Hikes Round Fujigoko 2: Around Lake Kawaguchi

After our somewhat over ambitious hike the day before, we decided to have a slightly more relaxed walk the following day, a mere stroll around Lake Kawaguchi. Well, so much for that plan. It was (thankfully!) very flat, but it turned out to be about 25km, including the walk to and from our campsite to the lake, and by the end of the day we were all knackered! Luckily, with the help of a noodle break half way round, and an ice-cream one near the end, and lots of sweets and chocolate along the way, we managed to make our way back in time to watch the sun set over Lake Sai.

As with the day before, there should have been gorgeous views of Mount Fuji at lots of points throughout the day, and, just as the day before, there were photos at strategic view points showing you what you should be able to see. Unfortunately, again, as the day before, we didn't get any of those views! Fuji did come out during the afternoon, but unfortunately by then we were on the wrong side of the lake to get a good view! Oh well, we did see it at least! Regardless of Fuji, it was still a lovely days walk, taking in the peaceful gardens of the northern side of the lake, along with the commercialised southern side.

Viewing a rice crop for the first ever time!

The peaceful north western edge of Kawaguchiko

Wandering through some gardens on the northern side

Wall of flowers

Fuji does exist, after all!

Bellringing lesson!

Towards the end of the walk, with very tired legs!

Sunset over Lake Sai...we made it!

Hikes Around Fujigoko 1: Mount Ashiwada and Aokigahara

Through neglect and laziness, my blog is about a month behind me, and I'm starting to suffer the consequences. When looking up hikes around Lake Sai, I'd come across this great post about a walk up to Mount Ashiwada and through the forest of trees. I'd decided that that would be a lovely walk for us all to do, but couldn't find a more detailed map anywhere. Luckily, the tourist information office at Kawaguchiko station helpfully provided us with one, and I made a concerted effort to save it in order to post a photo of it on this blog to help future visitors. Unfortunately, John did a mass clear out of our apartment's paperwork last week, and the map seems to have been caught up in it. So, no map. But I can assure you that the walk outlined below is possible, and you will be able to get a map with vague details from the lovely helpful lady in the Tourism Information office when you arrive at Kawaguchiko!

Just so you've got an idea what I'm talking about, here's a very badly drawn map of our route! 

I don't know exactly how far the walk was, but it was hard work, and took us a long time. We left at about 9am, and didn't get back until it was pretty much dark (so I guess about 6:30pm). We did stop off at an onsen on the northern shore of Saiko on the way back though, to wash (due to our campsite not having any wash facilities at all) and to rest our weary bodies after the day! The initial climb was by far the hardest part of the day. Really steep and really tough, but we made it! The rest of the day was basically a ridge walk, followed by a descent into Aokigahara (the Sea of Trees) and finished off with a walk back along the northern shore of the lake. The ridge walk wasn't quite as flat as we'd hoped, and there were still a lot of ups and downs along it, but it was a very clear path, and we all thoroughly enjoyed our day! The only disappointing thing was that Mount Fuji lived up to its shy reputation, and other than a tiny glimpse of the top at the end of the day, it stayed shrouded in fog all day. Despite that, there were some lovely views over the lakes, and I 100% recommend this hike!

Mum and Dad on the climb up

Our first view of the day, over Lake Kawaguchi

Arriving at the top of Mount Ashiwada (Otherwise known as Gokodai, 5 lake view. We couldn't see all 5 though!)

All four of us at the top! 

If you're wondering what Dad is holding, it's an unidentified berry that he found and wanted to eat. He made me and John ask every Japanese person we found what it was and whether it was edible. The eventual consensus, several amused and confused Japanese people later, was that it wasn't poisonous, but it was very sour!

The view we should have had from the top of Ashiwada...

...but the view we actually had! Stupid clouds.

Luckily, the view the other way, over Lake Kawaguchi, was far better!

View from Sankodai, over the Aokigahara. Aokigahara (Sea of Trees) is infamous as a suicide location, due to its size and how dark it is. Read more about it on this Tofugu article

Looking out over Aokigahara. The trees really do seem to go on for ever and ever.

Heading down the mountain, towards Aokigahara

Gloomy and creepy. We stuck firmly to the main path, but I still found my skin creeping at times. I wouldn't want to be in here near dusk, or alone, or wander anywhere off the beaten track.

View along Lake Sai, from the western end. Our campsite was one of the collection of buildings you can just about make out at the far end.

The day's one view of Mount Fuji! At least we knew it was really there! 

Camping at Lake Sai

I've been rather quite on my blogs recently, partly because my parents have recently been visiting so I've been really busy, and partly because our internet went crazy after a storm a month ago and now almost never works reliably enough to upload any photos.

I've got so many things to blog about that I don't really know where to start! As well as exploring new places  (and old favourites) around Sendai with my parents, we also went to Kyoto (with day trips to Nara and Kobe) and Fuji 5 Lakes. Luckily, life has quietened down for a while, so hopefully I should be able to get on top of things this week!

I suppose I ought to start at the beginning (as Maria so sensibly says, it is a very good place to start). We met Mum and Dad in Tokyo, and after a short chance for everyone to stretch their legs, we got on a bus for Kawaguchiko, one of the Fuji 5 Lakes. It's the biggest and most populated (and therefore touristy and busy) lake, so after about 5 minutes there we got on a bus for somewhere quieter! I'd booked us a cabin on a campsite on the eastern side of Lake Sai (nb: I feel rather pretentious calling it lake Sai, rather than the more common Lake Saiko, but ko means lake in Japanese, so Lake Saiko actually means Lake West Lake. Which just sounds ridiculous). It was pretty rough and ready, but had everything we needed (except a shower, although there was an onsen within walking distance, and other than that we just washed with water we boiled on the fire). We had a lovely, simple few days there, with lots of exhausting walks during the day and open fire cooking and card games in the evening.

The walks we did were lovely, and I'll blog about them in more detail soon, but for now here are some photos of where we stayed. The website for the campsite we used is here; it's only in Japanese but fairly easy to work out. I had to get a Japanese friend to book it for me though; my Japanese skills are not good enough for phone calls! I'd definitely recommend the site as a cheap, friendly and relaxed place to stay!

View from the campsite

Eating pizza for dinner

We had a visitor in the night! 

Dad didn't use the most practical thing for sweeping up the ash (I promise that it wasn't actually on fire, despite what this photo suggests!)

Sunset over Lake Sai

Cooking curry wearing John's glasses to protect me from the smoke! 

Our final night's meal; not pretty by certainly delicious! 

Dad and John weren't excited by the prospect of playing cards, but we soon got them into it!