Conquering the tallest mountain of Japan
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Fujiyoshida City seen from the 7th-Station
The Hike
As mentioned a few times now, I can only vouch for the Yoshida Trail on the Northern face of the mountain. The other 3 trails might be different.
We started at the Fujiyoshida 5th-Station, which is where buses coming up the Subaru Line tollroad can drop you off. The 5th-station was like a little village, complete with 2 or 3 supply/souvenir shops, a handful of restaurants, and other travel ammenities like lockers and restrooms. Being there for the popular night hike, I left the 5th-station around 7:30pm, after having stayed around for an hour to get the recommended "altitude acclamation adjustment" time... though, honestly, I didn't feel like there was much difference in the air quality while I was there.
The Yoshida Trail starts off easy enough. Initially it's just like any forest walk, though the ground is made up of chunks of volanic ash instead of just dirt and leaves. It's ground up enough to be like tiny pebbles, but after a while, it starts to feel like you're walking on crumbled up bricks.
After about an hour or so of forest walking, the incline begins to steepen. Now you're walking still on dirt/ash paths, but you need to put more leg-muscle into it. You're going to be zig-zagging a bit as you ascend. It's hardly what I would consider difficult, just strenuous since you're going to be doing it for 2-3 hours.
After you reach the 8th-station, the incline becomes so steep that you're essentially just climbing up giant rocks. Luckily they are solid enough to support the weight of a human with plenty of foot holes and arm-holds. It was easy enough to do with low-light conditions, and honestly, it was the most fun part. There are a few poles sticking out here and there you can use as a grip, but there definitely could have been more. Some sections have chains/ropes to mark the path. I'm not sure if you're supposed to use them for pulling yourself up, but they sure did work well in that respect. As long as you move slow and take great care with each step, it's an easy course.
The paths vary in width. At some points, we could move 3 side-by-side; at other points, just one person could fit through. Actually, what I hated most were the stairs. In some areas, they had just boards of wood holding up parts of the mountain in a stair-like fashion. Some were easy to step up, but quite a few required you to actually lift yourself up, as they were a bit higher than your normal stair step (this is where I earned my one semi-serious injury... a nasty cut on the back of my hand from tripping over one of the higher steps). Worse, however, are the constructed stone steps leading up to the stations. They are of various height and depth, and they don't always appear to be sturdy. I was worried of slipping most when I came to these sections.
The trail guide I had says it takes about 80-120 minutes to pass through each station. I don't know what estimate they were using. Like, does that include stopping to catch your breath for 5 minutes every now and then? Does that include a 30-minute break at the station houses? Must not because the group I was with was running waaay behind schedule, apparently, taking as much as 2-3 hours to move through each major checkpoint. The Yoshida Trail can be conquered from 5th-station to the 10th-station (summit) in as quickly as 5 hours, though most take 7 or 8 hours. Of course, maybe that's in favorable weather. Let me tell you about my personnel experience on Mouth Fuji.
A random torii gate on the Subashiri Descent Trail surrounded by mist and fog
