Mount Fuji (Japan) Part 2

Continues from Part 1....

At our particular altitude, the underlying clouds that climbed up the mountain slope vanished as if vaporized by the hot sun above. We could fill the heat from the sun warming us up from the cold experience the night before. There are 2 wooden arch that welcomed climbers along the last ascent to the summit. One is at the summit entrance point and the other is about 200m below the summit.

After another 200m of ascent, we reached the summit wooden arch. There are 2 stone lions guarding the entrance to the summit. The summit itself if very different from other mountains. There are souvenir shops and mountain lodge for accommodation.

There is also a vending machine for drinks as seen in the picture below. The weather was very sunny and cloudless at the summit. The caretakers were taking the mattresses to sun to remove the dampness and odor. This place is not the highest point of mount Mt Fuji. The highest point is on the other side of the crater and heard that it will take another hour or more to get there.

There is a weather station at the top of Mt Fuji ( as shown below). It is much higher than the summit souvenir shops where most trekkers will wait for the sunrise. The photo below shows the weather station just above Mt Fuji volcanic crater. A quick look around shows that the weather station is actually the highest point around the crater summit.

The descent from Mt Fuji is of a different route. They call it the sand-slide route. As you walk, you will tend to slide a little forward at times because of the loose small rocks that the route is made of. You can still descend using the ascending trail during off peak season. But during the peak season, it will be a trail of climbers instead and hence going down against the traffic may be not that convenient to others. Anyway the designated descending trail will be faster. The descending trail starts from the summit and crosses near the 8th and 7th station. After which is will be an endless trail of zigzag path all the way back to the Safety Guidance centre. Along the descending path, you can still the sheer awe of the slope of Mt Fuji all the way to the summit on a clear sky day.

We left the summit at 12noon and started our descend. Took a break again at the 8th station. The weather then was a complete change from the cloudy and rainy morning. We left the 8th station at 2:30pm and returned to the 5th station of the Yoshida-guchi line at about 5:00pm.

During the climbing season, buses ply between the 5th station and Shinjuku direct.
The last Keio bus that leaves from Shinjuku from the 5th station departs at 4pm. Although there are still Keio buses coming here from Shinjuku after 4pm, they do not take passengers down from the 5th station. For us to get back to Shinjuku, we took the local bus from the 5th station to the lakeside town of Kawaguchiko. This bus is more frequent because it is a local bus. At Kawaguicho bus terminal, it is actually a train station cum bus terminal. We took a bus from there back to Shinjuku. The time it takes to get back to Shinjuku from here by bus or train is almost the same. If you intend to take the train, you need to make a train transfer to the JR line at Otsuki. The train service at Kawaguchiku is a private train line that goes all the way to Otuski only. If you want a simple and convenient connection back to Shinjuku. The bus may be a better option.

We reached our Shinjuku hotel around 9pm. The picture on the left is the heart of Shinjuku where all the buses and trains are.

After our dinner at the nearby MOS burger, we repacked a small backpack for the next 3 days 2 nights at the resort town of Hakone.

Below are the hot-stamping prints that we collected on the way up.