Mile Report Browser

It was a lovely, calm day for a beach walk. The beach was as clean as I have ever seen it. The only marine life present included a few broken shells and beach hoppers. There was no human debris, as though SOLVE had just been through. One change noted was an artistic carving on the face of a cliff at the north end of the mile (see photo). It is not likely to last through the next few high tides.

The weather was not conducive to a lot of beach activity on this day. Rain off and on and a little wind. I was disturbed by the amount of plastic debris I found. I cleaned up as much as I could and plan to return to gather as much micro plastic as I can. There was some evidence of inappropriate behavior by visitors but I did not observe the behavior. It's a beautiful stretch of beach which I look forward to helping preserve.

A harbor seal pup, half white and half gray, was resting on the Elephant Rock side of the rocky pass below Coquille Point minutes before 6 a.m. close to low tide of 0.8 feet. There were several signs of haul-outs nearby, but the critters had gone into the sea before low tide. Another pup was on the wet sand at Elephant Rock a day earlier at about the same time. Both pups appeared healthy from a distance.

After being away since my last dispatch, my return has found further changes to Wakonda Beach. First of all, the two properties north of the Wakonda Beach access appear to have survived the heavy surf after the temporary rip-rap was installed that was shown in my previous dispatches. Today there was the activity of one track hoe building a sand ramp down onto the beach and another trackhoe was setting new rock in front of the first house south of the access previously permitted. The first image is of rock that was set to bolster the previously permitted rip-rap in front of the second house south of the access followed by an image of the repair to the rip-rap in front of the first house south of the access.

Nothing unusual to report.

All looks about the same.  Much marine debris including plastic bottles, shoes, large hunks of mfg. wood, shell casings and much more.

A beautiful Mother's Day at the coast - overcast/partly cloudy skies with light winds and a moderate temperature made for very pleasant conditions. There was one jogger whose running right along the surf line disturbed the large numbers of whimbrels that were feeding in the shallow surf; all the other folks we saw were walking or running closer to the foredune and appeared to be enjoying the lovely day and the feeding shorebirds as much as we were. The spring/summer reaccumulation of sand has begun to fill in some of areas of erosion we had seen at our last visit and there was very little trash visible anywhere on the mile. All in all, another good visit to Mile 287!

Pretty uneventful walk, we did place flags ind information sigins around seal pups and spoke with visitors about keeping some distance from pups

Observed significant increase in sea star population on the rocks at Chinook Winds. Have been consciously watching at low tide and was pleased when I found one or two but there were too many to actually count stacked on each other. Photo collage attached. Individual photos available. 

Also encountered couple harvesting mussels and suggested they move to 15th Street outside the Casade Marine Reserve. They said they would check out the map and restrictions and seemed to leave. Photos not posted but available. 

A lively seal pup was resting among the rocks close to the receding tide below Coquille Point, near Elephant Rock, at about 6 a.m. I noticed drag tracks in the same general area the day before, so this area bears watching.

Nothing significant to report.

Lovely day, low tide, quiet ocean.

Unplanned birding day at Heceta Beach this evening.  Just light breezes this afternoon instead of the recent hurricane force gales.  Those winds have created a large field of the temporary summer "transverse dunes" near the Driftwood Shores Resort.  No marine wildlife observed, but lots of birds.  Numerous large flocks of sanderlings feeding in the outwash, a juvenile bald eagle, several turkey vultures, willets with their long straight beaks, killdeers, and whimbrels with the long down-curved beaks on their seemingly undersized heads.  Of course, the usual mobs of crows were patrolling the wet sand beach, digging out mole crabs for dinner.

Technically on Mile 170, but the Siuslaw River's red navigation buoy #4 has been knocked out of its normal position and is now lodged against the South Jetty rocks.  The local Coast Guard station was notified and they are aware of it.

A nice day on Sea Star Beach--with just a few persons. The birds are back at Yaquina Head, and the hill near my "Keyhole" picture is still eroding--causing slight change to get photo of ocean through a hole in the cliff.

Calm day on mile 200 with a minus tide.  

Overcast morning with little breeze, 6 people, 3 dogs walking.  Driftline content lots of  small mole crab parts, few live mole crabs.  Usual summer sand deposition along high tide line up to 3 feet elevation, in places.  Notable were 15 whimbrel at low tideline feeding.  Clean beach.  Quick visit with Beachside park hosts and State parks employee. 

Photos of deceased birds (2) and skate egg case

Whrimbels sighting, trash and campfires, car tracks in marine reserve shoreline

The tide was low enough to allow access to the more distant monolith with a cave and marine garden nearby. Lots of anemones and 3 seastars.

Crab in the tideline.  Small landslide activity on Heceta Headland . Picture.  The Hobbit Trail is washed out and holes make progress challenging.  Tree roots make the trail uneven with many obstacles.  

I saw lots of dungenous crab shells and sandcrab shells.  I remember last year had remains of crabs in spring.   In the morning it's uncrowded and even more so due to school still in session.  I saw no trash.  

Other than the usual litter and homeless camps, there were no dead mammals, or much else of import to report this quarter. 

Windy day on Heceta Beach at noon.  The summer "transverse" sand dunes are beginning to form.  Numerous flocks of gulls and sanderlings either feeding or migrating northbound against the wind.  An osprey and a common tern were busy plunging into the surf in the hunt for lunch.

A recently deceased yearling steller sea lion is washed up at the high water line abouta 1/4 mile south of the Driftwood Shores Resort.  No obvious pre-scavanger injuries or tags observed.

The beach looked relatively clean, but we still collected an assortment of plastic debris (photo attached). We enjoyed watching the busyness of the small sandpipers and observed a larger sandpiper family in the surf zone. (longer legs/longer beak/taller) We forgot the binoculars, so couldn't identify.

Nothing of concern viewed during this visit. 

Tide .47 feet, foggy and calm breeze. Very quiet walk on the drift line. Lots of dead tiny crustaceans, crushed shell and large and small woody debris. At the end of the mile, noted small slide near a home (photo attached) and considerable woody debris built up at the outflow of Ransom Creek. Also spotted a single sea star, 2 Oyster Catchers, a pair of nesting scrub jays and an osprey. 

A very calm, foggy negative tide - .3 feet as I was unable to put in the - in the report tide section.  Effectively able to walk the entire mile with only some bouldering and logs across creeks. Saw about 20 people on the southern section of the mile just walking it sitting and enjoying the low tide. 1 small dog on a leash.  Not a lot of gulls or other birds this morning but one cormorant in flight and lots of live rock crabs plus one lonely, alive sea star on the beach. Last week I saw a single otter at the northern tip of mile 8! No sign today. Huge trees and other wood debris along all beaches due to storms several weeks ago. Saw very little micro plastic but did find one large fishing lure. 

Land slide south of the parking area. Tree down with exposed roots. Also plenty of poison oak on the trail behind the big rocks at the south end. 

Mile 238 was fairly empty and calm. Some more riprap had been placed in certain areas where erosion threatened homes in the winter. Some steep drop-offs still exist, eliminating a few access points for now. Smooth beach all the way up the bluffs in some areas indicating a recent high tide. 

Human activities: I observed 15 people on the beach, 10 were clamming at the low tide line and 5 were sitting on the beach. Along this mile, there was much evidence of clamming with mounds of wet sand piled from clam gun activity. I observed 21 vehicles on the beach, either parked on the dry sand or moving along the beach on the wet sand. 

Shoreline wildlife: Partly cloudy day with little wind in the morning. I observed 8 whimbrels foraging for mole crabs at the low tide line, 3 American crows, 1 Northern Harrier female hunting over the dunes, and 6 Western Gull on the beach. The high tide line below the dune grass had a high concentration of 2-3 inch Cnidaria: Velella velella or By The Wind Sailors, large piles of bull kelp, Nereocystis luetkeana, and large logs. Dungeness Crab shell casings, shells, and organic detritus were also in the backshore. At the low tide line, I found a large cluster of California Market squid eggs (Loligo opalescens), 2 moon jellies, and more shells.

Physical Changes: some sawdust on the sand and a large wooden pallet (partially broken) were observed at the high tide line. 

Actions taken: I collected approximately 20 lbs of trash including styrofoam chunks, cups, maritime ropes, many plastic bags/10 bottles/7 bottle caps/ 2 toothbrushes, 2 shotgun shells from duck hunters, and litter from beach fires and human presence on the beach. I emailed Oregon State Parks to inquire if they can add a trash can receptacle to the Del Rey Beach parking lot at Highlands Ln or at the pullout near the beach entrance. The nearest trash can is 3 miles away at Sunset Beach parking lot. I hope this will reduce the amount of litter from vehicles on the beach. 

I came armed with two fully charged camers and didn't see anything unusual. Beach was cleaner than last time.

After more than a year's absence, it was good to get back out on the mile. I walked about 2/3 of the way. It was a mild, overcast afternoon, with only 11 adults and 2 children on the beach plus two dogs, one leashed, one not leashed. I saw a flock of about 50 whimbrels, mixed in with an equal number of sandpipers. Very small vellela vellelas were scattered in the driftline. Bluff erosion has continued; a very large chunk has recently come down. In lower layers of the bluff that have been exposed only for the past couple of years, one brittle-looking clayey layer has been visibly crumbling. Photos to be added later.

A large swath of the bluff is well vegetated with shore pines, willow and native shrubs like silverweed, and black twinberry. However, the southern third of the bluff is actively eroding and is devoid of vegetation. The bluff at Jump Off Joe shows signs of mass-wasting. Small thumbnail sized plastics are every few feet, sometimes in dense bunches, sometimes scattered about. Apart from plastics there are washed-up remains of kelp, mussels, sand crabs, mole crabs, and sand dollars. And lots of drift wood from diciduous trees less than 6-8 inches in diameter. The well vegetated bluff looks as though it is a favorite for some campers living rough.

A quiet day on Manzanita's beach with more driftwood than usual. Winter storms have carved the dunes back such that the berm created as the dunes meet the slope of the beach is steeper than in the summer months. 

Great day at the beach. Unusually large amount of driftwood due to recent storms inland. Also much more kelp than I've ever seen on this mile. Very few shells, rocks and likewise very little crab casings. One lady was walking her 7 well behaved basset hounds.

No birds on the beach (not because of the bassets)

There were a good amount of people out for a late Thursday morning, mostly a few school groups. I noticed more large woody debris than usual including some trees that washed up. Down near the south end of the mile, close to the neighborhood, they've set up a protected area for nesting birds until September 15. I didn't see any birds in the protected area nesting at the time. 

There was nothing unusual along mile 307.  Two people walking with their dog. 

The rock berm had a very steep slope.  There were wood pieces and kelp at the driftline.

A bald eagle has flown by every day of the weekend.

Photo 698 was shot in the morning and 699 was shot in the afternoon at low tide.

Cloudy 52' afternoon with mod. SW winds.Notable was large wracks and pieces of bull kelp, and other brown seaweed along driftline.  10 lbs garbage- plastic caps, bottles, styrofoam, and plastic debris removed. No pebbles present,  lots of small driftline wood, about half had barnacles attached. Also noted were recent axe chips  in several areas, that indicated that some driftline wood had been chopped up and removed. 6people,2 dogs walking the beach.  

The entire Mile 171 is heavily covered with river-sourced flood debris, from large trees, stumps, down to grass and pine needles.  Many of the larger pieces, which looked like they had not been out in the ocean for more than a week or so, are completely covered with baby pelagic goose barnacles (Lepas anatifera).  Numerous washed-in strands of bull kelp (Nereocystis luetkeana) were also coated with these baby barnacles.

Found a Brown Booby (sula leucogaster brewsteri) on the southern portion of Schooner South while doing my COASST Marine Debris survey!! That's a first for me!!

It was a stormy, wet and windy morning at Siltcoos Recreation Area today with dramatic clouds and storms coming and going. All visitors appeared to abide by rules to remain on wet sand in plover area. One volunteer plover monitor was on the beach and indicated that most of the plovers were further north today. Also mentioned that the one nest in the area had been lost over the stormy past few days. Saw two sanderlings, each hopping on one leg near the surf, 2 juvenile bald eagles, 2 turkey vultures, one hermit crab crawling and several gulls.

Quiet Monday after busy Spring Breaks for Oregon and Washigton. Cloudy with threats of light rain. 

The beach was extremely clean.  We always have somesort of Goldsworthy type art - this time is lots of cairns and some rocky pictures in the sand.

Really pleasant walk!

A first for Mile 171 today.  Found a dead American Beaver (Castor canadensis) washed in at this morning's high tiode wash line at the north end of Mile 171. This animal appears to have been killed and gutted by humans, as the skin edges are very neatly cut.  Likely washed down the Siuslaw River after being dispatched.

Ocean Beach Picnic area was busy with 13 people, 6 cars and 2 dogs. Most people enjoying a walk on the sandy beach. This side of the knoll,north,had little to no debris on the beach.

Rock Creek had 3 people and 2 cars. Rock hunting and tide pools seem to be the activity. I noticed 2 fishing boats, 32 seagulls and 2 crows. This beach,south, is mostly covered with rock.

A lot of people on the beach and crowded parking lot. People are enjoying themselves in the sunshine today.

Downed tree partially blocking the trail one-half mile north of Whaleshead

Beautiful morning on the beach. Spring break. One family in a tent, one family flying kites and 2 men with their dogs walking the beach.

We came across this flock of approximately 3,100 Dunlin a bit south of the Iredale wreck in Fort Stevens State Park.

In about 2 hours we saw 6 or 7 Grey Whale spouts out near the horizon.

Surprise sunny March day, Tuesday of spring break week, many beach lovers enjoying the beach. Deposition level of beach sand generally low, making low tide seem higher at Austin Point, Point Meriwether and Adair Point.

More beach litter than usual.  Signs of rock fall from cliffs.  Many people out on the low tide.

A very quiet beautiful spring day on the beach!  Beach had been cleaned of debris some of which was up at the foot of the dunes.  The foredunes in the middle portion of our mile has been eroded more than we've seen previously.  Only 1 seagull, but lots of small bird footprints on the several tide lines.  We collected a full bag of trash - typical content of water bottles, pieces of plastic and styrofoam and pieces of rope.

Huge (estimated about 6-8 feet) waves crashing about 1/4 mile out.  The waves came in toward high tide before we reached our pickup parked at the Plover sign!  A little panic, but we were able to get going back to the parking lot. That was much earlier than the predicted high tide time - the State Park lady agreed.

It was SOLV today and the beaches look wonderfully clean!! With the onset of Spring break people seemed to be enjoying themselves on the beach with the exception of the person stuck in the sand. It was a very calm day at the beach.

SOLVE spring beach clean-up day. While there were not many larger pieces of debris to be retrieved from the beach (amazingly only one plastic bottle), there was considerable microplastic. We retrieved as many small plastic pieces as we could without having an appropriate tool for the job, but it was distressing to see how much microplastic remained. As observed at our last visit, evidence of wave overtopping and erosion of the foredune persists. No other concerns noted.

The signage is up again keeping all dogs off Mile 289.  By all means,  dogs need to be on leash and kept out of the sensitive areas.  But to exclude dogs only and by inference allowing any other type of animal with a leash is wrong.  So much for windmill tilting.

There were no human activities noted below the level of the Lookout, some 500 feet above sea level, where there were several cars and a few people.  Very little was visible along the shoreline as the the tide was high and only a small portion of one cobble beach was visible.  Ropes were observed hanging down a cliff face where, according to a volunteer at the Lookout, fishermen lowered themselves and their equipment from an access point down to close to water level.

Of note:  unusual amount of small rocks; no birds.

Mile 99 seems to have weathered the winter storms with some erosion of the seagrass foredunes, but minimal loss of solid bluff. The creeks bordering the mile to the north and south have carved significantly wider and deeper paths to the ocean. One California Sea Lion was observed alive at the last high tide line, and was reported to Oregon Marine Mammal authorities. Local environmental scientists reported that the beach showed evidence of mole crab breeding activity from the previous night of a full moon. There were fewer people and dogs on the beach than during a summer day of similar conditions (sunny, light winds).

15 people observed, all walking along beach, some with dogs. No one in water or tidepools. Minimal wildlife observed, none dead. A few crows and seagulls walking on ground. This was my first report so unsure what, if anything, has changed. Did not appear to be any brand new construction of houses or stairways down to beach. One small area of possible recent erosion/fall of a cliff. 

Quiet, beautiful day.  The low tide did not seem to match the online posting for time nor degree as it was considerably low and the tide turned before the posted 7:26 PM (?) low tide.  The beach seems wind swept clean, almost no flotsam or jetsam aside from woody debris. The usual suspects... erosion near the basalt outcropping at the north end of the beach brought down a large chunk of the cliff and with it three trees.

It is very obvious that this winter's storms have been so strong that many properties along this mile have lost a lot of their beachside embankments. Some, especially the first two north of the Wakonda Beach acccess, were close to exposure of their sand filters. Due to concerns that these sand filters were a threat to the public beach, Oregon State Parks & Recreation issued emergency permits to allow temporary rock installation. Speaking with one property owner, it is likely that OSP&R will issue a permit to replace these with permanent structures. One big question is how the rock structure just north of the access will affect the access itself. It appears that the contractor did not place rock on state right-of-way (ROW) - likely because that is not allowed in the permit. It will be interesting to see what effect wave action will have on the unprotected access that is armored on its north edge.

Overall calm day on the beach.  Only 5 people and 3 dogs.  Saw a bald eagle at the north end of the mile.  There were some newish trails and drainage strips.  Above one of the trails looked like a burned area and activity.  

Many people enjoying the beach on a beautiful Sunday near spring break.  Standing water I noted earlier on beach near bottom of cliff has disappeared and beach continuously slopes down to ocean.

Great day at mile 206! People were out enjoying the sun and tidepools. Noteably, there were 2 starfish found in the tidepools on 206. People, families (including those with young children) were respectful of the starfish in the tide pools, watching but not harrassing. The driftline looked better this time around, but I did pickup a backpack pocket full of plastic pellets.

It was a nice day, but windy, with  many people walking or playing with dogs.  We monitered the dogs to see if there was any disturbance of sea birds and we did not see any.  The number of large jellies on the beach was substancially higher than we have seen before.  The micro plastic build up is sad and people commented on the increase in the small pieces.  We did find a large chunck of a marine animal but could not accurately identify it.  The chunk is about 4 feet long and 2 feet wide.  It looks like it was washed very high up into a puddle area a while ago.  It is breaking down but until the vultures return other animals don't see to be feeding on it.  We are including a picture if any one can identify it.

A beautiful day with an abundance of people. Notable was the dead sea lion. 

The beach is flat, i.e., no dunes except for small ones around the grass tussocks. The creek is spread out and shallow in most places. A man was walking along the creek with a clam gun but no clams. It was a nice mellow gray day if you were out of the wind, but it was blowing much harder on the beach than the land report. I heard one song sparrow. Willow catkins are appearing.

Quite a few people and dogs enjoying the beach even though it wasn't a particularly warm sunny day.

Unusual things I noticed were:  One headless pinniped carcass.  New gorse slide from the top of the bluff.

Not much going on.  No new apparently erosional issues.  Except for some tire tracks little evidence of human activity.  As always, I cleaned the beach as I walked.

This was our first Marine Debris Survey. We are about 15 children and 5 adults from Fire Mountain School.

Low tide and people walking, rock collecting at 182.Very little in the rack line today.No debri seen on the beach today. There is wash over of the dunes next to Big creek. There is undercutting of the rocky wall on Muriel Ponsler by about a foot creating more rocks on the beach.

I perfect sunny, but brisk, day on the beach.

Lots of large wood on beach. More kelp beds than I remember offshore (low tide made visibility better).

The beach was unusually clean of debris.

Clear, calm 30' morning. Beachside campground being prepared for spring break opening. One person walking beach, 1 Western gull flying Drift line content- shells, pebbles and some crab and mole crab parts. Notable observation is that debris fro boats has lessened considerable in the past two years. Only a few pieces of plastic and food wrappers removed. No ropes, larger Styrofoam pieces, or bottles, that often were the bulk of what we removed were seen. CLEAN BEACH!

Cleaned off beach -- not much beach due to sand migration I would guess.  Super quiet

Beautiful sunny morning, lite wind, a bit on the cool side.  No shore birds, some gulls, a few crab shells, not much on beach with exception of a lot of tree debris (driftwood) high on beach.  A little plastic debris and outside of the cabinet on beach pretty clean. 

Came across a few patches of what look like Market Squid egg cases, the first we've seen on the Oregon coast.

Jean just sent this link about them: https://aquarium.org/market-squid-eggs/ Thanks, Jean.

Difficult to stay upbeat along Schooner South today as the "microplastic" debris is overwhelming. In doing a COASST survey on the same day in a 20"x20" survey square I had 225 (!!!) pieces of plastic with 62 nurdles, 57 pieces of styrofoam and multiple other pieces. We also had lots of plastic bottles on the south end of Schooner and many pieces of nylon and polyethelene rope. The erosion is revealing more of the plastic black pipes that are now starting to break mid-cliff level. No deceased birds seen. 2 crabs noted in high wrack line. 

Nothing out of the ordinary observed on Heceta Beach today with one exception - an adult-sized purple Ochre sea star washed up at the high water line (photo).  Haven't seen any of these guys on Heceta Beach for several years.  They were commonly observed on the beach prior to the eruption of the sea star wasting disease several years ago.  One skate species egg case (Mermaid's Purse) also washed up on the beach (photo).

The northern segment of this mile was a real shocker on this rainy morning close to low tide and 38 degrees: I couldn't access the beach at the lighthouse parking lot because the stormy/king tides had created a dangerous dropoff. So I drove north to backtrack and explore what winter has wrought. Lots of logs and branches and grasses, also stones and shell fragments and considerable plastic litter that came in with the tides: water bottles, milk jugs, sheets, pieces of nameless utility. No people (no surprise because it was raining), no dead things. A large flock of gulls was near the jetty, and several sanderlings ran along the wet sand. Erosion of the vegetated foredune was endemic along most of this segment.

The southern part of the mile had its share of storm-caused erosion, but not as severe. The drift line contents were similar to the northern segment's. Again no people or dead things. Gulls and crows numbered among the living.

Evidence of driving on dunes where vehicles aren't allowed.

Very minimal activity noted today, likely as a result of the high tide and it being a Monday. We noticed a very high concentration of washed up moon jellies, unlike what we have seen in the past.

It was a gorgeous day on the beach. Quite a few people were out and fewer dogs than usual. I did not appreciate any major changes in the amount of erosion occurring along either Ocean View Drive or Yachats Ocean Road.  2 surfers were out where the Yachats River empties into the ocean. 

Beach relatively clean.

Dead cow elk.  It appeared to have broken a hind leg.  A mystery as to how it ended up on the beach. It did not appear to have been in the water very long.    It was a beautiful cold winter day.  The beach has alot less driftwood accumulated then in previous years.  We got just a few #'s of trash.  My guess is that I am not the only one continually picking up trash.  I am on this section of beach on average 4-5 times a week. It is nice to see an increse of people using the jetty and mile 290.

Nothing unusual to report.

This was a lovely sunny day with a strong wind from the northeast making it quite cold.  The water was far out leaving a clean bright beach.  Previous tides had cut away the sand leaving steep cliffs over 8 feet high at the north end, with the large wood deposited last year holding the rest of the sand behind.  One fat tire track had been made at the high water line, and there was a wrack of sticks up there.  No wrack had been deposited after that.  There was a couple of small flocks of shore birds, no debris and no bird carcasses.  9 people and 6 dogs were walking with only 3 cars in the parking lot.  What was noteworthy was a herd of elk grazing in the dunes by the parking lot.  And just south of this mile, the dunes have been completely bulldozed to eliminate the non-native beach grass and provide a gentle slope down to the beach proper, in the hope that the snowy plover would find this more suitable for nesting.  Right now it looks like a moonscape with nothing but bulldozer tracks back to the trees.  One last observation was over on the shore of the bay where there was a wreck of jellyfish left on the high tide line. 

Big winter waves pulled many feet of sand off the beach, exposing some rock and gravel beds. Sand is gradually filling back in. They also made an impact on the bluffs, creating some small erosion. Wrackline had hundreds of small plastic pieces in some areas, much more than is common. Large debris consisted of 8 pieces of lumber and plywood.

Beach very clean, no man-made refuse noted. Beach very wide, sand has built up at foot of foredune.

Sand removal and riprap restoration taking place north of access 50A.  Some unofficial access points unusable due to erosion.  Beach at northern end of the mile wide for this time of year, but erosion threats on southern end.

Walked the bulk of the mile with Wayne Hale and Starla Nelson. Beautiful day. Minimal debris/garbage (1 plastic grocery sack full as well as a piece of a red brick and 5 pieces of wood). Deposited collection next to the garbage cans at the Roads End parking lot.