MT FUJI

Hi Y'all, This is Jeff not Marsha. I figure I would write about my third Mt Fuji Trip. A lot of people think I am crazy for hiking Mt Fuji three times, but I enjoy hiking. Many people who hike Mt Fuji are not hikers, they just do it to say they have done it. The trip went well! The bus ride was long as usual, but we got down there in around 9 hours. I had my standard pre-trip meal, McDonalds. This had worked for me in the past so I figure I would eat the same stuff as the previous two trips. I was up around 0230 in the Morning because we were leaving at 0330. We got there around 0600. I made good time, the best for me so far. I got up in 4 hours 11 minutes and back down in 1 hour 53 minutes. The first year I went up it took me 5 hours 30 minutes up and 2 hour 45 minutes down. The second year was 4 hours 45 minutes up and 2 hours 8 minutes down. You can see I did a lot better. I started out at a good pace but once I reached that high altitude I started to slow down. Many people think that going down is the worst but I think it is better because I can breath better, I don't sweat as much, and it is faster. One thing about getting done quickly you have to sit around and wait for everyone else to get done. The bus did not leave until around 1900 and I was done about 1230. Therefore, I had a lot of time to kill. My legs and butt muscles are still feeling it two days later. I did not have my hiking legs ready like I did last year. What I mean by this is last year I was not as sore as this year and I contribute that to hiking the mountains around here before I did Mt. Fuji. This year was different because I have not had the time to go hiking around here yet and Mt. Fuji was my first hike of this year (outside that snowshoeing trip I took back in March). Hiking works different muscles and you can tell by your first one that you have not hiked for awhile. But I love Mt Fuji and if I had a chance I would do it again.