Sombrio Beach Old Growth Fringe

Old growth Sitka spruce hang on in a narrow fringe behind Sombrio Beach.

The easy 10 minute hike to Sombrio Beach is a lot like many of the trails that lead from Highway 14 to the cobble beaches below. After passing through second or third growth forests of mostly small, closely spaced Western hemlock, the trails lead into a narrow old growth fringe of fat Sitka spruce bordering the beach.

Old growth stump surrounded by smaller regenerating trees on the trail to Sombrio Beach.

While most of the west coast of Vancouver Island has been clear cut logged long ago, the Juan de Fuca trail, which runs for 47 km along the ocean between China Beach to Botany Bay (Port Renfrew), retained narrow strips of old trees in some places.

Toward the bottom of the Sombrio trail you enter the magnificent
old growth fringe.

Stunning Sombrio Beach is one of those places that escaped the saw, and its narrow old growth fringe harbours some big and unusual trees. The forest combined with the beach and ocean make this a magical place to be, as many have discovered.

Nice campsite on the sand under old spruce trees at East Sombrio.

While at Sombrio you may feel it beautiful enough to live permanently among the salt sprayed spruce, and indeed in simpler times a group of freedom-loving people did just that. The establishment of the Juan de Fuca Trail in 1994 meant the end of an era, and by 1997 the last Sombrians were served eviction notices.

Looking down Sombrio River from the suspension bridge toward the surf.
Photo: introvert3

You may not be able to stay for decades as some did in the past, but today you can camp under the canopy of the big spruce trees for up to 14 days. Most people take 3 to 5 days to complete the trail, although there are ambitious types that run its muddy, glorious 47 km in a single day.

Not me.

Western hemlock often start on logs and stumps. Eventually, the log or stump
 rots away leaving trees on root stilts like this one behind Sombrio Beach.

When I do the trail, I will max out and plan on 10 to 14 days to really let the magic sink deep into my bones.

Just enjoying the old growth in the Sombrio area could keep me busy for days.

The Chin Beach Trail Lone Cedar

Chin Beach Trail Cedar - old growth remnant surrounded by tiny trees

During my local big tree safaris I usually meet individual trees that are satisfyingly large. The Chin Beach Lone Cedar, along Highway 14 west of Sooke, BC, is one such tree. What makes this colossal Western red-cedar seem even more impressive is the fact that it is surrounded by much smaller, more recent trees. The Lone Cedar is an individual island of ancient in a sea of young upstarts.

Third growth trees

The Juan de Fuca Resource Land, where the tree in question grows, is a large industrial-focused area on south Vancouver Island. It is industrial, not wilderness, because resource extraction has been occurring here for a long time.


The Lone Cedar is located on coastal land that has been logged once or twice already. Although this tree is not protected in a park, it is close to Juan de Fuca Provincial Park and the Juan de Fuca Trail, which do protect some old growth trees.


The Juan de Fuca Marine Trail has several unofficial trails leading to it from the Coast Highway (#14), west of Sooke. The trail to Chin beach is one of those. 10 minutes along this trail grows the Lone Cedar.


On the short hike to see this amazing holdout from the primal forest of old, one passes through a forest in several stages of succession. The trail first passes through small, tightly packed hemlock trees, more than likely third growth forest. Quickly the trail enters an area of larger trees that look more like second growth. Some of these are reaching a nice size. A few more steps, and the Lone Cedar looms into view.

Second growth

It is a Western red-cedar wall of wood that has been growing here since the beginning of the Empire of Charlemagne in the 800s. Aged, stringy reddish-grey bark covers the fluted trunk. In places the bark is covered in a stubble of moss.


The thickness of the bole rises up and disappears into the canopy above. At the right angle the candelabra top of the tree can be seen jutting into the sky. The multiple dead, grey spires form an impressive cathedral.

The Lone Cedar: a weathered old growth survivor with candelabra top

One wonders how any old growth trees survived the logging operations that have taken their contemporaries. It is not hard to imagine the primal forest, of which the Lone Cedar was a part. It was an integral member of a vast, gigantic, ancient forest system that cloaked the Pacific coast from Alaska to California.

No doubt these remnant cedars appreciate the small forest that is growing up to provide them with support. Lone trees left after logging are prone to blowing down in the next big wind, but these trees have survived countless storms that slam into this coastline every winter. Stand beside this tree, and feel its antiquity, its strength, and its ongoing life. It stands as a reminder of what once was.

Getting There

From Sooke, drive to China Beach (Juan de Fuca Provincial Park). Set your tripometer at the park entrance, and drive about 13 km further along the highway to the (unofficial, unmarked) Chin Beach trail head. Park well off the highway, and look for the flagging in the trees on the ocean side, marking the entrance to the forest. The flagging is the only indication that something special is here.

Hike about 10 minutes along the trail watching for the flagging tied to trees to help you navigate to the Lone Cedar. If you feel like hiking past the big trees, and making the beach your destination, the  trail continues down a steep gully for another 40 minutes and takes you to the Juna de Fuca Trail and Chin Beach.

A good reference to the Juan de Fuca Marine Trail is Giant Cedars, White Sands, by Donald C. Mills.



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Parking In BC Provincial Parks Free Again

British Columbia has over 800 provincial parks. The parks system is celebrating 100 years of preservation this year, but due to massive budget cuts, there has been little to celebrate. A tiny crack in the bad news emerged recently.

For the past few years visitors have had to pay for parking in some BC parks, but no more.

The pay parking program was rescinded by the Liberal government this week, ushering in the return of free parking in some of British Columbia's favourite places.

I see it as one less hassle, one less barrier, to the enjoyment of our parks. Especially some of my favourite local south island big tree hangouts such as Sooke Potholes, Goldstream, French Beach, and Juan de Fuca. You can check out more parks here.

Cutting parking fees will not affect parks funding, most likely because the whole idea was a fiasco from the ill-conceived start. Pay parking was highly unpopular with the public. The meter boxes, often in remote locations, were repeatedly vandalized. Enforcement was a problem as well, again due to the scattered, remote locations. The program likely made little to no money.

French Beach

Parking fees, for some, were a disincentive when planning outings. It would not be a surprise to find that this was the goal when one considers the cuts to provincial park funding over the past decade.

"The result of a decade of neglect is declining attendance. Park visits have dropped by 25 per cent since 1999 -a decline not seen in B.C.'s national parks. Parking meters installed in 42 popular parks have driven away millions of visitors." - Wilderness Committee  

The government may not want visitors to see the lack of interpretive programs for school groups and park visitors. They were cut early on, denying critical educational opportunities these programs offered. They don't want visitors to see the lack of staff to prevent things like poaching. And not just for big game, like Big horn sheep.

Sumallo Grove, Manning Provincial Park

In the winter of 1996-97 poachers cut and carried away three ancient cedars growing in the Sumallo Grove, which can be found in Manning Provincial Park, two hours east of Vancouver.

This old growth forest has the most impressive trees in all of Manning park, and is also distinguished as being the farthest eastern reach of the coastal rain forest in British Columbia. The three large cedar stumps can be seen as you pull into the parking lot.

Since 1996, parks funding has been reduced by 20%, in spite of the system being larger today. I hope free parking is the beginning of our government's return to honouring its commitment to our environment, and parks, and its responsibility to citizens.

Enjoy the parks and the free parking, then ask Premier Clark why this year's budget slashed another $650,000 as a gift for the 100th Anniversary of provincial parks in BC.

Juan de Fuca Provincial Park: Hiking To China Beach Through Old Growth Forest

The Coastal Western Hemlock Forest

Thirty-seven kms west of Sooke on Highway 14 is the beautiful Juan de Fuca Provincial Park. This park stretches in a narrow strip along the coast from China Beach all the way to Botanical Beach near Port Renfrew. It was made to commemorate the 1994 Victoria Commonwealth Games.
 
China Beach is at the east end of the park, closest to Sooke. A short hike to China Beach takes the big tree hunter through a mature Coastal Western Hemlock forest, and down to an expansive, sandy beach (at lower tides).

The further west along the coast you drive the wetter it gets, and the more Douglas-fir gives way to abundant Western hemlock, and Sitka spruce. The forest beginning around China Beach is different from the drier Coastal Douglas Fir ecosystem to the east.

More precipitation falls here than in Sooke, only 37 km away, but not as much as in Port Renfrew. Sooke receives about 660 mm of precipitation a year, compared to Port Renfrew's rainforest-like 3600 mm.

 

Hiking To China Beach

The 1 km trail to China beach starts at the parking lot for the day use area. The upper trail area has been logged and the forest that has grown in is densely packed and dark. The wet climate here encourages the spongy green mosses and dripping lichens that hang from branches. This is the beginning of the coastal rain forest.

A few steps and the hiker will pass through a small clearing in the forest. There is some evidence of logging here, but the area was also affected by a major storm in the winter of 2006. Many trees were blown down, and the trail was inaccessible for a long time. The clearing gives good views of the tall trees still standing there, and the surrounding forest canopy.

A little farther and the trail enters the area of mature forest. It is hard to miss as it feels like you are going 'into' something. The trunks of thick trees are all around, and looking toward their tops gets tiring on the neck. It is special here. Hushed, muted songs of forest birds, the faint sound of the wind in the upper canopy. Waves breaking on the beach below can be heard while mist passes through the trees.

This is the domain of keystone species such as black bear, cougar, wolf, and the endangered spotted owl. These species play a critical role in maintaining the structure of this special forest. The Sitka spruce are a keystone species in this ecologically rich environment, too.

"Vancouver Island has one of the highest concentrations of black bear and cougar in the world."

Sitka Spruce

Sitka spruce,  the largest species of spruce, commonly grow to 70 meters and a diameter of 300 cm in mature forests. The largest Sitka spruce are over 90 m and 500 cm in diameter. These giants are among the fastest growing trees in the world. The cool, moist maritime climate over much of Vancouver Island grows some of the largest examples anywhere.

The second-largest known Sitka spruce, the San Juan spruce, is just a few kilometers up Highway 14 from China Beach. This tree grows at a campsite beside the San Juan River outside of Port Renfrew. The San Juan spruce boasts a diameter of 371 cm, a height of 62.5 m, and a wood volume of 333 m³ .

A little farther up the coast in Carmanah/Walbran Provincial Park big tree lovers will find the Carmanah Giant, Canada's tallest tree. This sky scraping Sitka spruce is 95m in height and 9.4 m in diameter.

A Sitka spruce on the Brooks Peninsula has a greater girth than either of the above trees. This massive spruce is 13.94 meters in diameter.

The dark trunks of the Sitka spruce can be seen along the rest of the China Beach trail. The spruce trees have grey to dark brown bark that forms large chips. There are many Western hemlock, a few Douglas-fir, and some very large Western red-cedar that make up this diverse forest. But the coast-hugging Sitka spruce is the premier tree here.

The spruce are at the front line of the battle between the sea and the forest, due to their salt tolerance and ability to withstand abrasive wind-driven sand. These tough trees brave the elements and cushion the blow for those standing behind them. The spruce trees at the waters edge are blasted into a low wedge called spruce fringe, or krummholz forest. Without it, the trees behind would be blown down.

 

Sitka spruce are not the longest lived trees here, attaining an age of 'only' four or five hundred years. However, what they lack in age they make up in size, height, and girth. The trunks of these columns of wood have very little taper as they disappear into the canopy. The lower parts of the trunks are free of branches so the great trunks are in plain view. One would need binoculars to see the trees' needles as they are so far off the ground.

China Beach Provincial Park contains a special mature forest. We should be saving more like it. Get a taste of what we are at risk of losing on the easily accessible China Beach trail.

At the end of the trail - China Beach

 Getting There

Drive 37 km past the town of Sooke along West Coast Road (Highway 14). When you drive through the small surfing village of Jordan River you only have about 4 km further to drive. Watch for the entrance to China Beach day use area on your left hand side, and turn in.

Drive past the parking lot for the Juan de Fuca Trail head (on the right), and to the lower day use parking lot. The China Beach trail takes you past a set of outhouses, through the old growth and on to the beach below. Watch for bear, cougar and rogue waves.



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