Fuji Day Two: Aokigahara The Suicide Forest

Yesterday I walked through a small portion of the forest to see what it like. Today I was going to hike through as much as I could. Aokigahara was always called the sea of forest, but it now goes by a new name, the suicide forest. It all started in the 60's when a book was written had the main characters kill themselves in this forest at the end. Then it got worse in 1993 when some guy made a guide book on how to kill yourself. In the book he says Aokigahara is the absolute best place to commit suicide, and they find a lot of bodies with the book. Around a hundred bodies they find a year here, but that is only the ones they find. The foresters do sweeps all the time and carry the bodies out, which is hard, but not the worst part. One of these guys has to sleep next to the bodies at night. They believe the soul is restless or something if you die alone at night the body will wander looking for company. People also come to find bodies so they can loot them or just for a thrill. Me I'd rather not have the image of a dead guy hanging from a tree burned in my memory. I stick to the main trail.

There are four caves in the area, the first I found was the Lava Cave. Then I worked my way down to the wind cave, they want money to see it, and I pass. So I walk over to check out the Ice cave. I pay to see this as I heard it's the only one worth seeing. They said watch your head and it is slippery. I figure yeah sure, but when I got down there they weren't kidding. At one point the path was so small I had to drag my pack behind me and crawl. Then on the way up was rocks were used as steep steps and extremely slippery. I thought for sure I'd slip and crack my head.

Now the forest. All of the ground is volcanic rock. There are cracks, little caves all over, and the tree roots twist around the rocks trying to get a hold. Hiking off trail would be a nightmare as the ground is so uneven and there are roots all over to to trip on. It is very quiet, only one or two birds and no other animals. It is a really nice place. They closed off most of the other trail to stop people, so unfortunately the long trek to the lake mostly followed the road. It was a long walk, but at the end I come out of the forest into Shoji village and am greeted with a clear view of Mt. Fuji. I hike more to lake Shoji and find a free camp for the night.

A man drives by then stops, looking at me in the rearview mirror as I stand at the entrance.
The first trail from the town to the lava cave.

The lava cave. There is a small shrine inside.

Caves like this are all over.

The roots never go into the soil only rock. This looked like a board propped up when I first was walking to it.

A flower at the wind cave.

The Ice Cave. Yeah it was really cold.

One of the closed off trails.
These paths are the ones people take to go into the forest to die. 

So tired, but almost to Shoji village.

The end of Aokigahara, and oh Mt. Fuji

Camp at Shoji Lake