A Vicarious Adventure on Mt. Fuji

I get a Facebook communication from Number One Son, and he tells me that he climbed Mt. Fuji.  And he proved it with pictures and poetic expressions.

“A lonely isle on a sea of clouds, In a land which soothed my troubled soul. A year spent on drunken sin, Taught me the weight I carry with me is home. Men fight so desperately to find meaning in this life And yet, for all their efforts, few truly find it. Angels, demons, men and monsters, the Dragon, All are trumped by the will of existence. A year spent amongst comrades and nature, Has taught me God has little to do with spirituality. Find for yourself some measure of peace, And fight for dear life to defend it.”

-Allen Beyer

Me;  Poetic.

4:49am

Number One Son;

Yeah, so is the top of Mt Fuji.

4:52am

Me;

I’ve never been there, but I feel it in your words.

4:58am

Number One Son;

Yeah, so am I going to get featured on your blog?

4:59am

Me;

I’m no longer forbidden to blog about you?

4:59am

Number One Son;

Just not marine corps related stuff…

That’s what I told you in the beginning.

5:00am

Me;

Okay, I can do that.  It sounds like a real adventure.

Number One Son;

Yeah it was quite the experience.

Guess you can say I’m well cultured.

5:23am

Me;

Yes, it was a bucket-list item to be envied.

5:24am

Number One Son;

Yeah, planning to go see whale sharks next.

Me;

Another bucket-list item?

Number One Son;

Yeah, but not nearly as much effort for that one.

Fairly certain, though, we weren’t supposed to climb that mountain in one day.

5:33am

Me;

Not supposed to be that easy? Or you just didn’t have permission?

5:34am

Number One Son;

No, we were supposed to stop to adjust to the lack of oxygen.

Those pictures don’t do the summit justice, and I’m fairly certain that’s because we were all suffering from hypoxia.

5:35am

Me;

They are beautiful never the less.

5:35am

Number One Son;

True.

There was one point coming down though that was absolutely terrifying.

5:37am

Me;

What happened?

5:39am

Number One Son;

Descending through the ashes alone on Mt Hanoei the clouds rolled in and obstructed my view to no more than 20 feet in any direction.

5:40am

Me;

How did you get out of it? Ashes? Volcano?

5:40am

Number One Son;

The ashes absorbed sound so all I could hear was my own blood pumping through my veins.

There was a path.

And I just felt absolutely anxious there. I come to find out later that I’m actually not very far from the infamous suicide forest.

5:41am

Me;

Whoa!

5:42am

Number One Son;

Yeah.

It was intense.

Also, bathhouses are quite the experience.

5:43am

Me;

How many others were with you?

There are bathhouses on Mt. Fuji?

5:44am

Number One Son;

There were 11 and no, not unless you count the ones on the slight incline leading to the mountain.

5:46am

Me;

So, what made the bathhouses memorable?

5:46am

Number One Son;

Just the nature of it.

It was weird going there with a bunch of naked men.

5:47am

Me;

Yep, I get that.

Seen 5:47am

So, I got to share in a once-in-a-lifetime adventure, early in the morning, on Facebook messaging.  Could’ve done without the bathhouse thing, though.