Mt. Fuji Summit
Time: ~9am Elevation: 3,775m
To read about our ascent, click here!
To read about our time at the summit, click here!
The ascending trail is too steep and too crowded to have people descend on it at the same time, so the decent is actually carried out on a separate trail.
As we followed the switchbacks going down, large vehicles carting supplies to the summit passed us. The weather was nice, even with the threat of a huge cloud bank on our left, and we could actually see the many stations we stopped at on the way up!
It’s a lonnnng way back.
And a lonnnng way down!
The Black Sand Run
Once we got to the 7th Station, the Subashiri Trail’s descent turns into something called the ‘black sand run.’
It’s a section of the trail that is straight, steep, and covered in a deep layer of black volcanic pebbles. If you put on gaiters, you can literally run down this section, sinking into the pebbles with each step, and make it down the mountain in no time! Unfortunately, one of our members actually fell doing that last year and beat up his face. Every time we started to get a good speed going, he’d yell at us, “Slow down! Face break, face break! No no no!” haha.
It took me much longer than everyone else to get all the way down, and by the end I was using a hiking pole more like a crutch. My legs were in so much pain that I wouldn’t let myself sit down; I didn’t think I’d be able to get back up if I did! Hunter was a real trooper during this part. He carried my backpack for me a couple of times and kept me moving forward.
When we finally walked back into the 5th Station, I felt absolutely amazing. We limped onto the bus; this time we were the only hikers on it. The rest of the passengers were all tourists, who stared at us wide-eyed as we made our way to the back. More than one person leaned away from us. Probably a combination of avoiding both our huge backpacks and our ripe odor haha. We didn’t mind at all; we had successfully climbed Mt. Fuji!
