7:30 am — TSH, day 5

富士山絶景ポイント

Today I let myself spend an extra hour in the bed, ate all the heavy (I mean weight) food I had left and moved out around 7am. The morning was great, the views were splendid and the road was more or less flat. All you need to enjoy a light morning hike.

Mt. Fuji from road with yellow flower fields
Rice paddies with houses and mountains

9:30 am — Jason

At some point of the trail I caught up with a guy with a suspiciously big backpack (local hikers usually use smaller ones). His name is Jason and he turned out to be also hiking TSH, yet at a significantly slower pace (and that is a good thing to do if you want to enjoy the surroundings). Thus both of us are now foreigners who at least tried to through-hike TSH: that’s Tom, Jason and me.

Btw, Jason is going to make an English guide to TSH and I think it is really great, because right now the only information available in English is Nomadic Tom’s blog, and the trail is really nice so far, it would be great if it was more accessible. Good luck, Jason! I hope you’ll make it! Btw, if you send me your selfie I’ll add it here ;)

10:00 am — Fuji Sengenjinja

While we were walking with Jason we strayed a bit off the trail and after we separated our ways I went back to the nearest trail point. Soon enough I got to Fuji Sengenjinja, a big beautiful temple at the base of mt.Fuji. Really nice place I’d like to return to. Just with a bit lighter backpack and a bit more time. Actually, one of the Fuji climbing trails starts there so I may consider using it instead of going from Gotemba. I’ll think about it later.

Large torii gate and temple entrance
Dragon water fountain at shrine

11:30 am — Plans

Remember I said that following plans is a good thing to do? It is. After all the great experiences of the last few days, while I was eating a plate of hot Japanese curry in a curry place I decided to go a bit farther today. That’s because the forecast says it’ll be raining all day tomorrow and I have a spare day so I decided to find a place better than the one planned and spend the whole rainy day there. And it just so happened that this better place is only half a day of walking farther…

Panorama of conifer forest from viewpoint
Hazy mountain layers in distance

3:30 pm — Ashiwadayama view point

The hike went well and before even realizing it I got to this nice chain of viewpoints.

Wooden observation tower with backpack
Lake surrounded by mountains from above
Two pine trees framing a cloud-shrouded Mt. Fuji

5:30 pm — Ice cave

On my way down I managed to get to Narusava ice cave just 15 minutes before the closing time. They were nice enough to let me in. The cave itself is small yet with the entrance fee of a mere 300 yen it’s worth it.

By the way, they ask there where you are from and mark the flags of the countries. We found the Ukrainian flag on the second page and I was the first Ukrainian to visit them (don’t know the time interval though) so they made a discount for me.

Blue-lit ice pillars in cave
Ice formations through railing in cave
Illuminated ice stalagmites in cave

9:00 pm — Wrapping the day

With the help of local patrol I was able to find a place to stay for a night near Shoji lake. Thank you, guys! I was able to get there about an hour after sunset, so I had a short “forest in the dark” experience. It was nice yet a bit spooky.

Cons of the place: staff is absolutely non-English speaking, food is not included, no stores in the direct vicinity, there is no wifi here.

Pros: it is a traditional Japanese inn with all the stuff like greeting a guest with a cup of tea, owners are really great people, it is nice and clean, my room may have a Fuji view from the window (although it is dark and cloudy), it is cheaper than a room in a hotel, it is less than a hundred meters away from the trail, there is no wifi here.

I like it. I have enough food prepared and the experience is precious.