Pirate ticket to Mystic Beach

Unfortunately, good weather is rare here in winter, so on Saturday we set out for the west side of Vancouver Island in light rain. About 70 kilometers from Victoria lies the 'Mystic Beach'. This beach can only be reached on foot, and the path takes about 50 minutes through the forest. A really beautiful hike, not as strenuous as our tour through Goldstream Park (although the 154 steps at the beginning of the return journey were brutal).
In the summer, this path is probably very enjoyable to walk, but since it has been raining for weeks, our hike reminded me of playing pirate tic-tac-toe in school. Whoever touches the ground - in this case, the mud wasteland - loses. But it was somehow fun jumping from log to stone to footbridge :)
Compared to the bridges of the past few weeks, the suspension bridge was a piece of cake.
Just before the beach, it became clear again that Canadians know how to deal with nature. The staircase down to the beach turned out to be a huge long log that must have fallen over at some point, with carved steps into it were built.
At the beach, it becomes clear why it is called Mystic Beach, especially in the misty light of the rainy weather. There are small waterfalls, washed-up logs, and caves by the water. Unfortunately, we were at the beach during high tide, so we couldn't get close to the largest waterfall and the cave was hardly accessible.
On this side of the island, there are giant seaweeds that somehow reminded us of spaghetti and macaroni ;)
Unfortunately, while trying to reach the cave, I got hit by a big wave, so I had to make the return journey with soaked winter boots :/
It made the stairs even more exhausting. But the hike was worth it!