 8:30am and thought we boarded the train back to Tokyo. But the train we took reversed back to its original terminal. Not able to transfer to the Tokyo train,  we ended up leaving the train, took a taxi to the nearest bus stop in a small town which enabled us to catch the Tokyo train that we had missed. That was very stressful!
 
By the time we got back to our hotel, it was close to 3pm.  We called our son right away as we were sure that he would be worried about us. Er. was relieved to hear from us and he told us that he called the Canadian Embassy and Mount Fuji as we did not return last night.

Our plane was leaving at 4:20pm. " There was no way you could go back to Canada on time!" - Our host at the inn told us. But we tried anyway and if we missed our flight we would be back at the hotel, we told them.

Got to Narita Airport by 4:30pm, missed our Air Canada flight, as predicted. We reported it to the Air Canada counter. "Would u like to catch the 5:30pm flight to Vancouver"- we were asked by the staff. Absolutely!  With a charge of $100.00, we got on the next flight and were on the 5:30p.m plane back home to Canada.

Praise God!!!

R.T., Japan
Aug. 2013

p.s. A much easier,  direct and fastest way between Tokyo and Mt. Fuji  would be by taking the Highway Express Bus from Shinjuku Station in Tokyo which takes you to the 5 th Station. We regret that we did not take the Express bus back from 5th Station to Tokyo.  Forget about the Japanese Rail train, too many transfers and too confusing!!! We missed our 4:30pm flight back to Canada because of the JP train!