Shinchi – My Michinoku

Day Hike 8: Yamashita Station to Shinchi Station

It was actually very tempting to do the exact same course as day hike 7, only not on a Tuesday so I could actually go to Karo no Yu hot springs, but there was still a stretch of about 17? 18? ish kilometers left south of where I live that’s walkable right now, post typhoon. (The hiking course along Mt. Shinzan to Mt. Shiho in Watari/Yamamoto has too many closures right now) Also, another section hiker had recommended this new hotel/hot springs right in front of Shinchi Station, which meant I could actually have a guaranteed bath and meal at the end of my hike. So you can definitely consider today’s hike to be mostly a transparent excuse to go to an onsen.

When my friends and colleagues at Natori Trail Center are less busy (whenever that’s going to happen) I’d really like to get more back story on how each course came to be. It can’t have been easy to decide how to connect everything up. I’m sure there was no question in putting as much of that low nearby mountain range in as possible. Considering I’d been able to hike some of that the other day, it felt like the mountains were whispering “hike us, hike ussss” the whole time. So what to do when that’s not possible? A lot of what I hiked today was a pretty busy road with a sidewalk, but that has to have been the best option at the time. Maybe those smaller roads to the east would be prettier or less busy, but aren’t feasible because there’s too much construction, or no sidewalks. Will this little section of the trail stay the same, or will it change a little, or a lot?

After the busy road section, there was finally a turn at Yamamoto Station, along with a shop devoted to local products, especially strawberries. Since my husband’s middle name would be “strawberry eater” if he had one (his other middle name would be “potato chip muncher”) I got him a cute little souvenir jar of strawberry jam.

The course down Nakahama area was a familiar combination of construction, fields, grassy areas, and newly planted trees. 137 people had died in the 2012 tsunami in this area, and the ruins of the local elementary school was in the process of being preserved as a tsunami monument and memorial park, as in other areas.

My hike ended in time for a late lunch at around 2 pm (I got a late start today and started my hike a bit past 9) at the hot spring hotel next to Shinchi Station. The lunch was a little on the miss side of hit and miss…my shirasu rice bowl was kind of weirdly bitter, so I guess those little fishies weren’t very fresh! I’d seen a review from someone else panning the more expensive sushi bowls, so that should have been my cue to go for the pizza (next time).

The rest was great, though. This was the hot spring/restaurant complex connected to Hotel Grado, just next to the station. Good variety of baths, including natural onsen baths, some carbonic? carbonated baths that claimed to (if I remember this correctly) quadruple the blood flow of the body in five minutes, which I had a fun time cackling at. Some jacuzzi baths that look suspiciously like electric baths but aren’t. Plus akasuri, that thing where people scrub at you with gloves or something, if you’re comfortable with that! I opted for food (should’ve gone for pizza) —> bath (nice) and —> massage chair (very nice) and was reduced to a kind of sleepy melted content lump. I poured myself into one of the lovely reclining chairs and really really wanted to take a nap, but had to go to the station in about 10 minutes to make my preferred train.

And that was today! I am still extremely relaxed and ready to go to bed very soon. There’s nothing like a hike and a nice hot bath.

Fields and blue skies (and low mountains saying "climb us instead") in Yamamoto, Miyagi.

Strawberry jam in front of the strawberry farmer's market next to Yamamoto Station in Yamamoto, Miyagi.

Former Nakahama Elementary School in Yamamoto.

Hotel Grado hot spring and restaurant complex, next to Shinchi Station in Fukushima.

Day Hike 7: Shinchi Station to Komagamine Station

Let me start with the most important information: you are going to have a spectacular time. I had a great time, of course, but you are going to have an amazing time, because you’re going to do this hike on a day that is not Tuesday.

If you do this hike on a day that is not Tuesday, you can start your hike at Shinchi station, walk over to the small mountain range in the distance, and take the lovely hiking course up and then down Mt. Karosan. Let’s say you arrive at the bottom around 11:30 to 12. This is totally feasible. I left Shinchi Station at about 7:30 and got off the mountain at about 11:30, without hurrying and with a 20 minute break dozing off on the sunny deck overlooking Shinchi and the ocean in the distance mid-route.

If it’s not a Tuesday, you can then take a long, warm leisurely bath at Karo no Yu hot springs, followed by the indulgent lunch of your choice at the restaurant there. And if you get tired on the hike, you can remind yourself that there’s a hot bath and meal waiting at the end of your journey.

I did this hike on a Tuesday, and while I’d been careful to look up as much as I could about Karo no Yu, I did not know it was closed on Tuesdays. Or to be precise, every other Tuesday, including the Tuesday I hiked. So, instead of the hot bath and meal, I uh sulked outside eating my emergency honey sandwich. (Always a good idea, especially when you dare to do anything on a Tuesday!)

So that is why you’ll have an even better time than I did! But I loved my hike. I could hop off the train, look into the distance at the mountains, and then just start walking toward them, knowing eventually I was just going to walk up them. That’s a thing I could do, in one day. The course I walked had three natural springs, which in retrospect I should have sampled. The trail route on Mt. Karosan looks out over Shinchi and the ocean stretching beyond it, and in some spots toward the inland Zao mountain range. In early December, there was no snow and all the leaves had fallen, so the ground was soft with leaves and the scenery was completely on display beyond the bare trees. While I only saw two people between the northern trailhead and the resting platform near Mr. Karosan’s summit, there were more than a few hikers on the top and the courses on the other side, so it was clearly a popular area for hikers.

After my sandwich, I walked the rest of the course to where I’d left off before, at the giant Gingko tree. On the way, I was greeted warmly by some local high school kids, puttered through Aguriya (Shinchi Farmer’s Market) and snagged a curry bread for a snack, and took a break at the local gymnasium.

Usually I write my blog entries on the day I hike, but when I got home and took a long bath in our tub, it felt like my batteries had been drained. According to my phone, I’d walked about 27 kilometers (almost 17 miles) including non-MCT walking to and from the station near our apartment, and this is apparently a bit muchly for me. I had a full night of some seriously high quality, dead to the world sleep and still had a hard time dragging myself out of bed this morning.

What to walk next? Probably a little more Shinchi as a day trip, then it’s on to the over 100 kilometers that is Ishinomaki. I can’t wait.

Lovely pond in Shinchi, Fukushima. Blue sky, blue waters.

Hiking course toward Mt. Karosan with rich autumn colors.

Rest area and view of Shinchi on the hiking course toward Mt. Karosan

Final steep climb up Mt. Karosan with interesting handhold thing

View of the city and ocean from Mt. Karosan in Shinchi, Fukushima.

Shrine at the top of Mt. Karosan in Shinchi.

The gigantic and glorious Shirahata Ginkgo tree in Shinchi, Fukushima.

Day Hike 6: Soma Trail end/start Point to Komagamine Station

I know I’m hopping around a lot here, but it is waaaay past time I went to Soma. For so many reasons! 1. Soma is the southern trailhead for the Michinoku Coastal Trail. 2. Soma and neighboring Shinchi’s maps were already finished when I started translating the maps in 2016, so they were some of the first maps I’ve worked with. 3. It was always very clear that Soma is really excited about the trail. Lots of events and materials about it.

And so on. After the typhoon made it impractical to start the trail up in Iwate where I’d left off, my next plan had been to just start from the south in Soma, but when I did some research, they’d opened up a volunteer center there to deal with the damage and the whole city’s water was down.

Water service has been restored in Soma, and there were only two spots reported as impassable to Natori Trail Center on the Soma section, both with plenty of roads around that looked like feasible detours. I figured it was time.

After taking a bus from Soma Station to Matsukawaura Park, I started my walk. Soma has a lot of bodies of water around: ponds, lakes, lagoons. Matsukawaura Park overlooks its namesake lagoon, faced by one of several intriguing hot springs facilities on the other side. There were no swans floating around in any of these bodies of water yet, though I did see a few Northern Shovelers with their trademark ridiculously long beaks.

Anyways, more than a few hot springs around, and lots of shops listed on the map including a strawberry farm (off season) some meat shops (closed today) and sweet shops. The sweet shop on the map was open, so I popped in for cookies, a snack for my husband, and a nice free hot cup of tea.

Next was Senkyaku Banraikan, Soma’s tourist information center. I’d met some folks from Soma’s tourism association at a trail related gathering, so I was looking forward to meeting some of them again. I was also very much looking forward to the selection of cat goods. You see, Banraikan has an honorary facility head who is a cat named Miso. He was appointed because the then (now?) head of the tourism association decided, and rightly so, that it would be a good idea because everyone loves cats. And everyone does love cats. But this is beyond love, this is near worship, because you have to see this cat’s face. Here, look at the profile picture for Soma Tourism Association. It should still be cat director Miso. Does it show a black cat with a regal scowl, a white beard, and a host of splendid white whiskers bristling out of its face? That’s the one. And a local genius cartoonist has made absolutely *perfect* illustrations of this cat. And those illustrations are used in pamphlets and other materials, but also on special goods, like tshirts and magnets. This time I got a little bag for my lunch box, but I might as well have just bought the entire collection since that’s going to happen eventually no matter what.

I was lucky enough to get a guided tour of Soma Nakamura-jinja Shrine and castle remains from a Soma Tourism Association staff member! I can’t speak for the other bodies of water, but it turns out the benign looking ponds on the former castle grounds were actually a series of traps, located so that warriors rushing in on horses would accidentally fall into the ponds and lose their mounts. The famous Soma Nomaoi wild horse chase festival was also a clever excuse to get locals together every year for what essentially a military drill that enabled the community to just get in the usual formation to defend themselves. Soma’s superior castle and skills in battle, as well as their policy of exclusively defending themselves as opposed to trying to invade anybody else, made Soma one of the only places with a stable, unbroken lineage of lords all the way to the Meiji Restoration (meaning no one else successfully took over that whole time).

I left off my hike at the Shirahata Ginkgo tree, unfortunately not pictured because my phone decided to jettison the remaining 50% of its battery life in five minutes (thanks Apple).

Soma is beautiful, delicious, fun and more than ready for hikers! Maybe you’ll even meet Miso the cat (he makes a public appearance a couple times a month). And me, come to dote on Miso the cat.

Trailhead and end point for the Michinoku Coastal Trail at Matsukawaura Park in Soma, Fukushima

Totem at Matsukawaura Park in Soma, Fukushima

Senkyaku Banraikan (tourist information center) in Soma, Fukushima

Various adorable cat goods at Senkyaku Banraikan (tourist information center) in Soma, Fukushima

Appearance calendar for Miso, the handsome honorary feline head of Senkyaku Banraikan in Soma, Fukushima.

Pond and late autumn colors at Soma Nakamura-jinja Shrine

Horse statue at Soma Nakamura-jinja Shrine

Soma Nakamura-jinja Shrine in Soma, Fukushima