Goraikokan Guesthouse - 8.5 station — Attraction in Fujiyoshida

There are numerous huts one can chose to sleep in, with advanced reservations of course. We peeked into the Goraikokan hut as we pasted the station area, and it was just that, like all the others, a communal hut, like a very small hostel, but with attendants for serving food (quick cook meals), for shaking out the previously slept on sleeping bags, and for general housekeeping of the areas. One could chose to simply keep hiking, not stay in a hut, its entirely a personal preference. ||When my wife and I climbed/Hiked we had finally decided, based on many, many comments from people we spoke to, that the hut stay was not in our favor, that we could and would do the climb/hike in one run. ||So here's some words on our Pro's and con's of a hut stay…|Pros: |You could catch up on some much needed rest…rest, but not much sleep, if any.|You could sit inside the hut when you eat. But know that, once done eating, you must either go to bed or stay outside.|You could meet and talk with others, or not.|You could get cleaned up… a bit.|You could make up more Pro's about staying in a hut. :)|Cons:|It's crowded, almost always crowded, elbow to but..t..hole, literally! :)|There's not much to do in and around the huts while waiting for dinner and to get to sleep (rest).|So, if you arrive around noon to 5pm, about the average time frame for most people, then you will have to sit around till dinner and then sit/lay around till wake up time, around 2am, before you can restart your climb, in the dark, with hundreds of other people who are also leaving their huts to get to the top.Grumpy, tired people who you mostly don't know!|The dark is dark on this ragged trail! It's still a long haul to the top, about 2-3 hrs depending on where you are in the line up.|Bathroom? Oh yes there are bathrooms and the huts attendants do their best to keep them clean. But, just imagine all these people using one little bathroom to get cleaned up and ready for the night, and other people on the trail using the same bathrooms. Yup, you guessed it.||Ok. Yes, I've painted a pretty scary picture about the cons of staying in a hut. Is it really this bad? Well, you'll have to find out for yourself, if you choose to stay; it's each to his/her own. Everybody is going to have a differing take on their own experience and call like they want, right? But, let's be honest about it. In the end, once your finally done with it, down, with souvenir in hand, you'll be glad it's a done deal!||We simply started our accent at 6:30 am, after being dropped off by the shuttle bus, after parking our car at the shuttle bus parking area (so easy to do), after having a nice sleep over in a local hotel. We took our time, climbed/hiked to the very top, stayed up there for 1.5 hrs looking around, getting our stamps for our sticks and resting and then came back down in 2.5 hours. We were back down by 4pm, had an ice cream in our bellies by 4:20, back on the bus and rolling by 5:00pm and back to our hotel by 6:30pm. A nice dinner (2007 bottle of RM Cab!) and good nights sleep and off we went the next day with smiles on our faces! It was a nice, pleasant trip and we accomplished the climb/hike casually, and glad as heck that we did it the way we did! NO REGRETS! ||Some say that they do it for the sunrise. Well that's great, if it's not cloudy, which is so very hit and miss. I'm from Florida, so. Some say they need the rest before going further. Well, if you climb at a reasonable rate and rest along the way, and at each hut for a bit, then you'll get the rest you'll need, about as much as you'll get trying to sleep in a hut. Some say, it's the fun of meeting other people. Hm, really? Okaaay. Some say it's the experience of staying in a hut… well then, enough said. If you are one of these people, then by all means, please, stay in a hut, and enjoy! LOL!||We couldn't bare the thought of having to start the accent, then stop and sit around, be crammed in a communal bed with strangers from who knows where, tired, filthy (I mean filthy!) only to have to start back up again, be in the dark for 2-3 hours more (2-5 am) only to have to come back down with tons of grumpy, tired people who are having numerous challenges from the climb/hike, all stopping and going to the bathrooms, which are now soiled so bad, I mean bad! ||For us, the way we did it, made perfect sense and it worked out perfectly. I'm relaying this write up to say that it can be done in an easy days climb/hike and it can be, in our opinion and experience, much better...

There are numerous huts one can chose to sleep in, with advanced reservations of course. We peeked into the Goraikokan hut as we pasted the station area, and it was just that, like all the others, a communal hut, like a very small hostel, but with attendants for serving food (quick cook meals), for shaking out the previously slept on sleeping bags, and for general housekeeping of the areas. One could chose to simply keep hiking, not stay in a hut, its entirely a personal preference. ||When my wife and I climbed/Hiked we had finally decided, based on many, many comments from people we spoke to, that the hut stay was not in our favor, that we could and would do the climb/hike in one run. ||So here's some words on our Pro's and con's of a hut stay…|Pros: |You could catch up on some much needed rest…rest, but not much sleep, if any.|You could sit inside the hut when you eat. But know that, once done eating, you must either go to bed or stay outside.|You could meet and talk with others, or not.|You could get cleaned up… a bit.|You could make up more Pro's about staying in a hut. :)|Cons:|It's crowded, almost always crowded, elbow to but..t..hole, literally! :)|There's not much to do in and around the huts while waiting for dinner and to get to sleep (rest).|So, if you arrive around noon to 5pm, about the average time frame for most people, then you will have to sit around till dinner and then sit/lay around till wake up time, around 2am, before you can restart your climb, in the dark, with hundreds of other people who are also leaving their huts to get to the top.Grumpy, tired people who you mostly don't know!|The dark is dark on this ragged trail! It's still a long haul to the top, about 2-3 hrs depending on where you are in the line up.|Bathroom? Oh yes there are bathrooms and the huts attendants do their best to keep them clean. But, just imagine all these people using one little bathroom to get cleaned up and ready for the night, and other people on the trail using the same bathrooms. Yup, you guessed it.||Ok. Yes, I've painted a pretty scary picture about the cons of staying in a hut. Is it really this bad? Well, you'll have to find out for yourself, if you choose to stay; it's each to his/her own. Everybody is going to have a differing take on their own experience and call like they want, right? But, let's be honest about it. In the end, once your finally done with it, down, with souvenir in hand, you'll be glad it's a done deal!||We simply started our accent at 6:30 am, after being dropped off by the shuttle bus, after parking our car at the shuttle bus parking area (so easy to do), after having a nice sleep over in a local hotel. We took our time, climbed/hiked to the very top, stayed up there for 1.5 hrs looking around, getting our stamps for our sticks and resting and then came back down in 2.5 hours. We were back down by 4pm, had an ice cream in our bellies by 4:20, back on the bus and rolling by 5:00pm and back to our hotel by 6:30pm. A nice dinner (2007 bottle of RM Cab!) and good nights sleep and off we went the next day with smiles on our faces! It was a nice, pleasant trip and we accomplished the climb/hike casually, and glad as heck that we did it the way we did! NO REGRETS! ||Some say that they do it for the sunrise. Well that's great, if it's not cloudy, which is so very hit and miss. I'm from Florida, so. Some say they need the rest before going further. Well, if you climb at a reasonable rate and rest along the way, and at each hut for a bit, then you'll get the rest you'll need, about as much as you'll get trying to sleep in a hut. Some say, it's the fun of meeting other people. Hm, really? Okaaay. Some say it's the experience of staying in a hut… well then, enough said. If you are one of these people, then by all means, please, stay in a hut, and enjoy! LOL!||We couldn't bare the thought of having to start the accent, then stop and sit around, be crammed in a communal bed with strangers from who knows where, tired, filthy (I mean filthy!) only to have to start back up again, be in the dark for 2-3 hours more (2-5 am) only to have to come back down with tons of grumpy, tired people who are having numerous challenges from the climb/hike, all stopping and going to the bathrooms, which are now soiled so bad, I mean bad! ||For us, the way we did it, made perfect sense and it worked out perfectly. I'm relaying this write up to say that it can be done in an easy days climb/hike and it can be, in our opinion and experience, much better...

It is important to note that this is a mountain hut, so is very much focused on function rather than luxury (but if you're expecting luxury maybe Mount Fuji is not the place for you!). My rating is based on how well Goraikoukan fulfils this role.||||The last 3 hours of our climb before reaching Goraikoukan were in absolutely torrential rain. We were soaked to the skin, nothing that we thought was waterproof was waterproof anymore (including our backpack covers, jackets, trousers, shoes, and the spare clothes we'd brought for the colder temperatures).||||The staff got us into the hut quickly and provided carrier bags to store our wet clothes in, although a lot of people (us included) wrung clothes out and hung them over the wooden beams to try to dry them out. The hut actually gets quite warm once it's full, so we did find that our clothes were just slightly damp rather than soaking by the time we put them back on a few hours later. There is a small curtained area which can be used for changing.||||The beds are small, but comfortable and the quilts are warm. Just to note, men and women in the same areas. You get your own pillow and quilt, but everyone sleeps packed in together so you're going to get cozy. We slept fine.||||There are two options for dinner and breakfast - Japanese (ramen) or Western (hamburger). Our tour company had booked the Western option for us. Both meals were fine for refuelling after a long climb and before the trek up to view the sunrise.||||This is the highest hut before the summit. It does mean you're climbing for longer on the first day, but we found that it was great for getting ahead of the crowds to get a good view of the sunrise from the summit. We'd definitely...