Sarah and Kevin climb a mountain

Some days you wake up and never want to get out of bed. Other times you get up to find the sky blue and the air cool. You think to yourself ‘why not hike a mountain today?’ So that is precisely what I did with my Sunday. I texted Kevin and asked if he might care to join me and a few hours later we met at Mitsutoge park, combined our picnics together and set our course uphill.

The hike was absolutely beautiful. The cooler altitude was already painting the leaves red and the sunlight shone through the forest canopy dappling the rough trail with warm light. Every break in the trees offered a stunning view of the valley floor as we crept higher. In the distance Mt. Fuji towered over Fujiyoshida. We stopped often for breaks and Kevin found himself sitting on a wood dragon disguised as a log.

After about the first two hours, the trail got a bit less steep and opened up onto a little clearing. There were a bunch of stone markers and over eighty Buddhist statues all dressed in red. It was a very peaceful little rest point. After that we crossed a land bridge with a forested drop on either side, and found ourselves halfway around the mountain with an even better view of Fuji. There was this precarious point on the path where it looked prone to landslides and then in our excitement we scared ourselves up a bear!

Continuing around the mountain was a cliff face, where rock climbers were doing their thing, and beyond that a miniature waterfall squeezed water so pure from the rock I couldn’t resist a drink. The trail twisted and turned in, out and over little autumn flecked ravines, a bridge or two, past a few abandoned buildings and up to the base of the last leg. Here our final obstacle was these brutal stairs that’s sole purpose was to get in the hikers way. I suppose over years of erosion some of them gave way so instead of being helpful and horizontal they stick up uselessly and vertical. One must now step over the stair in order to make it to the top.

And there we were at last! It was magnificent. The sun was low and golden, casting a flattering light over the world. We were high enough to be able to see the cliff to the left, Tsuru beneath us, Fuji to the right and then Kofu behind us. 1700 meters. Three times the height of little old Iwadono-san in Otsuki. We ate some lunch (maybe early dinner at that point,) admired the view until the wind grew cold and made our descent.

As we had a late start it was no surprise that we ended up doing the second half of the descent in the dark. But we made excellent time hiking down and got to the car around six making it five hours up and down. Decent use of a day off. The day was finished with pizza and hot chocolate as every hike should be.