China Creek Access (#155) at Bandon: Between South Oregon Coast Wonders

Published 02/05/26 at 4:55 a.m.
By Oregon Coast Beach Connection Staff

(Bandon, Oregon) – Throughout the Bandon State Natural Area, you get an eyeful of wild, varied sand and surf. This long stretch of the south Oregon coast burgh of Bandon just does not stop. The visual candy and cool finds seem to go on and on. (Photo CoastWatch / DougC)

The southernmost beach access at this elongated park is called China Creek – also known as Beach Access #155. It's so named after the creek that quietly spills out here, sometimes raging in winter but mostly calming, even seemingly barely moving at times. The China Creek access dumps you out onto the sand as well, providing a constantly engaging experience of mostly safe beach and tides.

It's an area smack-dab in the middle of other wondrous sights.

Head down Beach Loop Road in Bandon, past the Devils Kitchen viewpoint, right about where the road elbows back towards Highway 101. Less than a mile south of Devils Kitchen, China Creek is where Bandon State Natural Area begins – or ends, depending on your perspective.

From here, there's about 20 miles of walkable beach before you bump into any barrier. It's almost 15 miles of sand and sea to Floras Lake, Blacklock Point and then steadfast Cape Blanco. A few miles to the north you get into Face Rock territory and then the south jetty of the Coquille River.

CoastWatch / SchaeferM

Along the China Creek access' immediate beach, it's a ton of intricate logs piled on top of each other, coupled with bumpy dunes. That's not a smooth walk. If you have mobility issues, this won't be your beach.

Once on the flatter sands it's a vast expanse, with dune grass-covered slopes of sand sometimes chopped up by winter action and forming walls. Fun finds are copious: the sea coughs up a lot of wacky stuff here. And since it's rather remote and almost never packed, it's even less often picked clean of any treasure.

It's interesting to watch the seasons change this part of the south Oregon coast, with dunes higher or lower, depending on sand levels.

Haystack Rock near China Creek Access / Photo courtesy Manuela Durson - see Manuela Durson Fine Arts for more

China Creek and its access sit somewhat at the edges of it all, where – to the north - suddenly a fair amount of pockmarked, alien-looking rocky structures lie. This means you've made it to the Devils Kitchen area, with Crooked Creek making a bit more of a forceful raucous. Rocks looked etched in some places, as if marked in ancient runes. This part gets trippy.

There is more than one China Creek: Will the Real China Creek of Oregon Coast Please Stand Up: Bandon, Near Florence

All the while, from China Creek to the north, you can see the other Haystack Rock. There are three on the Oregon coast: the other two more famous ones at Pacific City and Cannon Beach. This one is a flatter, more squashed shape – actually more like a table. Which is interesting because there is an actual Table Rock farther north near Face Rock. Three Different Rocks With One Name on Oregon Coast: Bandon, Pacific City, Cannon Beach

Then there's the dog park less than a quarter mile north, providing a green space for the pups to run amok. There's also a picnic table.

Some of the China Creek area gets closed off to pets and other activities during some seasons due to snow plover nesting. Be watchful of signs here.

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