Van Damme State Park

About Van Damme State Park

Van Damme State Park borders beaches and highland resorts on the Mendocino coast, and history is as much a part of the park system as the beach itself. Of all the parks in the system, Van damme is perhaps the most unique in terms of historical resources associated with the huge timber industry, both as a tourist destination and as a national park.

The park has a pygmy forest, where mature conical cypresses and pines stand six to eight feet tall, and a swamp weed area, where skunks abound. The paths of the park stretch for more than 10 kilometres, ferns cover the gorges of the Small River, joggers and cyclists use the asphalt roads, and the beach is popular with divers.

Van Damme State Park is named after Charles VanDamme, who was born on May 22, 1832 in Ostend, Belgium, as patriarch of the family. Flemish couple, parents of Charles, son of Henri and Marie-Marie, daughter of Jean-Baptiste van Damm and his wife Anne.

After arriving in Mendocino County, Van Damme followed the sea for several years and later worked at the Little River wood mill. During this time, children were born, including Charles, whose love of the area prompted him to buy a piece of land on the Redwood coast.

In the early days, planting was carried out, but after his death in 1934, the area became part of the state park system.

Ruel, who tapped Reeves for a mill town, built Little River on the land officially called Kents Cove, which was bought by W.H. Kent in 1862 and built by Ruel as a timber mill and town. The mill became famous as the site of one of the first wood mills in the United States, but the stock of wood when felled did not last forever. The logging migrated periodically back to the upper reaches of the Little River, and at the end of the century the mill had to close, and what was left of it soon fell into disrepair, along with the mill itself. Activity in the port, once booming with activity, declined and logging was periodically moved back into the headwaters and small rivers.

The shipyard where Captain Thomas Peterson had exhibited a full-fledged wooden schooner for the coastal trade in 1874 gradually collapsed, weekly steamship operations ceased and the school for the nearly 100 students who once visited Little River was closed. Only the waters of the small river returned and sank and sank on the beach where they had originally sailed. Plagued by the resulting population decline, the Small River never returned to its natural state. The subsequent expansion, including the peripheral areas, has preserved some of California's most interesting natural resources.

Pygmy forest is a mixture of large leaves - maple, Douglas fir, pine, pine, oak and pineapple. There are also large leaves of maple and Douglas fir, as well as a variety of shrubs, grasses and beeches.

The Fern Canyon Trail, which is paved in its lower sections, follows the route of an old wooden sleigh track. This beautiful path, which crosses the river nine times, can be walked in less than an hour and a half from the parking lot on the south side of the park.

At the mouth of the Small River there was once a wooden mill, and from 1864 onwards oxen carried wood from the gorges into the gorge for three decades. At the end of the 19th century, schooners were built in the shipyards along the estuary, which were to be used for timber and wooden shipping. The hamlet of Little River was created because of its proximity to the river and its natural beauty.

The land on the site of the former sawmills was bought and the estuary and gorge were bequeathed to the state park system. Van Damme State Park offers hikers a special environment, the Pygmy Forest, as a "special environment" for hikers. The nutrient - poor and highly acidic topsoil, combined with dense, superficial leaf shells that resist penetration by roots, severely restricts the growth of many plant and animal species in the park, such as wild flowers, wild boars, deer, elk, elk and other wildlife.

Sixty-year-old cypresses measure about an inch in diameter and are only a few feet high, but some are truly Lilliputian, measuring more than a foot in length and over an inch in width.

Hikers have two paths that lead into the Pygmy Forest: One route leads 3.5 miles to the Fern Canyon, and another kilometer of the Logging Road Trail leads directly into the forest. The self-guided nature trail is laid out on an elevated wooden footbridge and connects with a 1.5 km long paved path.

How to get there: Van Damme State Park is located on the west side of the river, about one mile from the city of St. Louis. Turn inland onto the main park road and follow it to the Fern Canyon Trail, signposted at the end of an asphalt road about 2.7 km south of the city.

The first or second crossing of the Small River will give you an idea of what lies ahead. In summer, the river is easy to cross, but in winter, you should be prepared for your feet to get wet.

You will cross the campsites of the National Park, reserved for walkers and cyclists. A wide path leads to the Small River Trail, one of the most popular trails in Van Damme State Park, and runs through a small stream.

The road splits into a short loop and at the end of the asphalt road the two forks meet again. The trail leads into the Pygmy Forest, but the long loop leads through the forest, along an old wooden road and into the Pygmy Forest.

After a short walk through the Pygmy Forest, cross the Little River and follow the Old Logging Road Trail, which is over a kilometer long. Visitors can also kayak and enjoy unique views of the coast, with a concession contract offered at Van Damme Beach.

The park is located in Van Damme, South Africa, about 30 kilometers south of Cape Town. A highway separated by the Little River and the Old Logging Road Trail runs through the park, just a short walk from the beach and park entrance.