Wonderful bike & train tour in Fukushima 福島大好きおじさんの自転車・鉄道旅日記 Japanese serow on Mt. Karo trail, July 1, 2019. 新地町鹿狼山の山道で日本カモシカに出会う 2019年7月1日。

Japanese serow on Mt. Karo trail, July 1, 2019. 新地町鹿狼山の山道で日本カモシカに出会う 2019年7月1日。

（Japanese serow at Mt. Karo, Shinchi, July 1, 2019. 鹿狼山の日本カモシカ新地 7/1/2019)
Today I walked along a countryside road and mountain trail in Shinchi Town which was a northernmost town in the coastal Fukushima. The route was mostly along Shinchi section of Michinoku Coastal Trail or walking trail along the coastal area of Tohoku Region. This was defined and promoted by Ministry of the Environment of Japan aiming to revitalize the coastal region which was devastated by the earthquake and tsunami in March 2011. Today’s route was 17km long and included light trekking on Mt. Karo (430m). When I was descending along the ridge, I suddenly came across a Japanese serow near the northern end of the trail. He was grazing on the vegetation. Both of us were frightened but he just stared at me and showed no sign of intimidation. I took his picture as shown above and then he moved away.
本日は、福島県沿岸部の最北端の新地町を歩きました。コースは主に、みちのく潮風トレイルの新地町部分です。東日本大震災で被災した東北沿岸部の復興を目指し、環境省が設定した歩くコースです。本日のルートは、約17kmで鹿狼山（430m）の軽い登山を含みます。今日後半、尾根伝いに降りていたら、山道の終わり近くで、日本カモシカに出会いました。両者共にびっくりしましたが、カモシカは私の方をじっと見たまま脅かす様子はありませんでした。私は熊鈴を鳴らしていましたが、カモシカには効かないようです。そういうわけで、写真を撮っていたらそのうち逃げていきました。

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I started to walk from JR Shinchi Station this morning as shown above. When I visited the town four years ago (2015) by bike there was no railway station. It was destroyed and washed away by the tsunami. But today the new station was built as well as many new public facilities, hotels, and residential area with new homes in the vicinity.
今朝は、写真のJR新地駅から歩き始めました。4年前（2015年）に来たときは、駅も無かったです。破壊され津波に流されていました。でも今日は、新しい駅舎で電車の運行もしており、周りには新しい公共施設やホテル、住宅地の新しい家もたくさん建っていました。

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In about two hours of walking I arrived at the trailhead for Mt. Karo. A pair of animal stones called “komainu”, deer on the left and wolf on the right, welcomed me as shown above. These were for Karosan shrine or Mt. Karo shrine, where deity of the mountain was enshrined. A local legend described on the panel shown above said the animals were always with the god.
2時間ほどで、鹿狼山の登山口に着きました。写真の狛犬、鹿狼山神社の鹿と狼が出迎えます。神社には、この山の神が祀られています。現地の説明板（写真）には、この地の伝説が語られています。

Shortly after, I came to a hydrangea habitat as shown above. But today it seemed not the best season for this flower.
登っていくと、すぐに写真のアジサイの自生地が現れます。でも、旬の時期ではなかったようです。

In about an hour I came to the summit where second-order triangulation point was placed. It was very foggy, misty and even rainy at the top, but for a very short period of time a glimpse of blue sky appeared on top of sea of clouds as shown above.
1時間ほどで、2等三角点のある頂上に着きます。今日は、霧やもやがかかり雨も時折降る天気でしたが、一瞬だけ写真のように青空と下の雲海がのぞきました。

In the last half of the route there were two watering places along the way which was very grateful for walkers. Both were natural spring water. The first one was Mayumi spring water as shown above. This has even been used as the source of public tap water supply for local residents until some 40 years ago.
後半には、有り難い水場が2カ所あります。湧き出る清水です。最初は、写真の「真弓の清水」と言い、40年前の昭和時代にこの地区の公共水道としても使われてきました。

Another one was called Ukon spring water. A small rest area with roof has been built as shown above. “Ukon” was named after Date Ukon who was a descendant of Date family and who lived and loved this place and the water. I also refreshed myself with these excellent spring waters. It took 7.5 hours to get back to Shinchi Station.
もう1つは、右近の清水と言い、写真のように屋根付きの休場もありました。伊達家の子孫である伊達右近が、この地区に住みこの水を愛飲したことにちなみ、名前がつけられました。私も両方の水場で水を補給し休みました。7時間半かかり、新地駅に戻りました。

The exact route and locations are shown in the map below. The map can be scaled up and down with a click and scroll. However, today, the GPS data did not reach the goal of Shinchi Station due to battery outage.
ルートと場所は、下の地図を参照ください。地図は、クリックとスクロールで、拡大・縮小が可能です。但し、GPSのバッテリ切れで終点の新地駅まで描いていません。