Our Mt Fugi Climb

This is when the fog started setting in right before the drizzle came. Right before the climb started getting really hard.





THis is the map at the base of the mountain showing the different trails you can take up. We were warned many times to stay on the path you start out on or else you will end up somehwere that is really hard to get back from.







This is us at the base of the mountain.


So, I promised more pictures from Japan. One of the highlights was our climb up Mt Fuji. I guess I have always taken for granted climbing a mountain when I read it in a book. You know "Jesus went to the Mt of Olives.." Climbing a mountain is just plain hard work!!! The big thing with climbing Mt Fuji is that most people arrange it so that you get to the top for the sunrise. Of course we wanted to be like "MOST" people. We started around 4:30 PM at the 5th station (there are 10 stations, but you only climb 5 of them). A bus carried us to the 5th station. We were supposed to make it to the 8.5 station before nightfall which is about 8PM (that's when they turn of the electricity). Almost as soon as we started climbing, the fog came in as well as drizzle, which made climing the volcanic rock...FUN to say the least. We made it to the 8.5 station in 3 hours and 20 minutes (it usually takes longer) I just had to add that. I was pretty proud of us. We passed a lot of "young college kids" on the way so that made me feel good. Anyway, we got to our $100 hotel which was more lilke a barracks-a hundred or so sleeping bags with bean pillows right next to each other. I guess they can charge that since they are 1 of 2 on the entire mountain. We went to sleep around 9PM and they woke us up around 2:30AM to finish the climb to the top. We did this and made it in time for the sunrise. It was such a beautiful place to be. One of those once-in-a-lifetime experiences and just such a beautiful reminder of God's awesome creation and what a priveledge it is to in the midst of His vastness. It made me realize once again how small I am, but how much I mean to Jesus. Here are some pictures from the start of the trip-read down for pictures from the top...