It wasn't long after moving to Ishikawa prefecture, bordered on one side by the Sea of Japan and on the other by mountains, that Jorden and I heard of Japan's thee holy peaks. Of course, everyone's heard of Mt. Fuji, Japan's tallest mountain. But there are two others - and both not too far from our city - which have achieved "holy" status. Full disclaimer: despite having climbed all three, I never did my research to discover why exactly they're any more or less holy than any other mountains in Japan, since Shintoism essentially teachers that everything has a deity associated with it. Sorry!
Anyway, I decided to roll these three experiences into one for the sake of convenience. The mountains in question are Mt. Haku (2,702m, 8,864ft) Mt. Tate (pronounced tah-tay; 3,003m, 9,852ft) and of course Mt. Fuji (3,776m, 12,388ft). Sure, they're not much compared to Colorado's peaks... but they made for some great, scenic hiking.
Our first adventure was soon after arriving in Japan, when Jorden and I borrowed a friend's car and did a one day up-and-back on Mt. Haku. Actually, you can look back over this blog to
this post and see a bunch of pictures from when we climbed Hakusan the first time! Escaping the humid, stifling heat of the city was great, and for most of the day we had perfect mountain-climbing weather. But as we closed in on the summit, clouds rolled in and completely obscured any view. Last year I got my revenge, however, when our friend from church, Shiro, invited me to do an overnight trip. We started in the afternoon and hiked for a few hours, then spent the night at a shelter hut. We were up and at 'em the next morning by 3am, and managed to summit just as the sun was rising.
Tateyama proved to be quite the experience as well. I climbed with Shiro, my friend Joe, and John of brother-in-law fame, back in August 2014. But for the entire hike we were in the clouds, being saturated with moisture and battling both the wind and icy footing. At the summit, the wind was gusting so hard that I opted for the "three points of contact" rule so as not to be blown into oblivion.
For Fuji, I did a solo trip in June of this year, the weekend before climbing season started (in order to avoid the crowds). I retraced the steps that Jake, Dad, and I tried many years ago. This time I wasn't forced by a typhoon to spend the night in a bathroom, and instead climbed to the 8th station for dinner and a short sleep. The next morning I hit the trail again at 2am to make the 5:30 sunrise. Though the wind was miserably cold and strong, the views from the top were amazing, and I even got a clear view of the sunrise.
Not having a car, Jorden and I didn't get many chances to go hiking and escape the urban areas of Japan. So, these three trips definitely make my list! Now, here's some pictures:
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| The Fuji trailhead. By climbing while the trail was "closed," I avoided the legendary crowds of people on the summit! |
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| The hearth at the mountain lodge I stayed at on Fuji. |
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| Me at the summit of Fuji. The wind was inflating my rain coat so I look like Superman. |
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| The caldera of Mt. Fuji! Right before sunrise. |
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| The summit of Fuji, with the sunrise in the background. |
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| Looking towards Tokyo, seeing the sunrise. |
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| Our first trip to Hakusan... couldn't see anything! |
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| ...And my second attempt, when a bunch of friends. This time we saw the sunrise! |
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| About to head down Hakusan after watching the sunrise. |
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| John, Joe, and I at the top of Tateyama. We were inside a cloud the entire time so we were soaked when we summited. |
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| Shiro, Carole, and Russ making their way over the glaciers on Mt. Tateyama. |
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| The elevation marker on to of Mt. Tateyama. |
Curios what made the #7 spot? Stay tuned!
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