Glass sea beach quarry one. Amazing places. Glass Beach in California. Why is it worth being here?

Glass Bay is one of my favorite places in the suburbs of Vladivostok. This small piece of Ussuri Bay got its name thanks to the coast strewn with shards of glass and porcelain. The sea, before bringing the glass ashore, polishes it for a long time, bringing it to its perfect shape.

And we can enjoy the result here, especially in sunny weather. It seems as if the beach is strewn with colorful monpensier lollipops.

History of origin

People tell this story in different ways. Some claim that on the coast of this small bay two trucks with glass containers once overturned (what size they should have been), others that a local porcelain factory once transported waste here. It seems to me that the Ermine landfill, located next to the bay, played a role here. All city waste was dumped here, including old dishes, tiles and glass.

Until 2011, local residents had an ambivalent attitude towards the bay. Many considered it a continuation of the city garbage dump and preferred not to linger in it. That is why the beach also has several disparaging names: Steklyashka, Steklyanukha.

However, today it is one of the most favorite places among the townspeople. Garbage is no longer taken to these places, and “Ermine” was buried in a sarcophagus made of concrete and soil. Of course, all this is very good for nature, but not really for Glass Bay. Thanks to beach guests, there are fewer and fewer sparkling fragments. But what can I say, sometimes I myself can’t resist carrying a few pieces of glass in my pocket.

Peculiarities

The coast, which rather resembles a huge sparkling mosaic, and the city beach, has another feature. The bay to the left and right is “framed” by rocks reminiscent of volcanic lava frozen in bizarre shapes.

To me, Glass Bay seems like a piece of jewelry created by nature itself.

Walking here, looking at the colored pieces of glass, is a pleasure!

I don’t know why, but this process is very addictive. An hour or two may fly by while you admire the glass “wealth.” In addition, you can find old coins, badges and pieces of porcelain with intricate patterns.

By the way, you can see such a contradictory combination of human irresponsibility and natural hard work only twice in the world: in California in the McKerriher National Park, and in the suburbs of Vladivostok.

How to get there

By car

The easiest way to get to Glass Bay is by car. It is located about 10 kilometers from the city, so you can get there quickly. Follow the Artem highway straight towards the main city beach "Shamora". Landmark - the village of Rybatskoye. You need to drive through it, and after 2 kilometers on the right coastal side you will see a poster “Glass Bay”.

If you do not have a personal car, you can order a taxi. The trip will cost you around 400 rubles, since the taxi driver will assume that he is taking you out of town. Of course, you can always use alternative options. For example, find a driver through InDriver (almost the same as a taxi, but without a dispatcher and with a choice of conditions/prices), and get there for less money.

By bus

There is no bus stop near this bay. However, from Lugovaya (this is the main stop of city public transport) you can get there by bus No. 26 Lugovaya-Emar.

But just be sure to ask the driver to make a stop in the Steklyannaya Bay area. Such a trip will cost only 50 rubles.

Infrastructure

Despite the fact that paid entry of cars on the beaches is prohibited, you will have to pay 150 rubles for a passenger car and 250 rubles for a truck. It's like you're paying for secure parking. If you leave your car on the road, you don't have to pay anything.

If you want to have a picnic, you can rent a grill for 300 rubles and/or a gazebo for 600–2000 rubles (depending on the number of people). In summer, gazebos fill up quickly, so it is better to book them in advance. For this you will have to pay another 300 rubles.

If you just want to come and relax without thinking about cooking, you can order shish kebab at a local cafe for 250–400 rubles.

Here you can also rent a house for 900 rubles per day or put up your own tent. A place for her will cost 200 rubles per day.

There is a modest playground for children on site, and a volleyball court for adults.

There is also a small makeshift zoo with rabbits, pigeons, goats and even one peacock.

You can swim in the bay. This is what many city dwellers do during the hot season. Entry into the water is convenient, quite flat. It gets deep 10-15 meters from the shore.

The bottom underwater is also strewn with pebbles and pieces of glass, polished by the sea.

Why is it worth being here?

I think this place teaches us to see beauty in the everyday and enjoy simple things. After all, at the end of the day, the debris on Glass Bay Beach is just trash.

Glass Beach is in MacKerricher State Park near Fort Bragg, California. The beach got its name due to the fact that it is covered with many glass pebbles, it is a landmark of the city.

Local residents, considering this place a dump, threw garbage there - household waste, old household appliances, cars, glass. In 1967, authorities closed the beach and carried out cleanup work several times. Uncollected small fragments of glass were polished by the waves and gradually the entire shore was strewn with thousands of multi-colored pieces of glass. The North Coast Water Quality Board has banned dumping waste in this area.

Over the course of several decades, nature itself dealt with the landfill: not a trace remained of the former garbage mountains. The sea waves cleared the beach and ground every piece of glass on the coast. As a result, the shape of the glass pebbles is no different from the pebbles we are used to, and now billions of pieces of glass litter the entire coastline, which is called Glass Beach.

In 2002, McCarricher Park acquired the Glass Coast. It has been cleaned up and opened to tourists who, for a nominal fee, can admire this amazing place. Crowds of tourists flocked to see this amazing beach. There are even craftsmen who make all sorts of souvenirs from these smooth pieces of glass, which are well bought by tourists who come to see this miracle of human industrial intervention in the affairs of nature. Despite the official ban, many tourists try to take some glass pebbles as a souvenir of Glass Beach.

According to various sources, glass decomposes from 500 to 1000 years, that is, in a maximum of a thousand years the incredible Glass Beach will turn into an ordinary sandy one. But now this is one of the most beautiful places and the first unique beach made up of man and nature.

There are sparkling stones everywhere, shimmering in the rays of the setting sun... This is not a Scheherazade fairy tale, but a modern wonder of the world. An amazing beach, strewn with iridescent stones that sparkle in the sun and look like gems, is located in the USA, in McCarriher National Park, near the city of Fort Bragg in California. There is no other beach like this anywhere on planet Earth. Instead of pebbles here, on the beach, called "glass", there are pieces of multi-colored glass polished by the sea: green, orange, brown, blue and white. In the rays of the setting sun, an extraordinary sight! The reflections of glass pebbles, the sparkle of water and the shine of the sun create a fabulous atmosphere.

The origin of Glass Beach is quite trivial. Until the end of the sixties of the 20th century, local residents threw garbage - glass, cars and old household appliances - onto the territory of the current beach. However, in the end, city authorities banned the use of the coast as a landfill. Multiple cleaning operations were carried out. The old equipment and cars were taken out, but the glass was left behind. The sea worked to polish the pieces of glass. The waves ground the pieces of glass day and night, making them smooth and giving them the desired shape. Since the late 80s of the 20th century, this beach has become incredibly popular among tourists. Today it is a local landmark, which people from different countries come to admire. Glass pebbles are not allowed as souvenirs in McCarriher National Park. Travelers are a little saddened by this fact, but the flow of people who want to look at the new wonder of the world does not decrease.

Literally every hour the media tells us the same thing: “Do not destroy the beauty of nature with your behavior. Do not leave behind dirt in forests, on sea coasts, on mountain slopes. Don't harm yourself or others. The beauty of nature was not created by people, and no one has the right to “make their own ridiculous adjustments,” which often only harm it.”

But my mother told everyone from childhood: “Don’t scatter garbage! Everyone throws a match, and it turns out to be a garbage dump.” We all try to adhere to this golden rule. After all, we will suffer from our own “negligent” attitude.

But you know, there is one place where it was garbage that created beauty. Yes, yes, that's trash. Although it sounds somehow unusual and strange, doesn’t it? Trash and beauty. But in California there is one beach, the beauty of which has increased thanks to broken glass.

Where is the glass beach

Sea, sun, beach... All of this gives us approximately the same sensations: fresh sea air, light breeze, scorching sun, and, of course, warm sand.

But one place will instantly destroy our stereotypes. Unusual, amazing, glass beach!

Interested? Then let's quickly go to California and look at this unique glass beach.

So, north of the town of Fort Bragg in McKerricher Park there is a marvelous Californian glass beach.

The beach is unique “for its interesting sand.” Glass sand.

Don't be alarmed. There are no sharp pieces of glass that could hurt you. Each piece of glass is carefully polished by the waters of a real jeweler - the ocean.

The beach is simply strewn with glass pebbles of different sizes, shapes, and colors. It seems as if the painter, walking along the beach, simply splashed paint along the road. Interesting and strange at the same time.

The history of the glass beach. Who tried: nature or man

Who do you think “tried harder” to make the California glass beach become a picture from a book - a rainbow shore?

We think that in order to accurately answer this question, it is worth looking “deeper” - at the history of the beach.

And it was all like this... Back in the first half of the twentieth century, a large public landfill appeared on this coast. Residents easily disposed of their trash by bringing all their trash here to the California beach.

Gradually, the mountains of garbage increased, it seemed that this area was “already hopeless.”

But in the early sixties, city authorities banned throwing garbage here.

After some time, the California coast began to be cleared of the rubbish that had accumulated over twenty years! Of course, bulky old televisions, cars, and all kinds of equipment were taken out immediately! It would seem that after much work the beach was cleared! But... there were broken glasses left there, which no one took as a problem and as such pollution!

And at that moment the ocean decided to help the “inattentive people.” The ocean waters carefully and “quietly” smoothed out the sharp ends of the broken glass. And just six months later, the sharp fragments turned into neat multi-colored pebbles.

This is how the glass beach of California appeared in an amazing way.

So who is the “culprit” of this beauty? It seems to us that both people and the sea contributed equally. If people had not scattered broken glass here, then the sea would have nothing to turn into “colorful pebbles.” Well, if the sea had not polished the glass in such a miraculous way, then the beach would probably have to be closed. In a word, both tried equally.

Relaxing on the beach at McKerricher Park

Since 2002, the Californian glass beach has become part of McKerricher National Park and, of course, a landmark and “patrimony of humanity.”

Now tourists from all over the world come to California to look at the marvelous glass beach in the National Park in the amazing US state.

We can say with confidence that a holiday on this beach is truly unique and certainly memorable. There is no sand here, from which castles and palaces can easily be built.

Sitting on such a bank, it seems that you are looking at the world through a kaleidoscope, in which everything shimmers with all the colors of the rainbow.

Have you already wanted to go to a wonderful beach in California? Lie down on the “glass rainbow of stones” and take a deep breath of clean sea air.

After our next trip, thoughts involuntarily come to mind about why they believe that there are only seven Wonders of the World? After all, any place carries within itself something fabulous, something magical, something wonderful. Every amazing and unusual corner can be confidently called a Wonder of the World.

But let's still remember that everything is natural in the world! When leaving or scattering trash, remember that things may not always turn out the way they do for California residents. It’s not for nothing that the sages said: “The evil emitted by you will certainly return to you.” And this statement concerns not only relations in society, but also attitudes towards nature. And if we do not treat nature with care, we do not appreciate its beauty, then the seas, forests, mountains will simply begin to “take revenge”, which, of course, ends in tears.

So treat everything that surrounds you with awe and travel the world with us.

Glass Beach in McKerricher Park in California on the map

A wonderful video that makes the glass beach a reality. Agree that after watching you want to go to McKerricher.

Usually, when people throw away garbage, they negatively affect the environment. Mountains of garbage do not bring any benefit, besides spoiling not only the air, soil and water, but also causing aesthetic damage to natural beauty. However, rarely, but still there are exceptions - garbage creates beauty.

There is one interesting place - Glass Beach, Fort Bragg, California, USA (Glass Beach, Fort Bragg, California, USA). This place is surprising for its unusual beach. A public landfill appeared on that coast in the first half of the 20th century. Nowadays it’s hard to imagine this in America, but in those days people got rid of excess trash without thinking about whether it would harm the environment. If there is a landfill, then you can throw it away.

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In the early 60s, local authorities finally started thinking. Whatever one may say, mountains of old garbage caused considerable damage to nature, polluting the air and water. In 1967, the landfill was closed and some of the larger trash was moved away from the coast, but a huge amount of discarded plastic, glass and other small waste was left behind.

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In 2002, McCarricher Park acquired the Glass Coast. It has been cleaned up and opened to tourists who, for a nominal fee, can admire this amazing place. Despite the official ban, many tourists try to take some glass pebbles as a souvenir of Glass Beach.

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