exhaustedOy, I'm not in as good of shape as I'd hoped or thought I was in. This was a painful hike (took seven hours, when it should have taken 4 to 5, maybe, and also, burned myself in a few places due to sloppy sunscreen application). But... We made it, and back, and no one got eaten by a bear or anything.
And, my knees feel fine; I was careful, but that's a relief nonetheless, since they've often given me problems. A very good sign. Wish I'd remembered to bring my hiking poles, though -- it would have made things a little easier.
However, after this hike, I'm reconsidering my options on climbing Fuji-san... I guess it depends on how much better shape I can manage to get into, in, oh, six weeks or so. I'm now fully considering wimping out and starting from the fifth station instead of Fuji-Yoshida.
Anyway, I took a lot of pictures, including (for some reason) a lot of pictures of dogs (and kept a number of them. It sort of became, er, a "hobby" as the day went on. We saw so many dogs on the mountain -- I don't remember seeing any at all my last time up).
Anyway, the usual pictures (as usual, click through to see the whole set).
Me, at 14,060 feet above sea level:
