China Beach is a short little hike of first-growth forest Sitka spruce, Douglas fir and western red cedar. After Mystic we had some time remaining so we opted to check out China as well.
It’s about a 15-20 minute leading to the beach.
Between the Vancouver area and Iceland, we’ve never smelled air so clean.
I thought there was a water source like a river or stream that caused water to drip from the cliffs. I asked Toni – it’s the rainforest.
Look at the forest rain down.
Victor and I just stood there observing the serenity of the forest, watching the water drip.
There’s a peace nature brings; anger, everything just fades away.
In spring and fall you may be able to see grey whales passing by. This is part of their migratory route.
On our trek back to the car, we met a new friend, a banana slug. Cute little fella, he’s eating lunch. These temperate rainforests are awesome!
This was an easier walk compared to Mystic. Check out both trails if you have time but if you want a work out, Mystic is the one.
Jebus Mews & Andrea 
The photos are gorgeous! (Except for the banana slug. They’re interesting to look at, but I once stepped on one by accident and the incident traumatized me, ruined my shoe, and killed a harmless critter.) I didn’t know the rainforest generated as much water as it does. Did you see the beaches at high tide? Looking at the eroded cliffs and exposed roots of the trees, I wonder how high and how rough the tides are there.
My older daughter and her family went to Vancouver for a get together with her in-laws during the week before Labor Day. They didn’t venture out as far as you and Victor did, partly because they had small children in their group and partly because her mother-in-law hates dirt and animals. (She still cringes at my daughter’s dog, who is well behaved and sweet, and is scared to death of cats.) They went to a park with a “bear trail” that led to some black bears in a large enclosure. They also went to a place called The Children’s Market, sort of like a farmers’ market for kids. They had fun, but traveling with children limits what you can do on a trip. I hope I can go there someday and explore by myself.
I think the tide was high at Mystic because we couldn’t walk to a water fall. The next post will be about Sombrio Beach and the tide fell while we were there. Sombrio was amazing and our favorite. My knees were killing me after this vacation. 3 weeks of them “not feeling right. So be careful when you go but you live on the west coast so I’m sure you know what to expect. The slugs were everywhere on the walk to Sombrio.
Did they see the Chinese Garden in Vancouver? That was really nice. Too bad it was being renovated so some parts were closed off for us. It is in their Chinatown which is more like Junkietown. We didn’t see any Chinese restaurants. The other Chinatown is called Richmond. I’m so use to Chinatowns being Chinatowns this was quite strange but we expected it from reading things about the city.
Beautiful images:)
Thank You! So much better in person. I keep saying that as I go through our pics for the posts 🙂
Why do they call it China beach ? 😀
Good question, I have absolutely no idea. Will look into that.
Sometimes there is no real explanation 🙂