Mystic Beach – Vancouver Islands Seaside Waterfall Hike
Mystic Beach Waterfall Hike Info
- Difficulty moderate: muddy trail with lots of roots puddles and treefall
- Elevation gain: 50m
- Distance: 4.2 km round trip ( felt longer but signs confirmed distance)
- Time: 1 hour each way
- Note : The trail is quite muddy and slippery, there are a lot of trees down and boggy sections. We did the trail Jan 2025 and we recommend wearing gum boots or good hikers!
Mystic Beach Waterfall Views
Magical Views at slack tide
Finding The Waterfall At Mystic Beach
Make sure you park in the Mystic Beach trailhead parking and not the China beach parking. Mystic beach trailhead is the first lot on your right China beach trailhead is further down the hill to your left.
The trail leaves right from the parking lot and has a convenient trail map at the beginning. Once you get to the beach the waterfall is super easy to find. If facing the ocean just turn left and walk 100m and you are there. You will see the sandstone cliffs and waterfall almost immediately.
How To Get To Mystic Beach
Mystic Beach is part of Juan de Fuca Provincial Park, located on the southern end of Vancouver Island. If you’re coming from Victoria, the drive will take about 1 hour and 30 minutes. From nearby Sooke, it’s only about an 40 minutes, and from Jordan River, it’s a quick 5-minute drive. For those coming from the Port Renfrew area, the journey will take about 40 minutes. If you prefer a scenic drive, consider taking the Pacific Marine Road from Nanaimo through Lake Cowichan. This route, which takes approximately 3 hours offers beautiful views. Although it also passes through areas of active logging its still a pretty drive and there are some great old growth forest areas around here. The famous fairy creek that the protestors are trying to protect is close to this highway.
Once you reach the area, set your GPS to Mystic Beach Trailhead (be aware that cell service is limited in this region your phone is probably not going to work). I had no reception on Virgin but Megs had decent signal with Telus. The road leading to the trailhead is great and you can get there in any car. This hike pairs beautifully with China Beach as its right next door. The walk down to China beach is much easier and shorter and an easy add on.
Mystic Beach Trail Directions
The trail starts just to the left of this blue van
Once you reach the parking lot, you’ll find plenty of spots, though it can get crowded, especially on sunny days. There are also pit toilets and signs providing information about the area, including the hiking trails and the famous Juan De Fuca route.
Looking towards the back of the parking lot you are going to want to take the trail to your left by the entrance.
The trail starts fairly easily through beautiful old growth. This hike feels longer than it is so be prepared for a small hike
about a kilometer into the trail we started running into deadfall. There was a big storm on Vancouver Island in Dec 2024 and there was still lots of treefall down as of Jan 2025. There are little paths around the trees and if you keep your eyes open its fairly easy to find the way.
After you make it past the deadfall there is a cool suspension bridge and the trail opens up. You have gone about halfway now and everything is far easier from here to the beach.
After the suspension bridge the trail opens way up as it heads downhill.
This is why we recommend gumboots. As you descend towards the beach it gets pretty muddy. Westcoast roots are always super slippery so I recommend just sticking to the dirt and trying to go around.
The final staircase down to the beach. You can see the old trail (the log with carved steps) right beside the stairs.
Mystic Beach
You want to turn left here after the sign to heads towards the waterfall. The beach kind of ends on the right so its hard to go the wrong way.
Meghan walking towards the falls
When the tide is in the right spot you get this amazing swept mirror affect right below the falls.
Vancouver Island Juan De Fuca Bear Safety
The west coast of Vancouver Island Is home to estimates of between 7000 – 12000 black bears. This is great for your chances of bear sighting but it also means some precautions should be taken. Always hike with bear spray and make noise while walking through the forest. Black bears are usually fairly shy by nature and will do their best to avoid people. Unfortunately some of the bears close to the Juan De Fuca area have become semi habituated to people and can approach. Never feed the bears and make your presence known and look large if threatened. Try and stay calm, don’t run and get ready to use your bear spray if needed. Usually looking big and speaking calmly to the bear lets it know you are not food and should be left alone.
Best Time To Visit Mystic Beach Falls
We visited around 2 pm at a 1.8m tide and it was perfect. We wanted to make sure that the water was close to the waterfall but not so close that you couldn’t walk up to it. Anything over a 2 m tide I would probably wait if that’s important to you. You can check out the tides here.
Where To Stay Around Mystic Beach
Without a doubt the best place to stay around here is the Jordan River and Shirley area. They are both super small and Jordan River only really has a coffee shop and single restaurant so make sure you stock up on groceries before your visit. There are tons of beaches and surf breaks in this area and its a great spot to spend some time. If you want to stay somewhere a bit bigger you can opt for Sooke or Port Renfrew. Port Renfrew is also quite small but has a store a pub and some good restaurants. Sooke is closer to Victoria and has everything you could need.
Where To Stay In Jordan River
Jordan River has some incredibly cool wild feeling guesthouse options. I have listed some of the more unique and recommended ones below.
The Rad Shack – A lost in the forest tiny house
Pipers Nest – Cute modern detached tiny house with outdoor clawfoot
Oceanfront Nature Retreat – Beautiful modern cedar cabin looking right at the ocean
If You Have More Time On The West Coast
If you have some more time for exploring why not explore some more of the beaches in the Juan De Fuca area. We hiked to all of them when we did the Juan De Fuca and you can see the pics here!
Sombrio Beach and its hidden waterfall is a great way to spend a day and easily one of the prettiest beaches on the island.
China beach right next door to Mystic beach is easier to get to and quite nice
Sandcut beach has another waterfall flowing into the ocean with a unique river pattern that it cuts into the sand.
