China Camp State Park is sorely underrated, which is a shame. It’s accessible, versatile, and really beautiful.
Located just to the north of the Richmond-San Rafael bridge, this state park was nearly shut down a few years ago during the state budget crisis, were it not for the intervention of Friends of China Camp, a group that has pulled together funds to help keep this beautiful park open.
There are miles of trails that are great for hiking or biking or running here, there is historical China Camp Village where you can walk the past of a Chinese fishing village (the people who run the little cafe have lived there all their lives!) and explore a fantastically rustic but information Visitor’s Center, and have a fresh sandwich at the cafe.
China Camp Village with its long pier.
Our Trail
We did two trails on this walk: the Shoreline Trail, and Turtle Back Hill Trail.
Shoreline Trail is a fine, safe, and lovely trail for kids — at any point along the park. It goes for miles, so you can choose whatever section to walk. We began with a tour of China Camp Village, and then parked in the lot just above the Village.
We were a bit too late to see many wildflowers, but the Shoreline Trail is rife with them. The leaves of globe lilies absolutely covered the trail, but the flowers were long gone; lots of Chinese Houses and Shooting Stars littered the brush still. China Camp is perfect for late spring and summer, but keep it on your list for places to go wildflower hunting in early-mid spring.
The trail is, for the most part, shielded from the road, but still allows plenty of water views. The following photos are from Shoreline. (See below for Turtle Back Hill).
Because Shoreline Trail is long, we decided to walk a certain way, then back, and then move on to the very lovely Turtle Back Hill trail, which is a fantastic marsh preserve.
Finally, my four year old was really into reading trail signs and we talked a lot about what they mean. He loved that they were wordless, but he could understand them. I took a picture of him with three signs at Turtle Back Hill.
Later, he tried to remember the signs. He said, “No dogs, no bikes…and no, what?”
I said, “No AT-ATs.”
He laughed and said no! The sign didn’t say no AT-ATs! He knew we had take the picture above, so when we got home he asked to see it. I said, give me a few minutes. I did a few things in Illustrator and Photoshop, and:
So, yeah. No AT-ATs allowed on Turtle Back Hill, got it?
(My son was amazed. It was a lesson for him to never doubt his mother.)
Animals
I’m very pleased to say we got some nice birds on this walk– and two new butterflies for my collection.
- Spotted towhee
- Snowy egret
- California Ringlet butterfly
- Sachem Skipper butterfly
- Fence lizards
More Information
How to get there
- Take Highway 101 just north of the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge. Take the North San Pedro Road edit and head east for five miles.
- There is a park-wide fee; it’s $5 but more if you have a dog. It’s a self-pay kiosk. You can use your pass anywhere in the park.
- Drive down past the main entrance and go all the way to China Camp Village to start.
