Ochudo Trail - Hiking at Mt. Fuji with a baby
- Nadja Herbig
- 16. Sept. 2021
- 8 Min. Lesezeit
Since we are already in Japan, we also wanted to climb Mount Fuji. It is the highest mountain in Japan, actually a volcano. By the way, the last time it broke out was in 1730.
We are a family of three with one baby. Can you go up Mount Fuji with a baby?
On our last visit, we hiked along the foot of the mountain, visited the Fujisan World Heritage Center, the Biodiversity Center, saw the "Funatsu Lava Tree Molds" (cold, ancient lava tree prints in the ground), the sacred secret caves where worshipping Mount Fuji religious practices are done and walked through the forest on almost untrodden paths. That made us want more. Here we already learned some information about an ascent to Mount Fuji-san (as the Japanese affectionately call it).
Our internet search yielded little information about climbing Mount Fuji with a baby.
However, we learned that it takes two days to climb Mount Fuji. And only because the hikers want to climb the last few meters in the early morning hours and then be on the top at sunrise. Quite a romantic thought, actually. The brave hikers mostly took the Subaru bus line from the train station at Lake Kawaguchi to the fifth mountain station and hiked up from there. On the way to the summit there are many huts where you can spend the night. When reading the experience reports, it turned out that the huts in the mountain stations were mostly loud, crowded, narrow and poorly insulated. We imagined this to be a bit difficult with a baby (for our own sake and that of others). So that wasn't exactly what we expected.
My husband even browsed forums and read in comments that the real problem with climbing Mount Fuji was altitude sickness.
What do you do as a family now? We don't give up that easily. We went hiking in Germany as a couple, with family and friends. And a few times it got pretty adventurous.
We already knew from our last visit that you could take the bus to the 5th station. That's pretty handy in and of itself. Since you already arrive at an altitude of 2305m. But just look around there, take photos and just drive back is boring. We want action, nature and some physical elaboration.
Can you go hiking at the fifth station? Or dare to descend from there?
So my husband was now looking for easy hiking routes.
But before that he checked exactly marked hiking trails or routes on Google Maps and MapsMe. They showed weird and illogical paths along the street.
Now it got exciting. We knew from previous experience that Google Maps is very careful with drawing in paths and MapsMe draws every beaten path.
Then he found one. The Ochudo Trail. The Ochudo Trail was not shown.
My husband found him on this website: https://www.yamanashi-kankou.jp/kokuritsukoen/en/miryoku/hiking/course2.html
And concluded from the information that it was doable for us.
How to hike with a baby at Fuji-san?
My husband carried our child in the manduca / front carrier and I carried our backpack with food. We both wore hiking sandals, skinny pants and a light top, sunscreen and a sun hat.
From the last hiking guide we knew that you should pack a jacket. In Tokyo, however, it was around 35 degrees Celsius. For us at the moment it was unimagenable that we could need a jacket. At the inn we asked again about the temperature on the mountain. The owner of the inn was so kind enough to take a look. She advised us to bring a jacket, but at eight in the evening it was still 24 degrees Celsius on the 5th station. Haha. For real? Jacket? Nope. So we didn't have any major concerns.on that.
On the bus ride to the 5th station
On the bus, however, we noticed that we were the only ones with hiking sandals and short-sleeved tops. Everyone else had put on several layers of long hiking clothing and good, sturdy hiking shoes. We took the bus to the 5th station for 1.5 hours. The bus was full and air conditioned. Air-conditioned so well that we got cold. Really cold. A jacket would actually have been practical.
The Ochudo Trail is 2.9 km long and at the end a bus station (Oniwa) awaits the hiker, from which one comes back to Kawaguchi. We went up on the Subaru bus line. From Kawaguchi including the return, the trip cost us 2300 JPY (Japanese Yen) per person. We bought the tickets at the train station in Kawaguchi.
There is a dedicated desk for this. I tried to order in bad Japanese. But the staff asked me: “5th Station?” In English. They knew immediately what was going on. Experienced staff is working here. They asked us: "Roundtrip?", which I answered with "Yes!". And whoosh, we had four small printed tickets in hand.
To be honest, it sometimes amazes me that they still do that. A lot of things can be done here with a smartphone or electronic public transport cards. The ladies were also so nice and gave us a small, very simple schedule of the departure times at the bus stops without asking. Unfortunately these were completely in Japanese characters, which I have to laugh about now. But they have marked the Kawaguchi stops and the fifth station in bright colors. And then marked the times of the Oniwa stop especially for us, too. Excellent! It was easy and straightforward.
Here we are and Let's go!
When we arrived at the 5th station, we first saw the people who actually wanted to climb Mount Fuji. They were all very well equipped, sporty looking and it was a clear difference to our appearance. Obviously, you don't just climb Mount Fuji in sandals as a day trip!
At this station, which is the last one that can be accessed by vehicle, you can see a lot also as a day tourist. Religious sites, restaurants, cafes, last minute sports shops, ice cream stands, souvenir shops and so on. Also toilets in which recycled water is used for flushing. Great when you consider that you are on a mountain at an altitude of 2305m. Postcards can even be sent up here. This is sure to make the recipient happy. At first we walked around a bit and even came to the beginning of the hiking trail up to Mount Fuji. Horses were stationed there. We suspected they could be borrowed to transport equipment. And we were immediately approached by several Japanese who came up to us with a temperature monitor. "Oops! So this is where the ascent of Mount Fuji starts, "I thought to myself. We said no, of course. There was also an ancient anvil there. Just like one in my father-in-law's barn. I was pleased. Because that proved how long pilgrims have been going up here and which crafts have always settled here.
Here you can have a look at a few pictures. To do this, please press the arrows on the left or right in the picture. But you can also use the arrow keys on your keyboard.
And here I caught some moments for you as a video:
From now on we will hike
But now we had seen enough and wanted to start hiking. The baby was put in the
carrier and off we went.
The beginning of the Ochudo Trail is exactly at the
Place where the bus drives to the 5th station.
On the right side a staircase leads up and at the top a sign awaits the hiker letting him know that he is now on the Ochudo Trail.
The path is rocky and runs roughly along the tree line of the mountain. Again and again large stones showed us the way. And we were provided with a lot of information about the fauna and flora of the mountain and the geological features, through signs. The hike takes about an hour. However, because we very often stopped and looked around in amazement, looked at the plants, read the signs, it took us longer.
Anyone who has been on stony paths with hiking sandals knows that every now and then a little stone gets lost between the footbed and the sole of the foot. But if you are not impressed by this, you can go on the hike with good hiking sandals.
The weather was just right. We often had clouds that moved over us or enveloped us. They were cool and refreshing and provided shade. Without it, the sun was really strong. However, the path also leads through some forest, so you are not always exposed to the sun.
There are picnic spots here and there. The signs always show the distance to the next rest area or the next large sign.
We arrived at the end of the trail. And now?
The Ochudo Trail ends at the Oniwa bus stop.
There are toilets here. If you want to get on the bus here, you wave frantically at him because he is rolling up from above. Who likes to stop pointlessly at every stop and brake, while you can roll down so nicely.
But we knew that the adventure was not over yet.
To the left of the toilets, a paved path led down into a forest. Caution! The stones here are slippery when wet and not always pleasant for sensitive knees. The trees on the left and right are miraculously deformed.
At the end of the "descent" a tea house awaited us, at the side of which stood many photographers with large lenses. What are they doing?
"Okuniwa Nature Park"
We walked past the tea house. Because here is a small circular hiking trail to a viewing platform. This part is called "Okuniwa Nature Park".
Of course we didn’t miss that. Here, too, hikers are offered one or two picknick places. We used this for our lunch, of course. From them you have a wonderful view of Mount Fuji and down into the valley, with a clear view. On a cloudy day you can see an enchanting sea of clouds.
A hospitable tea house
When we got back to the tea house, we stopped again. Because there was still time for the next bus. Here I realized again that I had to improve my Japanese. We had a few misunderstandings when ordering. Haha…
And here we also got the answer to our question: What are the photographers doing there?
The tea house was adorned above our heads with photographs of birds and animals. There was a small forest pool on the side where the photographers were standing. All lenses were aimed at it and the photographers stared spellbound into the forest. Here you could see these wonderfully colorful birds that adorned the tea house.
The two older women, who also hosted the tea house as a restaurant, were extremely friendly and ecstatic about our child. Surrounded by the Japanese radio bubbling, we drank our wrongly ordered drinks and then set off refreshed. How a bird should appear during this tootling, however, was a bit of a mystery to us. The two ladies also gave us the hint that we should wave to the bus when it comes up.
The way back
At the bus stop we met two photographers and a gentleman who spoke English. With the translation they kindly confirmed that it was really about bird photography. Fascinating! They also showed us pictures. The animals were wonderfully colourful.
The bus brought us comfortably down to the valley. Both times the buses were well filled. But families with small children are often offered a place.
We arrived back in Kawaguchi around 3:00 p.m. and thus ended our ascent to Fuji-san well relaxed.
I hope you enjoyed the report and it encouraged one or the other family to go on short hikes with children.
Thank you for looking!
Yours, Nadja
