Saturday morning, I left for Mt. Fuji. It was a grueling and terrible trip, with not one, not two, but six train transfers! But, no, it wasn't really grueling because I decided to start reading Red Mars, finally, and it is awesome.
I thought I was going to be late, because I technically took the wrong train once, and then missed another train and had to wait extra long. I was supposed to at Kawaguchiko by 4pm! Luckily, I was still the second one there, at 4:30pm. Ish. Everyone else took the bus and got stuck in traffic. Har har! (Except the one dude who had arrived the night prior.)
All in all, I am clearly the winner, because arriving the night prior is paramount to cheating.
So after we arrived and caught up on the haps... Everyone was interested in my Korean adventures, of which I sadly had little to say. Such is me! But, yes, after catching up and resting a bit, we went on our merry way to the bus which would take us up to Kawaguchiko 5th Station, which is I guess 2303m above sea level. So, 1476m to hike past that. Doesn't seem like much OR DOES IT.
Upon arriving at the 5th station, we all bought doodads. Some of us bought gloves and walking sticks. Gloves for warmth, and walking sticks to get marks at various stations proving you made it there! I, of course, bought both. 'Cause I rock. We donned our Warmth Suits, got our picture taken, and began the hike.
It was, of course, dark by this time. I can't remember if we left at 7 or 8pm. Probably somewhere in between. We left at this time in order to see the sunset from the top. Honestly, I wasn't keeping track of the time simply because that was not my priority. I was focused entirely on the climb at that point. I knew it was going to be tough for me. I am, after all, pretty out of shape. Rotund?
Well, that focus lasted for all of about five minutes until we first got a good view of the city below from our height. With all the flickering lights and the lake surrounded by flickering lights and oooh it was nice. I got some pictures, but alas, they were rather poor. Again, foiled by low lighting! Stupid grainy pictures grr. One o' dese days...
Nonetheless. Beautiful stuff.
If anything, this view invigorated me. It gave me purpose. I climbed without complaint for a long time. I had my doubts I would be able to make it to the top, but I knew that I wanted to, at the very least, and that was enough to keep me going for the time being.
We climbed, we took breaks, we climbed some more. Eventually we separated, as some wanted to go faster. I was in the slowest group, with Matt and Nisrene. (I created the slowest group!) I was getting tired. My right leg was hurting. Sharp pain in my right thigh and foot with every step. I had to sort of... throw my leg, instead of lift it. I wanted to give up so many times. But they wouldn't let me. Bastards!
I pushed on. At nearly every station, I would say, "I'm not going any further. I'm not going to make it." 'Cause I'm a quitter, I am. But every time, they'd convince me to continue on. Then we made it to a station and decided to get something hot to eat and drink. Lo and behold, the other group was in there! While Nisrene and I waited in line, Matt went and met them. Then abandoned us!! Oh, the humanity! As we sat and ate, he took them and ran off! Later he says, "I thought you guys were giving up!" Oh, sure. Sure. You just got tired of me holding you back.
But anyway, we kept going. Pushing on and on. I surely would've given up had doing so not left Nisrene alone. I would've felt bad. Such is me! We reached the last station before long, waiting in many a slow, slow line. Lines! To climb a mountain! Can you imagine? Let's just say, it was a little crowded, eh?
Protip: Do not climb Mt. Fuji on a holiday weekend. Please! Listen to me!
Finally we reached the last station before the summit! I could feel it; we were getting close. We'd be there soon enough. But then we saw Kira and Tyler sitting inside the station! We said hello and they had informed us that they gave up! I scoffed at the comment: "But we're so close!" Adamant in their decision to remain inside, we went on. I couldn't hold it against them, anyway. I desperately wanted to give up, and I wasn't even the one with altitude sickness! It was merely a weak mind and body responsible for my misgivings. Thanks to my last remaining climbing partner's encouragement, however, I soldiered on.
The line was slow and we'd by this time entered cloud level. And there was a cloud. SO MUCH FOR THAT SUNSET, HUH? It was cold. Soon enough, she started feeling sick and decided to turn back. I didn't want to give up at this point because I thought we were close to the top. So I kept going.
Turns out I was wrong. And the line was slow. And it was cold. And wet. And I was breathing cloud. And it was windy as hell. In short, as time went on, I grew more and more miserable. Every breath, every step, I wanted to turn around. But I kept thinking I was close! Like, within an hour's time, I'd be there!
IT DIDN'T HAPPEN.
In an about hour and a half, I saw a tori gate. HELL YES I'M FINALLY THERE. And then I got closer. ALMOST. And then I reached the tori gate. And above, I could see the line going further into the cloud. Shiiiiiit, man. I'm going to die.
Misery. Absolute misery. By this time, I was far, far beyond my physical limits. Have you ever been so physically exhausted that it starts to affect your mind? Neither had I. Pain, moisture, cold, wind, pain. It wouldn't fucking end. I dreaded every step. And what slow steps they were! The goddamn line was so slow. Pain. I was on the verge of tears, crying out for mommy! I wanted nothing more than to give up and just fall asleep. But I couldn't do it. I wouldn't give in.
Why? Fuck if I know. I was getting pretty delirious. I don't even know if I was really conscious of what I was doing after a while.
It was so cold.
At one point some girl passed me by as I was resting and asked if I was okay. "Wh-?" I mumbled. "Oh...mhm yeah." She acknowledged my response and walked on. I sat there wishing I'd had the balls to say no so I could get some help. What kind of help she could have given me, I don't even know.
I got up. Walked on. Walked more. Waiting for the line, walking, waiting, one step at a time, walking. Cold.
If this seems a bit rambly and mad, then I'm getting my point across. If not? Well, I'm trying. Forgive me.
After what seemed like a fucking eternity (such a cliché, but now I know what it really means), I found myself at the final tori gate. I could see the shrine above. Halle-fucking-lujah.
Make no mistake. I wasn't exactly happy. I knew I'd still have to walk back DOWN the mountain. Ffff. I walked around a bit, took some pictures (not even madness can keep me from a good photo!), got my staff stamped, bought a couple souvenirs, sat down, and pondered just what the hell I was going to do. I knew in my heart there was no way I'd be making it down the mountain in my condition. I was past my limit three times over.
I needed warmth. Ordered some hot ramen. It was fucking delicious. Gave me a little pep, but not enough.
Ahhh, fuck. I had to go eventually. Might as well be now, right? I went, down the other path.
Still cold, still wet, still miserable, but I just kept walking. Eventually I put on my iPod. Turns out even music wasn't going to help me this time. Music has never failed me before! Whenever I'm down or angry, I listen to something, anything, and I feel at least a little better!
The only thing music did for me this time was give me a rhythm to hike to. Which was at least a little helpful, I suppose.
The pinnacle of negativity! You have no idea.
I tried as hard as I could to simply focus on the music for as long as I could. It sort of worked except not really at all.
But then, I saw something that blew me away and instantly cured me of ---
well i was going to write about how seeing the view of the city in the daylight instead of at night after i got below the cloud line rejuvenated me instantly but i just went to get some photos off my sd card to show in this blog post and the card got fried somehow
so fuck it
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