Mt. Fuji Part 2

I left you hanging for a while on this one. Was I trying to build suspense? Not really, I just got distracted by other things and sort of forgot that I promised a second part. Since it has been so long and I put the photos on Facebook, I'm sure most of you know how this is going to end but in case you are unaware of the outcome of our climb, I'll indulge myself in the story once more. When we last left off, we could not see the mountain, and headed home with our bellies full of Indian food to make a plan for the next day. We explored the Hostel a bit, tried to get on the broken Internet and resorted to reading a tour book from 2007 when the Internet was not revived. I borrowed a DVD from the TV room and we headed to our room to watch the movie on the lap top Patrick insisted on lugging throughout the trip. I must take advantage of this opportunity to point out that we NEVER used the laptop and I ended up carrying it in my luggage after the third day. I was against bringing a lap top from the start but Patrick insisted it would come in handy. I quickly realized my 3 prong plug was not going to get into the 2 prong outlet and gave up on the movie. We resigned to an early night in favor of an early morning exploratory trip. When we got up the next morning, the hostel van was heading to the train station with some departing travelers so we asked if we could hitch a ride. From the train station, we proceeded to wander around another part of the lake. There were several tourist shops on this side along with the tour boat we contemplated and some paddle boats shaped like swans. Patrick really wanted a to rent a paddle boat but at about 20EUR per half hour we took a pass. There was also a rope line over hydrangea bushes and up into a small mountain that did not appeal to us. We browsed the shops and thought about taking the bus to the 5th station and back just so we could at least visit Mt. Fuji as it was still completely hidden by cloud cover. Hungry and indecisive, we headed back to the hostel to regroup. As we were getting back, I overheard a few new friends saying their post hike goodbyes. Being the American that I am and recognizing their nationality in their accents, I approached one of the girls to inquire about the mountain. Apparently they began their assent the previous night and reached the summit just in time to see a beautiful sunrise. I was now convinced that we needed to do the same. We were here to climb the mountain and I would be disappointed to go home without even trying. Armed with the bus schedule, Partrick was an easy sell. We were off for a quick lunch, followed by a supply trip to 7/11 and a 2 hour nap before catching the last bus. Once we reached the 5th station it was about 7pm and still light. Full of energy and adrenaline, we began our hike. Sorry, now it's time for the suspense, the photos are not on this computer and I can't go any further without visual aids.