Today's walking inspired track:
Try it Again - The Hives
Today's walking inspired quote:
I've learned that everyone wants to live on top of the mountain, but all the happiness and growth occurs while you're climbing it.
Date: January 30th 2010
Where: Checkpoint 7 - Finish (Surugaoyama to Yamanaka-ko)
Totals: 20.5km - 8:35 hours
And so we start our Trailwalker journey again. The Soundtracks are back. Remixed, better than ever and raring to go. New and old members collide plus the greatest support team in the world, which has the delightful job of dealing with our tantrums from start to finish. And finish is what we did for our first training session with our new fabulous trackers Erin and Emma last Saturday.
Gorgeous day. Just glorious, as we channelled the energy of Ms Fuji. She stayed with us all day and also by the light of the silvery, full moon. And so we're ready to take on (one more time) the gruesome and gruelling CP7-9.We made it to the Fujimi Center after leaving Savvy, our most trusty worthy steed/4WD up at the Lake where we're sure she was entertained by the hoards of local fishermen and pro-camera oji's angling each in their own way for a slice of diamond Fuji. Tis the Season.
So with Savvy safe at the YMCA after a few photies lakeside (not lugging the big cameras today - happy snaps with the Ricoh only), we called a cab, chased after him for a couple of blocks on foot (I mean, really, could he miss 4 foreign hotties standing on the side of the road waving everything we had at him??? Guess so). Warm-up complete.
Arrived at CP7 about 10am. And, alrighty off we went. For about 500 meters...before we had to go back. Emma had lost the earphones. Got them guys and off we went again. It was just plain fun and we talked and talked and talked before Mr Furo got the best of us. Telling us to "go straight" - oh, good one... we finally walked on, a bit baffled, but got on the right track and started the steep climb to the top. Heads down. Huffy puffy time.
Made it to the top in time to completely wreck any sense of wabi-sabi Mt Furo was divining. As yes, Em's pants fell down just as we all reached the summit and the little clearning at the top where lots of other hikers were having happy, relaxed, quiet lunch time. Not any more. There were pants on the ground. Looking like a fool. Ahhh...any excuse for an American Idol ref.
After the pants came up we did make some new friends and took some more Fuji shots. Then it was time to go down for our own lunchy time and then head up, up, up again which seemed to be par for the course all day until we arrived at CP8 for a little bit of muckin' about and celebratory leaps. All things considered and first time on the course and such...we did good. No, we did great.
What a fab idea...
Not too many issues generally. A few sore toes, a bit of a knee tickle, Dee's hot and cold flushes keeping us all entertained, Trace's running up that hill. Onward to the end. It somehow felt easier than last year. Hard but very doable. We tuckered out about Mt Mikuni but the fields of gold over Mt Myojin way were tempting. And as we trudged to the top, through the blackened tracks of gold Pampas the view from Panorama Hill was spectacular. Mt Fuji was fab, and I can honestly say I never tire of her beauty, it is epic (except of course when you're mounting her about 3am in the snow...).
So we'd made it. And we jumped and carried on. And were very pleased with ourselves. It was then time to head down to the lake and finish this thing, the last 2km in the dark. Got a bit lost, even though we knew the map book was a bit wrong, but Trace expertly guided us and all too soon we were in the carpark, freezing our way down to Yamanaka-ko. 20.5kms completed. Hello minus 4 degrees.
Savvy was waiting. She hadn't floated away. We piled in, remarkably still talking to each other, loving each other quite a bit more than we expected. Time to head to Benifuji Onsen and really lay it all out there. Oh, it was so good, soaking in the hot spring water with Fuji right in front of us - that full moon working wonders. Not too many faux pas later, a miracle for us, we had a quick bite at what we like to call Gutso (it's Gusto in Japanese, a kind of family restaurant that defies explanation -good drink bar though) then hit the road back to Tokyo.
Made it in good time, chatted the whole way. Just missed the last train from Sagi but got to continue talking Trailwalker as we dropped off the E's at their doorstop. Back home and time to collapse. Visions of Sunday paralysis didn't materialise. Yes, we could still walk the next day. Wonders will never cease.
And so now we're committed again - yes, in every sense. Nat's on her way to do this again. And importantly getting her shoes tomorrow. And we welcome Erin our 4th member and Emma our support crew co-ordinator and the cast of thousands that will work on preparing the best BBQ EVAH. More training, tramping, trials and tribulations to come.
Check out the Checkpoint 7-9 highlights video extravaganza below...
It was truly an incredibly fabulous day. Good weather. Great views. Great friends. Good times.Total time: 8:35 hours... And here's all the data collected from Trace's Garmin watch:
Climbed 1,882m. Went down 1,200m. Pants fell down once. 7 trekking poles divided between 4 people. Earphones run over once. 50+ jumping photos to come out with 2 usable ones. 2 boiled eggs in a plastic bag, only slightly mangled.
More training sagas to come...
What a scream!!!! Who needs Barnes and Noble when you can read and watch these Fabulous episodes.... FUN!!! :D
Posted by: Linda Autry | February 11, 2010 at 09:52 AM