日本夏2026年 - Day 2 Hakone to Fuji Base
I slept great at Diego’s place in Hakone. After dinner—and more than a few beers—I turned in early while Diego and Akiko headed out to a firefly festival.
In the morning, they treated me to an incredible breakfast: eggs, salmon, and sausage. Afterward, they showed me around their property. A massive concrete retaining wall held back the steep hillside behind the house—an aging structure that, surprisingly, incorporated old WWII-era bomb shelters.
We drove to Saijo-ji Temple, and I won’t lie—it felt good to climb steep Japanese hills from the comfort of a car for once. The temple complex was sprawling, and a festival was underway. One of the more unexpected highlights was an enormous, almost obsessive collection of geta—traditional wooden sandals—lined up in neat rows.
From there, we continued on to Odawara, where I picked up a Hakone yosegi puzzle box. Lunch followed at a local spot specializing in unaju (grilled eel over rice), a regional delicacy. It was outstanding—rich, smoky, and perfectly prepared.
I left Diego’s place around 2 p.m. and immediately felt the full force of the afternoon sun. The climb back up toward Hakone was relentless. I passed shrines, souvenir shops, and countless torii gates marking the route upward. At one point, deep in the forest, I could hear the steady rhythm of organized drumming echoing from a nearby field.
Route 732 wound steeply through dense forest, a series of tight switchbacks that demanded full attention.
Eventually, I reached Lake Ashi. I had been here last December with Caleb and Ava, but this time I rode directly up to the iconic floating torii gate. It was completely packed with tourists—lines forming for photos—so I didn’t linger. Instead, I continued along a quiet, beautiful path tracing the edge of the lake.
Another climb followed, ending in a long tunnel at the pass. On the far side, the view opened up dramatically—Mount Fuji stood in the distance, commanding and immense.
The descent into Gotemba was fast, delivering me into a sprawl of commercial development—car dealerships, chain restaurants, heavy traffic. After hours in the mountains, it felt jarring.
As the sun began to set behind Fuji, I started to grasp the scale of what lay ahead for the next day.
I stopped at a 7-Eleven around 6:15 p.m. to stock up on food. With about an hour of daylight left, I pressed on, riding past kilometers of fencing marking the boundary of the U.S. military’s Camp Fuji.
I needed a place to stealth camp, so I pushed a bit farther until I entered Fuji National Park. There, just off the road, I found a grid of pine trees—flat, quiet, and perfect. I rolled the bike in, set up my tent, and settled in for the night before finishing this entry.
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| Me, Diego and Akiko at Saijo-ji Temple |
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| The most amazing Unaju Matsu (eel rice bowl) at 宮川本展 in Odawara |
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| Closing in on Mt Fuji |
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| Map / Elevation profile |
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