FUJI

I'm not sure what to say about Mt. Fuji, I hadn't had a strong desire to hike but I knew Dan did. It didn't take long for him to convince me that I would regret it if I didn't do it. I think a good majority of people underestimate this hike, we did for sure. Rayce was adamant that he could handle it and we believed he could. Our friend Ammon flew in from the states to hike with us and explore Japan a bit, so the four of us set out early morning to conquer Mt. Fuji!

There are a series of stations along the way with snacks, water, oxygen and commemorative stamps they will burn into your walking sticks. You can also stay the night in one of the stations and get up early the next day to hike to the top for the sunrise. This probably would have been a better option than doing what we did and hiking it all in one day, but we had left Danielle and Avie back at the hotel and I didn't want to leave them overnight. Most people start hiking from the 5th station where a bus will drop you off. There are some that hike from all the way at the bottom! We met one guy along the trail that was doing that, yikes! It didn't take us long to get to the seventh station. There are only 10 so you're thinking to yourself, 'hey, this isn't bad, we'll be to the top in no time!'

We really lucked out that it was mostly a clear day, so the view was amazing! Lots of people that we've talked to didn't have any view at all. The downside is we didn't anticipate that and all got really sunburned.

It didn't take long before we were above the clouds. It was crazy to see them rolling up and over the mountain.

I think this was from the 8th station...and then you realize there is more than one 8 station...and then you realize what you've gotten yourself into.

The altitude started getting to Rayce. Poor guy, he didn't want to quit but he did not feel good at all. We bought him some oxygen and that seemed to help a little.

crazy view down.

8.5 station.

This is me helping Rayce up the mountain, we're taking it painfully slow. Still he was a trooper.

It's crazy how little oxygen there is toward the top. We were taking a few steps then resting. The altitude was really getting to Rayce and I have a feeling if he hadn't been there and Dan and I were able to go a lot faster that we probably would have gotten sick too. But we plugged along and seven hours later we made it!!

Here's Rayce and I doing our best 'tough guy' pose.

I love this picture with the sunlight spilling over the mountain. It was a good moment. Rayce felt very proud for himself...and then he collapsed and fell asleep.

The obligatory selfie.

The elation of making it to the top wore off quick with the fact that we now had to get down the mountain. What? No slide, elevator, anything? Rayce was particularly cranky with this realization. He felt bad, but we kept telling him he'd feel better the quicker we got down the mountain. So off we went, slowly at first and then as we hit more oxygen Rayce got his second wind!

Two and a half hours we made it down from that horrid mountain never to return, but it was a pretty cool experience. Take that, Mt. Fuji!