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Fuji training, and exploring Asahikawa combined in one: hiking up Mount Asahidake
Climbing up
Since have booked a tour to climb Mount Fuji on the 16th of July, we have been trying to make sure we are in good enough shape to make the trek. As a test run, and to explore more of Hokkaido, we decided to hike up the nearby mountain of Asahidake, which is the tallest mountain in Hokkaido.
To get there, we walked to a bus stop nearby and it dropped us off right at the ropeway which goes part of the way up the mountain. While it is possible to hike the entire thing, that generally takes multiple days which is far more than we were prepared to undertake.
The ropeway landing had some short boardwalks as well as a small refreshment stand, but it is high enough up that it is the last toilet on the way to the summit. After a short stop for a snack, we set off up the mountain!
While it was clear at the ropeway, as we started hiking it got colder, cloudier, and windier. I wish I had brought my toque! Thankfully with our rain jackets and a sweater the hiking kept us warm enough, although we weren't inclined to linger. Most of the folks were climbing in small groups, with plenty of foreigners as well as Japanese. There was one American woman we were hiking near for a while named Debbie. Her kids (about our age) had gone ahead up to the top, while she was trekking along at her own pace and chatting with all the folks around her.
As we continued higher and higher the sorest part of my legs was my calves. The mountain side featured a lot of small rocks and was very steep, so you were walking mostly on your toes, rather than walking heel-to-toe as you would on flat ground. There were a couple breaks in the clouds on our way up and the sun brought some much appreciated warmth when it broke through, but it was mostly a steep walk up with poor visibility and chilly winds.
However, when we reached the summit we were in luck! The clouds cleared significantly and we could see down both sides of the mountain which was lovely! There were a couple Japanese hiking groups at the top, and we joined them in resting and snacking before heading back down again. As a bonus, we had made good time based on the recommended estimates which was reassuring.
We were super lucky that things stayed clear on our way down. While we had been hiking up the clouds, you weren't able to appreciate the view, but on the way down there were plenty of opportunities. The sides of the valley were quite steep! Overall the hike down was good, although the small loose stones meant you had to be careful where and how you stepped so you didn't slide. As it is, both Jesse and I ended up on our bums, but neither of us was injured.
However, we ended up in a bit of a pickle once we made it back to the ropeway. See the ropeway runs until nearly 6 o'clock, so we assumed there would be a bus back around 5 at least. But there are only 3 busses a day, and the last bus leaves at 3:45! We were back at the base of the ropeway for 4 o'clock and there is no hope that the bus was simply running late. This is Japan after all!
Jesse started looking up taxi options (frightfully expensive) while I wondered if we might be able to get a ride at least partway with Debbie and her kids who had come down in the same ropeway car as us. See Asahidake is in the middle of nowhere, but there are a number of smaller towns nearby on train lines or with busses to Asahikawa that would have been annoying but would have gotten us home. So if we could be dropped off in any town nearby it would be very helpful. However, we didn't know what Debbie and her kids had planned, or how they had gotten to Asahidake in the first place.
I decided to simply strike up conversation again (easy enough considering how willing she was to chat on the hike) and from there the natural question came up of "where are you going next". When we said "home to Asahikawa but we're not sure how since the busses are done for the day" Debbie really came through for us and offered us a ride. And so that is how we wrapped up our afternoon sitting in a back seat with Debbie, with her daughter driving, chatting about this, that, and the other thing! They were headed to Asahikawa anyways, and dropped us off quite close to our house which was lovely, and from there all we had to do was grab a quick supper, and head home to rest!
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