Me wearing one of the free yukatas in the hotel we stayed in the night before our hike. There were no restaurants around so dinner was stuff bought from the convenience store nearby.

Entrance to the Sengen Shrine in Fujiyoshida. Not yet on our way, but getting there.

(850m)

Walking through the Sengen Shrine, trying to stay ahead of a huge group of kids on a school trip.

Sign for the beginning of the trail. Anxious to get started at this point (about 10am).

Jen and I at the start, or at least a start. Still not certain we're going the right way but optimistic.

Umagaeshi. Still somewhere below the first station.

(1450m)

Umagaeshi, looking back down.

Me and the map at the third station. Very useful as it turned out.

(1840m)

Shack near the third station. We saw loads of these along the way. Some were stations, some weren't. Very frustrating when they claimed to be but ultimately turned out to disappoint.

Sign for the fifth station. Although there ended up being several 'fifth stations'. Very annoying.

(2300m)

We arrived at the sixth station fairly soon after, at about 4pm.

A random shrine that provided thirst quenching Smirnoff Ice. Thank you to whoever left it as an offering - it was much appreciated.

Looking out over the mountains.

Sunrise from our tent at about half past four in the morning.

Sunrise. Very fluffy clouds.

Our campsite somewhere between the seventh and eigth stations. We got to the seventh station at about 6pm and then started looking for a place to put the tent. Some time later, we finally found this place near one of the huts. It turns out that there are very few flat, horizontal places on the side of a mountain. We ended up going to bed at about 8pm, exhausted.

(about 2800m)

Our tent. Heavy to carry but surprisingly not too bad to sleep in. A little annoying to have to listen to people walking passed all through the night, surprised by our tent and determined to photograph it.

Looking down the mountain over some of the huts. We set off nice and early at about 6am.

The finish is in sight. This is the shrine entrance which meant that we'd made it to the top. We got there for about 10am.

The other mountains nearby. Clearly not as impressive as ours.

Me at the top. Surprisingly warm, even up there. Actually, it didn't rain throughout and there was almost no wind. Perfect conditions.

(3756m)

Jen and I with the volcano's crater in the background. Apparently, it takes about an hour to walk around it. So we didn't.

Statue of the mountain that someone had placed at the top. Not nearly as impressive as the real thing.

One of the tunnels on the way down. Supposedly to protect us from falling rocks but not much appreciated due to the very large steps and our very painful legs.

We started down at about 11am and reached the first station by 3pm. We managed to get as far as Nakanochaya (around 3:45pm) but my feet and shoulders were absolutely killing me, so we called a taxi from there to take us back to the station. We wouldn't have made it back in time for the hostel guy to collect us at 5pm otherwise. But I couldn't walk any further by that point anyway.