Tahkenitch Creek (Multiple Portages), Tahkenitch Lake Boat Ramp, Tahkenitch Landing, and Tahkenitch Lake Fivemile Road (Culvert/Undeveloped)

Tahkenitch Lake is a large, dendritic (branching) lake with a surface area of over 1600 acres. The name, pronounced "tsaxinich" by the Quuiich people means "arms running out like a crab," an apt description for this body or water. Like many lakes in the area, it offers many recreation opportunities including fishing, boating and paddling. The Tahkenitch Landing Site on the lake’s western edge is one of the most significant archaeological sites on the Pacific Coast, with evidence of human occupation dating back over 8,000 years, including a historical canoe landing used by the Kalawatset Indians.

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Takhenitch Creek remains a focal point of the Oregon Dunes, recognized for its deep indigenous roots and unique geological formation as a "barrage lake" outlet. Historically, the creek and its source, Tahkenitch Lake, were the ancestral lands of the Lower Umpqua and Siuslaw peoples. For modern paddlers, the creek offers a winding, sheltered route (requiring multiple portages) through high vegetated dunes and Sitka spruce forests before cutting parallel to the beach to reach the Pacific. While the lake provides a expansive flatwater experience, the creek is a favorite for those seeking a more intimate journey through a landscape that transitioned from an estuary to a freshwater system as migrating dunes dammed its ancestral mouth thousands of years ago.