Climbing Mt. Fuji with Kids - Subashiri Trail

I took my little brother, and 8 & 6 year old sons for a 2-day hike up Mount Fuji.

We drove 2 hours from the outer-tokyo area to get to the Michinoeki Subashiri Road Station, where buses take you to the 5th station during climbing season.

Parking was free, but it cost about ¥2000 and took 30-minutes for the bus ride.

Something to keep in mind is there is no running water on Mt. Fuji, so you have to pay for water and even to use the bathroom. And its gets more expensive the higher you go up.

I remember paying ¥2000 last time to fill-up my camelbak, so this time, cheapskate that I am, I carried ~9L/2gallons of water with me… it was heavy but worth it I think.

8 year ago I climbed Fuji with my wife, I had taken the very popular Yoshida trail, so this time I decided to take the Subashiri trail

I’m glad I did, I thought it was so much more interesting, with trees and changing landscapes, I remember the yoshida just being never-ending bland lava rocks the whole way up.

The Yoshida trail does have a lot more mountain huts where you can buy food, water, and toilet use. But I liked that the Subashiri trail has only 1/7th of the amount of people.

We got to the 5th station at 12:30 in the afternoon, and reached the 6th station at 2:00pm, original 6th station at 2:30pm, 7th station at 4:15pm, and original 7th station at 5:00pm.

We stayed at the Miharashikan Mountain Hut on the 7th station (¥10,000 per person with dinner and breakfast).

Ate Dinner, went to bed around 7pm, and woke up at 2am.

Shoulder to Shoulder sleeping Bags in the Hut.

Departing the original 7th station at 2:15am wearing all the layers we had (even August is very cold), we reached the 8th station at 3:30am, then the original 8th station at 4:00am

By 4:20 we had reached a line to the summit. If there was no line, it would have taken us just 15 minutes more to reach the summit, but it took triple the amount of time because of the slow line.

Finally summited at 5:05, enjoyed the sunrise for a few minutes, then got a piping hot bowl of ramen ¥1000.

The descent is a different trail than the ascent and there is a lot of loose dirt that you kind of have to skip/run down. Lots of dirt will get in your shoe, my advice is embrace it and enjoy the ride!

Links:

* Mt Fuji Driving Directions: https://www.fujisan-climb.jp/en/acces...

* Subashiri Trail Parking & Bus-Stop if Driving: https://goo.gl/maps/kVzxavLkpaUoSzFP9

* Miharashikan Mountain Hut: https://www.fujimountainguides.com/mi...