A Chinese fishing village SAN RAFAEL
Think of Marin County’s natural jewels, and the mind turns to Mount Tam. But it’s China Camp State Park that, year after year, tops local polls for best park — people just really seem to connect with this quirky, unassuming place.
It’s not flashy. Naturewise, perhaps the park’s most significant claim is having the largest intact, original marsh in the Bay Area. It also abuts something called Rat Rock Island which, well, your guess is as good as ours. But visit
China Camp, and its charms will grow on you. Well-maintained trails make it a paradise for mountain bikers, who come from near and far to do a popular loop. At its highest point, views of San Pablo Bay are unbeatable. And then there’s its legacy as one of a couple dozen Chinese fishing villages that dotted the Bay in the late 1800s, specializing in grass shrimp dried for export.
A fire erased the original village, though it was later rebuilt. “There was tremendous anti-Chinese sentiment at the time. This was not the only case of a ‘mysterious fire’ burning down Chinese homes,” says Martin Lowenstein, executive director of the nonprofit Friends of China Camp.
Today, people can explore traces of the community’s history at a pleasant beach with a museum, a boat workshop with a replica of a Chinese junk and a historic cafe that used to prepare shrimp salad (but nowadays stocks more standard picnic fare). A pier for shrimp hauling now is the perfect place to dip your feet or even jump in the water, as temperatures are 10 degrees warmer than what you’ll usually find in the Bay. Trails wind all around the park and make for great spotting of wildlife, from mule deer to wild