Mt. Takao hike

Sorry I haven't posted in a while! I've been busy, busy, busy! But, last week, I had the time to go on a hike up the closest mountain to Tokyo, Mt. Takao. I went with my Tokyo adventure club so it was a lot of fun. One of the things that initially drew me to this opportunity was that it was also a service opportunity. We weren't just hiking up the mountain, we were cleaning the mountain as well! Also, we collected donations to go towards the Tohoku earthquake relief. As soon as I saw that, I really wanted to go! What a great opportunity to be helpful to the community that I am living in!
I met the group at the train station by the mountain as it would have been out of my way to go to Shinjuku and then to the mountain. We found ourselves a partner and we were off! My partner and I ended up at the back of the group so we didn't get much trash to pick up :( But, we had a great time hiking up the mountain and admiring the trees. It is amazing to me how the trees still have leaves in December! Back home, there would be nothing left so I was really appreciating the view! The people who were hiking on the mountain were also very nice! People kept walking by and thanking us for our hard work.
It was an absolutely gorgeous day for a hike and we made it to the summit in no time. Since it was such a wonderful day, we were able to see clear across to Mt. Fuji. It was a stunning view!

The view

There's Mt. Fuji!

Me at the summit :D

We stopped here and had a picnic lunch. I just brought a sandwich, chips, and an orange. We then started to make our way down to measure which team collected the most trash. On the way down, we did some extreme trash collecting. I tried my hand at it going off the trail to retrieve a bottle. It was difficult and I got dirty but at least I tried! We also stopped at a temple on the way down where I rubbed the statue of an octopus for good luck. It was a very pleasant afternoon with nature!

I hope I get some good luck!

Going off trail a bit to get a bottle

The trash I collected