Everytime someone mentions mountains, I cannot help but to think about the trek up my first mountain. The first mountain I climbed, was Mount Fuji in Japan. Also known as Fujisan, this mountain stands at just over twelve-thousand feet.
As the morning of the climb approached, my family and I got up early to go to the bus station. The bus ride was an hour long, past lush green farms,terraced rice paddies, down back country roads, before we arrived at the SUicide Forest. The Suicide Forest is the woods around the base of Mount Fuji. It is called Suicide Forest because of the large amounts of suicides that happen there yearly. The forest is dark and gnarly, with winding roads leading up the mountain to the Fifth Station. On the trail there were 5 stations, begining with the fifth and going up to the tenth station.
We waited for about an hour at the Fifth Station to stretch out, eat lunch, and get for the climb. Here we bought wooden walking sticks to get engraved at each of the stations. …show more content…
The trail quickly got steeper, with multiple switchbacks. We were caught in a large cloud covering a large portion of the mountain. As we later learned, Mount FUji is also called the Shy Mountain. On the rare occasion that the clouds cleared away, we could see a stunning view up the mountain.
As the trail got steeper the ground became looser until it was made up of loose red rocks, and with each step my foot would sink in a few inches. At some points the trail became near-vertical with rock scrambles. By the time we had reached our mountain lodge, we were worn out from a steep climb, but little did I know how hard the hike would be the next
As the morning of the climb approached, my family and I got up early to go to the bus station. The bus ride was an hour long, past lush green farms,terraced rice paddies, down back country roads, before we arrived at the SUicide Forest. The Suicide Forest is the woods around the base of Mount Fuji. It is called Suicide Forest because of the large amounts of suicides that happen there yearly. The forest is dark and gnarly, with winding roads leading up the mountain to the Fifth Station. On the trail there were 5 stations, begining with the fifth and going up to the tenth station.
We waited for about an hour at the Fifth Station to stretch out, eat lunch, and get for the climb. Here we bought wooden walking sticks to get engraved at each of the stations. …show more content…
The trail quickly got steeper, with multiple switchbacks. We were caught in a large cloud covering a large portion of the mountain. As we later learned, Mount FUji is also called the Shy Mountain. On the rare occasion that the clouds cleared away, we could see a stunning view up the mountain.
As the trail got steeper the ground became looser until it was made up of loose red rocks, and with each step my foot would sink in a few inches. At some points the trail became near-vertical with rock scrambles. By the time we had reached our mountain lodge, we were worn out from a steep climb, but little did I know how hard the hike would be the next