Hiking at Mt. Fuji and other adventures...

Josh was given a day of special liberty on Monday (a.k.a. a free day off!!), so we decided to take the opportunity to get away for the weekend. Life has been so hectic lately and we were really looking forward to a chance to relax and be together. (Knowing that if we just stayed at home to relax, we would fill our days with errands and household chores for sure - funny how that works!)

We booked a "villa" in a town called Gotenba which is near Hakone and the foothills of Mt. Fuji. We arrived in the early afternoon on Saturday, took a nap, relaxed in our room, and went out for dinner and a walk in the evening. It was perfect autumn weather and the leaves were just starting to show some color, so it was particularly refreshing.

On Sunday we woke up and got a quick breakfast at a nearby bakery and then headed for the 5th hiking station of Mt. Fuji. The 5th station is the highest point that you can drive to to begin hiking up the mountain. Open season for hiking Mt. Fuji only lasts through July and August because of the extreme weather conditions, so our goal was not the peak this time. (We'll have to do that next summer!) Plus, we did have a 3 month old with us and as it was, we were all bundled up in all the layers of clothes that we had brought! (I forgot how chilly it can be when you start climbing in elevation - oops!) Unfortunately, we did not get great views of Fuji in all its splendor because it was shrouded in its usual blanket of fog and clouds...but we did get to hike up to the 6th station and then along a trail until we reached a volcanic crater! There, the fog lifted just long enough for us to get some pictures and hike down and around the pit of hardened lava - it was very cool.

One day Elise will get to tell her friends that she ate and had a diaper change at the bottom of a crater on Mt. Fuji. (well, maybe not the diaper changing part!) She was a great sport - all bundled up in several layers of fleece and other clothing with socks on her hands for mittens! (being a July baby, this was her first experience with chilly weather!)

After walking up and down in piles of scree (an accumulation of loose stones or rocky debris lying on a slope or at the base of a hill or cliff - thank you webster's) for several hours, we decided to take a more stable wooded trail back to our car. We then had dinner on our way to the hotel and enjoyed another quiet and relaxing evening in Gotenba.

On Monday we woke up to another beautiful day with clear blue skies and thought that surely we would be able to catch some great views of Fuji before we headed home...those hopes were quickly dashed as we drove back towards the mountain. The closer we got to the mountain, the darker and more foreboding the sky became. We kept going and arrived at another 5th station location with a light rain falling and dark clouds all around. By the time I fed Elise, the rain had kind of stopped, so we decided to hike around for a few hours before leaving for Yokosuka. This time we hiked a more horizontal trail around the base of the mountain - though woods, over bridges, and along hardened lava slides. We didn't see anyone else the whole time we were hiking, so it was kind of like having the mountain to ourselves.

Hopefully, we'll catch some clear views of Mt. Fuji when we go back to hike and camp in the spring. For now, we're just so thankful for the fun and relaxing weekend that we had!