China Camp State Park Campground

Nice place to camp

Located on the west side of the San Rafael/Richmond Bridge, on San Francisco Bay, this park is extremely popular with mountain bikers.  There are definitely better mountain biking trails in Marin (Tamarancho Boy Scout Camp, for example) but keep in mind that the bar is very high for mountain biking in Marin. So China Camp won't disappoint even if it's not the most epic biking in the area.  The trail running and hiking is great too.  The campground is off the main road that parallels the bay.  It's located just past a meadow, and in the (increasingly rare) wet months, there's a creek that runs through the park.  The website will say the sites are "hike in", but this is not how I'd describe it.  Yes, you need to park in the main lot and then carry your gear to the campsite, but it's not really a hike. More like a short walk, a quarter of a mile at best.  This means you will be able to bring your fully iced Yeti loaded with tasty local microbrews to your campground.  Heck, maybe you can figure out how to hitch it to your mountain bike so you can tow it in.

The park itself is classic country California - oak, madrone, and even the occasional redwood.  It's often foggy in the morning, and sunny in the afternoon.  You can camp here year round, and I've been here in the winter, spring and summer. I really enjoy it here when the creek is running, but even in the summer when its dry, the proximity to the bay means it probably won't get too hot.  Bring your mountain bike and shoes suitable for hiking and trail running.  I've never done it, but I'm pretty sure you could kayak in the bay here as well.

This park is 4 stars because one would never plan a trip to visit China Camp on its own, but it definitely would be included as part of a larger trip to Marin county.  A great Marin trip would be: set up camp at China Camp, day trip to Muir Woods, day trip out to Point Reyes, half day of mountain biking in China Camp, full day of mountain biking on Mount Tamalpais, full day of mountain biking at Tamarancho. Drink plenty of local microbrews in between.  For locals, this is an awesome spot located right in the Bay Area.  I come here often, and I've never had a bad time.

This review is about the beach only. BEWARE-- WEAR WATER SHOES and be careful if you swim here. The 3 stars are because the water is clean (better water quality test results than a lot of other lakes/swimming holes/beaches around the bay area), the waves are gentle, it seems popular for kayaks and paddleboards, the bathroom at the beach was pretty clean and well-maintained, and the park itself is unique with an interesting history. I wish I could give it 5 stars but there are several problems with this beach that you should be aware of before you try going swimming here-- especially if you have kids.

Yes, it's shallow and the water is pretty nice... BUT there are tons of sharp rocks and oyster shells bits & pieces. Some shell pieces are attached to the rocks and some just scattered along on the bottom. The 2 times we have been here so far both of our kids have ended up with multiple cuts all over their feet and/or legs. The first time, Our 7 year old had cuts so deep on a couple of his toes that we almost had to go to the emergency room to get stitches.. He's a tough kid and we were able to make due with steri-strips, but the cuts were deep and it was a close call. It pretty much ruined both our trips and caused plenty of tears when we had to disinfect and treat those cuts. After the 1st trip, we thought perhaps it was a fluke especially since so many other families bring their kids here and the majority of them weren't wearing water shoes... so we thought we were maybe just unlucky. We decided to give it a second shot. No dice-- The 2nd time we tried swimming a little bit further down the beach, and it was even worse. So many cuts and scrapes. Our kids are pretty tough but still this was just such a disappointing experience. In hindsight and to be fair it seems like perhaps the locals know it's best to stay near what's left of the fishing village hut, the snackshack, and the little pier, if you want to swim. But even in checking the little beach around that area I still found plenty of broken shell bits & sharp rocks, and I wonder how in the world anyone could possibly let their kids swim here without water shoes.

We are undecided as to whether or not we will try swimming here again. Probably not for a long time, because that 2nd trip was a bit more traumatic on both of the kids since we had to cut it short to treat all the scrapes & cuts ( We had them wearing water shoes that time, so these were scraped mostly on their shins and knees from the times they slipped in the shallow water, et cetera, so there were a lot more but thankfully we didn't end up with any really bad deeper cuts like the first time, there were just a lit MORE cuts that time!) Granted, both of our kids are bruisers & pretty tough, hence they didn't even realize at first that they were getting all of these gashes since they were having a great time splashing around…. but infection is always a risk no matter what beach we're talking about, even with better water quality like at this site. It is troubling and I'm not sure it's worth the risk.

I may update this if we do have a chance to go camping here at the park Campground, if I have something to report about that I would factor it in to my review. I really do want to try camping here but our 2 experiences so far have been a turn-off. As for now, the beach gets 2.5 to 3 stars max. We might come back here soon just to go kayaking because it is really pretty, the water is calm, and if you're wearing water shoes I think it would be safe enough to launch from the beach even with the sharp rocks.