GROO.US-JAPAN TOUR 2

Here is a shot of Mt. Fuji. We have been wanting to explore alot more of central Japan, so we signed up at the local MWR office to take a few tours of the local area. Early Sunday morning the bus drove from the north side of the Kanto Plains, where Yokota AB is, to the south side of Mt. Fuji to show us all the open fields, waterfalls in the gorges and the mountain lakes.

This is Shiratsu Falls. It is a series of waterfalls in several closely packed gorges, just south of Mt. Fuji.

Water tricles and streams from fizzures in therock.

Out of the gorge it was pretty warm, but in the gorge it was shady and cool..

The waterfalls were spectacular. Pictures just don't do it justice. There were also golden colored trout in the waters. Each trout was probably about 3 pounds.

Here is a photo, just right of the main falls. The water was crystal clear, and moved at a pretty good clip.

Here is another one of the falls, on the east side of the main gorge. We took a MWR base tour bus for the whole day, which took us to about 4 places around Mt. Fuji, includng half way up the mountain itself.

The local Japanese Classic Porche Club was touring, and there were several hundred older model Porches pulling into the parking lots at the falls.

Here is one of the many alpine type lakes surrounding Mt. Fuji. It is a very popular vacation destination.

The lake was beautful, with many pleasure boats and fishing boats floating and cruising along. It almost had a European feel, like a Swiss mountain village.

Here is a picture of one of the many topographic maps of the lake and surrounding area. There is also a very large amusement park not too far away from this resort town.

Teresa and I took a cable car up one of the local hillsides to get a better panoramic view of the surrounding area.

Here is a shot of the really cute little lake city. The bridge going over the lake is a main highway for the area.

Here is a shot of Mt. Fuji from the hillside top. We later got on the bus and drove about half way up Mt. Fuji to a place called "Fifth Station"..

Here we are getting off the bus at Fifth Station. This is about half way up Mt. Fuji. From here it is a 8 or 9 hour hike to the summit.

Fifth station is decked out like a Euopean climbing resort. Lots and lots of sourvineer and food shops everywhere!

There is a pony service offered for people going from Station 5 to Station 6 only.

Here is a picture of one of the 3-D maps of the "Fifth Station" and the trails nearby.

At the Fifth Station, the scrub brush turns into lose volcanic soil and rocks. From here on up, the trails and footing are not very good.

Here we are looking down upon the same lake village that we stopped for lunch at. After lunch we went to the top of the low hills on the cable car. The hill is located in the middle right.

We felt like stretching out legs, so Teresa and I hiked about a kilomter or so up the trail and then back. We only had about two hours at this stop.

Here is the famous Mt. Fuji Shrine at the Fifth Station.

A very cool looking Temple Dog guards the entrance.

From the Fifth Station looking up the west slope of Mt. Fuji, the second largest free standing land volcano in the world.