I'm almost too overwhelmed by this past weekend to write about it. I can tell you one thing for sure: I am DONE climbing Mt. Fuji! I can now officially say that I've climbed the whole damn thing and I NEVER need to do it again.

So here's the short version for those who just want to check whether I survived: Yes, I did. Tom and I climbed from Fujiyoshida Train Station at the base of the mountain to the Shrine in the same town, and from there to the start of the actual trail. We started from the trailhead around 11am and reached the 8th station at about 6:45 pm, where we ate and slept. We left for the top a bit after 1 am and reached it in the pouring rain around 4:15am. There was no sunrise... just the lightening sky, even less impressive and more wet then the first time I attempted it. We were back down to the 5th station by 8:30 am and in a taxi to the train station (we didn't feel the need to climb back down the whole thing, most people start from 5) by 9:15am and were back home by 2 in the afternoon yesterday. I'm glad I tried again, even though I can see that it does indeed make me a fool. I'm also glad we hiked from the bottom, because climbing the whole thing made the weather worth it. Not very many people can say they've done it.. and the trails on the bottom half are actually quite pretty (as opposed to the ugliness at the top)... so that redeemed the effort. (note: Danielle, Jaclyn, and Sara also made it to the top and down from the 5th station- we climbed together from about the 9th station).

The longer version: Do I even have enough energy to tell the story in full details? Note: The story is continued in the next three posts... so don't worry the entire thing is here... you just need to keep scrolling.

Like I said, Tom and I had decided to start from the bottom. We had some transportation issues so we got a late start, but wandered from the train station (at 809 meters) to the Shrine that officially marks the begining of the pilgrimage (Fuji is a holy mountain) around 11am... and it was already all up hill. We had originally planned to taxi then to the start of the trail... but we just walked it instead.. which may or may not have been such a brilliant idea. It was horribly hot and humid and we were already sweaty by the time we stopped for lunch at the tea house that marks the start of the trail. As we were eating, we gaped at fat-less men running down the trail past the tea house. They were wearing practically nothing and couldn't have weighed as much as my dog. Tom and I looked at each other and just laughed. They couldn't possibly be running the entire mountain, right?

We started heading up the trail after lunch around 1 in the afternoon on Saturday. At first it was a paved road just small enough to look more like a sidewalk then a road, but as the few annoying cars proved, I guess it was still a road. As I've said, it was incredibly muggy. I was wearing some zip-off pants (which I'd zipped off into shorts) and a cool-max T-shirt. I was dripping. Each of the first 3 stations were shrines, all ancient and at different stages of disrepair. The trail was beautiful with ancient pine trees and different alpine flora. We had no company climbing up, but there were still random psychos streaking down. In my sweatiness I started playing a little game with them: I said "Konnichiwa" to each one of them- morally obligating them (in their own heat and exhaustion) to return the greeting. I know, it was mean, but it made me feel better at the time. ;) We took mini-breaks at each station to suck down water, take pictures (and e-mail them to Dad and the other girls-team 2), and chow on m&ms. The weather was hot but it was really cloudy. On the one hand, that meant no view, on the other hand it meant it could have been hotter and I was glad that it wasn't.

Station 4 was mislabeled (we believe) as Station 5, and it gave us a somewhat false sense of speedy progress up the trail. It also made the stretch to Station 6 unbelievably long. This is about where we ran out of trees and plants and moved into the lava landscape. It was also where we joined up with the main trail. Now we had plenty of other company (and fewer runners... we decided we think that they just run down from the 5th station or so... now why would anyone do that?!) but still no view. We took a stop just before the trails joined and changed into long-sleeved cool-max shirts. It was nice to ditch the sweaty ones as they were getting chilly. We glimpsed the upper half of the mountain between clouds long enough to take a picture... but it was entirely hidden from view after that. I got seriously hungry shortly before the 7th station and ate the most delicious Balance bar I've ever had (usually I think they're disgusting).