Michinoku Coastal Trail: Shintaro Station - Ichinowatari Station
I don’t even know how to describe my day today. I took an early train from Miyako to Shintaro Station to begin my hike. The first part was easy, following my offline GPS app to Taro Kanko Hotel, a preserved remnant site of the 2011 tsunami. From there, I headed to Sannoiwa Rocks, but the signage was confusing—mostly paper signs in plastic covers—so I relied on offline GPS, which was hard to follow as it doesn’t reflect what I see. I took a huge detour just trying to find the right path.
The most memorable (and sketchiest) part was reaching a fishing port where both the signage and GPS led me straight to a cliff face with no clear way up. With the tide too high to go around, I ended up scrambling on all fours up a steep, dodgy trail. Thankfully, I reconnected to the main path and made it to the golf course section. But with only two hours of daylight left and 14km to go, I decided to call it a day. I walked 3km to the nearest train station and caught a ride back to Miyako.
Route Detail
Distance: 18.7km from Shintaro Station to Ichinowatari Station
Total elevation gain: 685m
Time: 4h 22m (total time with breaks 4h 42m)
Difficulty: Challenging
Transportation & Miscellaneous
Train from Miyako Station to Shin Taro Station ¥460
Train from Ichinowatari Station to Miyako Station ¥310
