Fujisan, where are you?

With Bülent in tow, our journey takes us to Mount Fuji. We can't quite believe it when it suddenly appears in front of us. Since we've been driving for a long time, we decide to visit it the next day. But where is it, the mountain? We can't see it anymore. Yet we're quite certain it was here yesterday... Yes, that's called bad luck. That such a big mountain has to hide from us. But we won't let that stop us. We just keep driving until we reach the fifth station parking lot at an altitude of 2400 meters. We still don't see anything. Just a few Japanese people squeezing through the closed gate of the hiking trail. We think that's a good idea and do the same. The official hiking season actually starts in July. Before that, the trails are closed and you enter at your own risk. It's quite chilly up here. Bülent doesn't have any other shoes and walks with us in flip flops (...!!!) up the Fujinomiya trail. The trail consists of large volcanic stones and finely ground volcanic sand. When we arrive at the sixth station after a few minutes, we decide to split up. Salia and I want to go further and higher. It would be too strenuous for Bülent and Namira. So the two of us continue on our way. We at least want to make it to the snow line. Said and done. But we want to see more. Since we hadn't planned such a long hike, we are unprepared and have neither food nor drink with us. We walk and walk through the dense fog and eat snow. But suddenly I see a patch of blue. And all of a sudden, we have passed through the layer of clouds. The sun immediately warms us up, although it wouldn't have been necessary. We see that the summit is not far away and in the end, we make it to a mountain hut called Ikeda-kan, almost at the same altitude as the eighth station (Last station before the summit) of the neighboring trail. We proudly stand at 3700 meters. The summit is still covered with plenty of snow. Salia is simply amazing. Just walks up Mount Fuji with her delicate feet. Meanwhile, the others are freezing their limbs off in the parking lot because I foolishly had the car keys in my jacket pocket... We quickly walk back down the mountain. I have to carry Salia from time to time as she gets very tired. We slip a few times on the crumbling rocks. Fortunately, not seriously. But we have to hurry because the sun is setting. But just as it's getting too dark to hike, we reach the parking lot with sore feet, where the others run towards us cheering. The Pink Man is also there, supplying us with snacks and hot cocoa. Pink Man will climb Mount Fuji for the 49th time the next day. He is an idiot if he has never climbed Fuji, and he is an idiot if he climbs it twice. Such a wise saying.

Now we all need a round of Onsen.