The next stop on the Japan travels, Mt Fuji. My previous trip here ended with me opening up a gash under my knee, hiking off the mountain and going to an emergency room in Tokyo. So Fuji and I had unfinished business. I caught a shinkansen train from Kyoto to Fujisan, a city at the base of the volcano. From there it was another 2 hours by bus to the trail head, located at a lofty altitude of 2400 meters. The weather was perfect for hiking, blue skies and no breeze. I went up the mountain, slow and steady, ever mindful of altitude sickness. I reached the peak long after the sunset and spent an amazing, albeit cold night on the top of the mountain watching the sky and waiting for the sun to come up. It was beautiful and I found myself unable to sleep at all, I just stared off into the sky and watched the stars give way to the sunrise.

I love hiking, getting to the top of a mountain and and over-looking the land re-affirms for me what a vast place the world is. It reminds me that there are and always will be so many things I don’t know and will never know. I love the perspective it gives me, and it’s a lesson I gladly learn again with every hike.