July 19, 2019; Kurosaki Peninsula
Excerpt from my trip notes during my 9-day backpack down the first part of the Michinoku Coastal Trail.
I’ve been having a time, so I haven’t been logging much, but I’m taking a rest day for my feet and legs, so I’ve got loads of time to catch up. On the 16th, my foot hurt a lot and taping didn’t help, so I limped a bit, and eventually decided that discretion was the better part of valor, so I hopped a train to Kuji. Naturally, K-san was ready to snap me up and took me to the local clinic.
I probably should have told him that I hate the local doctor and don’t trust him after he made a hash of my shoulder six years ago. But I didn’t and Dr. M did his usual bullshit of taking an x-ray and then telling us how he was an impressive karate star in his youth and how are we to know what real pain is.
I hate that guy.
However, I did get a good look at my own x-rays, and the bones looked just fine, so I said, cool, thanks, and we jetted. K-san kindly took me to Kitasamuraihama, and I checked in and set up camp. Then I decided that I’d walk back to Taneichi [n.b. start point]. It was a bold goal, since I’d lost a bunch of time faffing around, but I was making good progress until I hit the Kōke River. Because it had rained a bunch over the previous days, the river was too high to cross alone [n.b. I had no poles either]. I spent a very long time finding this out as the river was split into two and I spent a very, very long time trying to make my way between the little section and the big section through an island made of densely packed rosebushes.
My legs were entirely destroyed.
Eventually, I gave up and crawled back to take the detour, which turned out also to be closed from Shirataki Falls onward [n.b. 3/4 of the way back to the original trail]. So I cut around the whole section on town roads (after trying another access road marked on the map, but that was now forest). I hauled my way north up National Road 45, but then ran out of food. Luckily one of the shopping options marked on the map was open (and an actual place with food), and I had a nice lunch at Mushroom Station, featuring…mushroom everything. At this point, I checked to see where Kitasamuraihama Campground was in relation to Samuraihama Station, and Lord, that was a mistake—they are not close at all! So I pretty much had to give up right away and take the train back to Samuraihama Station.
I didn’t get back to the campsite until after dark, and there was absolutely no one there. At least the host left the bathrooms open for me. Otherwise, it would have been real miserable. Still, I managed to freak myself out about tsunami [n.b. the campsite is about 3m above sea level right on the coast, and there is a persistent boom of surf. The campsite is decorated with a number of alarming signs warning about tsunami, and the last time I was in the area was right after the March 11 mega-tsunami. So. There were concerns.]. I convinced myself that I had to move to high ground. I was gonna relocate to the upper parking lot, but someone was already up there doing something weird in a running car with the lights off.
I compromised by hiding close to the tsunami escape stairs, but below Creepy Car Guy. It was fine. No disasters.
The next morning (17th), I jetted on down to Kuji. This part of the trail is extremely unused, so I spent good portions of the day thrashing through rosebushes and other pricklies. More leg bleeding. After the roses, it was hard pavement all the way. I had a bad moment, just past the aquarium, where I thought road work was going to send me on a massive detour, but it was okay—since I was on foot, the construction guys let me through.
The sun also came out, which was a great relief, but made for hot road trekking in town. The alternative trail route was extremely difficult to navigate and I was tired, so I cut straight to the Dofūkan and ate the best tacos in Iwate [n.b. Red Chilis, also possibly the only tacos in Iwate. They serve tacos and doughnut holes and it’s the greatest combination ever.]. Six years later and still amazing. K-san also emailed, so I had a second lunch at the Dofūkan and ate my weight in seafood. K-san wanted to hang out, so we went on a side-excursion to the aquarium, and he gave me a lift back onto the trail.
Due to the distance between the designated campsites (not ideal), I had planned to stealth camp at Funado Rest House, since it had been closed due to tsunami damage. Tragically [n.b. not! We are pro-restoration and tsunami recovery!], the rest house was actually in operation! And when I asked if I could camp there, none of the staff were really sure if that was okay. Obviously, I should have arrived later and hidden in the pull-out back up the road towards Kuji. But, whomp, whomp, I bought a bottle of tea and chugged on towards Noda.
However, when I got to the Ama Center in Kosode, I had noted the stream-crossing warnings on the map, and had vivid memories (and the wounds to go with) of the previous river-crossing experience. Probably it would have been fine, but it was late in the day, and I didn’t want to deal with problems, so I caught the Kosode bus to Noda.
I had been texting K-sensei about the journey, so I asked her where to stealth camp in Noda. She said, come to my house. So I did. It’s good to see her—she’s super genki [n.b. full of life vitality] as per usual. However, my visit was also the usual K-sensei rigamarole, which was difficult while tired. She kept feeding me and wanted to stay up and chat until 23:00, which is hard for someone on the 05:00-17:00 lifestyle. She kept me up very late and I wanted to die a little. She also thought my leg wounds were hilarious. (She was right.)
I was very much a surprise guest, so I ended up as her roommate, because they didn’t have time to prepare a sleeping area, which was both hilarious and weird. She still gets up horrendously early, but we had a nice breakfast, and I was able to extract myself.
I was planning to hike the short segment to Noda Tamagawa Campground (18th) and camp there, but arrived at 10:00. Since the weather forecast was rain for the 19th, I decided to try and slog on to Kurosaki Peninsula. Good thing I didn’t check the mileage…I hiked about 34.4km yesterday. It was a lot.
I had a dark moment near Horinai Station where I thought I wouldn’t make it, and I’d have to bail back to Noda or Kuji, but, luckily, the local guesthouse didn’t have space, so I got over myself and kept going.
I did see one other hiker, south of Noda, headed north. We were both excited to see each other. Hooray, Team Michinoku!
Otherwise, a lot of road time yesterday. My shins hurt and I wish I brought my calf sleeves.
I was flagging a lot by the time I arrived in Fudai, but I bought a little food (a lot of ramen) and had a weird conversation with a kid (“Are you, perchance, a foreigner?”), so that was alright. I powered through the last section on sheer will alone, and climbed a million stairs to limp into Kurosaki Campground at about 17:30, whereupon I immediately crashed out.
Today, I’m taking a rest day to give my feet a break. Health is good, but my orthotics slide a lot in my shoes, so I have a bunch of painless, but ugly-looking blisters. My foot is still sore, but improving. My right calf was very sore through the last 5km of hiking yesterday. Applied a pain patch overnight and it’s better today.
Weather forecast says improved tomorrow. It rained pretty good last night and it’s currently raining hard. I’m sticking with the full lounge [n.b. I was trapped in a one man tent for 12 hours due to rain] and hoping that I can dry out a bit overnight, although my moisture management was way better this time around.
Tomorrow is a short 17km day with lots of ups and downs, finishing at the last campground of the trip—Aketo. Tomorrow does involve some stream crossings, so I’ll have to work that out. Hopefully, they will be doable, as there’s no detour option.
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