Stories from the Mount Fuji Trip

Although my previous post talked about the pain involved when we climbed Mount Fuji this weekend, we also had experiences that we will remember forever. One, of course, was the actual experience of climbing Mount Fuji, But there were other things that happened during the day that were genuinely memorable.

On our drive to Mount Fuji, our van started to overheat. I had to try to coax the van by stopping occasionally, letting the engine cool down and adding water. On one point, we were on the side of the tollway with our hazard lights on. A vehicle with flashing lights pulled up behind us. It was a traffic patroller - their job is to help when there is an accident or a vehicle breaks down. The gentlemen was so nice, he asked if we needed water for the radiator, he sat out emergency cones and brought water for us to drink. He also gave us a pamphlet that had a telephone number on it. Despite the language barrier, he was able to communicate to me that, if we called the number, the operator would be able to help us find a tow truck and a place to repair the van. Unbelievably nice.

While we were driving, I told Andrea and Zach about the trail we were going to take to the summit. The trail is called Yoshida. As I was doing research for the climb, I found that Yoshida was the easiest and most used trail. But there was one warning about the Yoshida trail - make sure you don't take the wrong trail on the way down. There is a point on the descent where the Yoshida trail goes to the left and the Subashiri trail goes to the right. I said to remember that the trails on color-coded and that the Yoshida trail has the yellow signs. I reminded everyone again as we began our hike - always take the yellow signs.
Because of the meniscus tear in my left knee, I was pretty slow on the descent. I told Zach and Andrea not to worry about staying with me and to go at your own pace. Around the 8th station, Andrea was waiting for me. She was waiting because there was a sign that looked like the point where the trails diverged. She wanted to make sure that she was right. This was the place. However, she hadn't seen Zach so we didn't know if he taken the right trail.
A couple of hours later, I finally made it back to the 5th Station - our starting point. Andrea was there but no Zach. Turned out that he took the Subashiri Trail and ended up on the other side of the mountain. Andrea and I rode our bus back to Fujikawaguchiko Station and Zach was waiting there for us - after a $200 taxi ride. Stay yellow, pony boy.

At the end of the day, we still needed to try to find some coolant for our tip back to Yokosuka. Earlier, I had noticed what looked like a mom and pop gas station. At the gas station, there were two old ladies that reminded me of my grandmother - very sweet and kind. The ladies came out to help me and understood that I needed coolant. After looking at how worn down we were, I think they felt sorry for us. As one lady mixed the coolant for the van, the other lady brought tea and candy to Zach and Andrea. Then after I put the coolant into the van, she brought a huge bottle of water to add to the coolant reservoir. Using her limited English and hand gestures to communicate, she let me know that she wanted me to keep the bottle of water in case we overheated. She also brought me another bottle of water - she again was able to get me to understand that one bottle was for the car and one bottle was for us to drink. Unbelievably nice.
But then she motioned for me to wait. She proceeded to give us two plastic cups filled with cherry tomatoes that she had grown herself - she motioned to her garden in front of the station. She again motioned for me to wait. This time, she came out with 3 large cucumbers. She proceeded to wash and cut the cucumbers. While she cutting the cucumbers, the other lady brought out a bag of rolls and gave them to Andrea. Lastly, she brought out a packet of wipes so we could wash our hands before eating. It was truly one of the ;most surreal moments of my life - standing outside an old gas station late at night while two women, who reminded me of my grandmother, showed us kindness that I had never experienced outside of my own family.

Here are the tomatoes and the sliced cucumbers.

Here is one of the two water
bottles that the ladies gave us.

Such a memorable day - and climbing Mount Fuji is only one of the many things that we will remember from that day.