15 things i wish i knew before
solo bullet climbing mt fuji
As soon as i saw a photo of the Mt Fuji crater, i knew that I wanted to climb it.
The idea of watching the sunrise on top of a volcano sounds incredible, but I know that I would not sleep a wink in the hiking huts and did not want to snake my way up at 3am with hundreds of others (yes I am talking about you Bali).
So i made up my mind.
I was going to go up and down in one day. Not only do I not regret it – I would recommend it if you have similar concerns!
Note that I have done long hikes before and would consider myself an experienced hiker with a good level of fitness. It took me 6 hours up and down with short snack and coffee breaks, and I spent some time at the crator taking photos. As you can see – the weather was not great the day I went up! Unfortunately I was on a tight schedule so it was that day or never for me. For reference I hiked the day after the trial opened on the Yoshida trail on 2nd July.
That being said, I would have done things different. I made mistakes so now you do not have to!
15 things i wish i knew before bullet climbing mt fuji solo
1. You will need to take a bus to the start of the hike – and these sell out, Quick. If you are coming from Tokyo you will need to get an early bus (they start before 6am. You can buy your ticket online at japanbusonline,com and even two weeks before the earliest one was sold out.
2. It is harder that you think it will be. Yes i have hiked before. Yes up volcanos.
3. BUT hiking up and down in one day is not as tough as everyone makes out online so long as you are used to longer tiring hiking days
4. You can leave your big bag in the lockers at the bottom at Yoshida 5th station. The lockers are inside two of the shops there – a wooden one and the more modern looking souvenir shop that the bus drops you off in front off. I would recommend the latter. It took me a while to find these as I was expecting a large locker room type building like in the train stations – they are just inside the shops!
5. If there is a chance of rain, take waterproof trousers. I have hiked alot and never needed them but the rain was really coming down when I got off the bus, Luckily the more modern looking shop at Yoshida sold plasticy ones for a reasonable price about USD$8. It was worth the ‘boil in the bag’ experience to keep the cold rain out.
6. You can buy food, snacks on the bottom and the way up, with increasing price. You can even get hot coffee on the trail! For me it was worth not carrying all of my water to buy another bottle on the way down.
7. If you are going at the very start or end of the hiking season, check which trails are open before making plans. When I went only Yoshida was open.
8. Trails have a ‘up way’ and a ‘down way’. It will be VERY busy on your way down as everyone is coming up for sunrise (smug face).
9. The road to Yoshida station closes at 8pm, so not taxis can come in. The last bus time online was much later than the actual last bus time (7pm online vs 5:30pm on the day).
10. The customer service desk at Yoshiba is unbelievable helpful and help with bus timetables, taxis, everything. Even trains for the next part of your trip!
11. CHECK THE CLOSING TIME OF THE PLACE YOU LEAVE YOUR LOCKER. Do not climb over counters like i did….The older looking wooden restaurant building closed off the areas with the lockers at 5pm.
12. I wish I had not rushed myself hiking it, i wish i had just accepted the fact that i would be paying for a taxi and enjoyed the hike! I managed to share a taxi in Lake Kawaguchi.
13. I stayed at Lake Kawaguchi afterwards and it was absolutely the best decision. Waking up there the next day was stunning!
14. Download the google map or maps.me offline – there is not signal and the bottom part of the hike is not as straight forward as you might think!
15. The weather changes QUICKLY. If the weather turns bad when you are at the top – watch out! That crater appears out of nowhere if it is cloudy.
