Mile Report Browser

Nothing unusual

Numerous smallish Steller sea lions (yearlings?) observed swimming upriver in the Siuslaw or heading south along Mile 171 in the near-shore surf.  About a half dozen harbor seals feeding in the surf.  Mallard ducks, double-crested cormorants, and western grebes in the river on the south side of the jetty.  Large flocks of sanderlings and a half dozen "Ruddy Turnstones" feeding in the wave outwash.  This is the first time I've spotted the turnstones, although several field guide references say they are common winter visitors along sandy shorelines.  There has been a recent stranding of Velella velellas (By-the-Wind Sailors) along the entire mile.  Sizes range from 1/2" to 4" in length, although the vast majority are less than 1".

It was a mild, overcast day with no strong winds. Upon first arrival there were only two other cars, one belonging to a large family with children, the other to an older couple who were exploring the rocks with buckets in hand. By the time that I returned from my walk, the parking lot had completely filled up and there were a number of families exploring the tide pools closest to the parking lot. Only a few people were going beyond those initial pools I noticed.

There were several groups of sea lions out in the water with their flippers in the air. There were also some small birds who seemed to be nesting in the cliffs. They were too far up  and too small to get a good look at them, but I could hear them chirping for most of my walk. There was also a plethora of anemones and sea stars in the tide pools as well as several different types of plants and algaes.

I didn't notice any physical changes to the area.

The scene at the beach today was more typical except for many ? washed ashore on the tideline. The mallard pair is still here too.

Calm, cloudy morning 46', beginning to rain lightly.  Moderate amounts of very small mole crab carcasses all along high tide line.  8 people 4 dogs, walking.  Shells and pebbles along high tide line.  Notable was a new, in-use, garbage compactor at Beachside State Park campground, clean beach. Campground about 1/2 full with spring-break vacationers.

A partially cloudy and cool day. Fewer people and fewer dogs than typical on the beach and in the water. Fewer gulls than I usually see or encounter here. Maybe a total of 12 Gulls in all. Fewer dogs disturbing wildlife than in past observations.

Beautiful, sunny, windy Easter weekend day at the coast. Birds couldn't compete with the wind...didn't see one bird on this walk. Human generated debris also couldn't compete with the wind...didn't notice any trash...it evidently was all blown away. There was less than normal small rocks and broken clam shells plus a few beached jelly fish and crab casings noted this walk.

Notice the ratio of vehicles to people. There was a large concentration of people just north of the boundry of Mile 170 nearer to the South Jety. 

Also, seems that all the dune buggy parking lots before getting to the south jety (and Mile 169) were filled to capacity with lots of activity in the designated off road areas. Only one set of tire  tracks noted in this mile.

Not much going on. Very large plastic drum found on beach, contacted Ranger.

Calm winter day, with an outgoing tide.  Large amounts of water draining from the cliffs/bluffs.  

Some erosion.

There has been a lot of erosion to the dunes in the last two years. However, it is much the same now as in the last report

This was a holiday weekend. The parking at Roads End State Park is not adequate for the number of vehicles trying to find a parking spot on a sunny day. Cars were parked into the neighboring streets.
People were carving names into the cliffs, particularly the area below Chinook Winds resort. 
2 young men were surf fishing. I did approach them and tell them that it isn't allowed as I looked into their bucket holding a small perch. They said they didn't know and continued fishing. I did them  it's a marine reserve with no fishing and it's posted on the signs at the park. 

Except for a lot of people, not much notable except a pair of mallard ducks who seem to be nesting nearby as I have seen them at the beach in the shallow waves a number of times recently.

For it being a rainy first day of spring break the beaches were pretty busy. The work being done at the "D" River parking lot may be casue severe damage to the Northwest corner of the parking lot seawall. A large portion of the wall has fallen since survey in January.

A cold, beautiful day with hail on the beach and snow in low elevations on the western coast range visible from the beach. About 50 people enjoying the beach, some tidepooling, a few walking/jogging. Many invertebrates washed ashore including dungeness crab, which gulls and crows were feeding on. Shifting sands have unearthed velella carcasses buried last year. A common murre carcass was found, likely preyed upon by a bald eagle earlier that day. At time of reporting (3/30), a large colony of sea lions (many dozen if not a hundred or so) was spotted just offshore and north of Haystack Rock rafting for several hours with their tails and flippers elevated above the water's surface. See photo. Peregrine falcon observed today (3/30) as well.

Quite a few people walking on the beach, despite the cold, windy conditions.  Waves were "angry" - churning sand as they came in; looks like a storm is coming in.

It was a nice quiet day for our observation. Just slightly north of our mile was a huge group of about 40+ men from the Army playing football on the beach having come from Camp Rilea. They were dominating a very large area of the beach with this activity. Otherwise it was an easy day to make an observation.

Here's hoping the beach is as clean as it is today for the Great Beach Clean-up this coming Saturday.

The main impression on this survey is how clean the beach is from the wrack to the foredune.  It was almost difficult to spot manmade objects.  Mile 289 survived the winter big waves and storms without erosion.  That is the norm.  Further down the spit erosion is evident to near Cape Meares.  This is as predicted with the shortening of the south jetty.  I have included photos of the Bayocean townsite to give some prespective of this erosion though it is not on Mile 289.

The only human activity was at the lookout where several people were observed at the observation points overlooking the ocean. Note also the three people observed trespassing beyond the locked gate at the lookout and approaching the 500-foot high sea cliff. Shoreline activities by humans are essentially non-existent due to the inaccessibility of the shoreline. The drift line was only visible at one packet beach and it contained mostly beach cobbles with minor pieces of small driftwood. The only wildlife observed was some gulls flying north. Nothing dead was seen. Physical changes since the last visit were not observed, a common situation along this mile of very erosion-resistant basalt.

There is a beach front house at 6th street that has a back deck sliding down the grass dune due to dune erosion.

Cloudy, approx. 58 degrees with light wind

11 people and 1 dog were seen on the beach-8 walking, 1 playing in the surf, 2 rockhunting

Approximately 3 dozen seagulls seen just north of Tenmile Creek

2 dead seagulls found on beach south of Tenmile Creek by walking path to parking lot 86.

One dead crab found on beach north of 95480 Hwy 101 S

Several areas of the bluff north of 95500 Hwy 101 S had erosion of the dirt bluff with the dirt sloughing off onto the beach.

Smaller amount of debris seen today than in previous days on the north side of Tenmile Creek but in the same 200-300 yard area. There was considerably more small debris found in driftline on the beach south of Tenmile Creek.

There was more driftwood on the beach this day.  Manager of the Sea Perch RV Resort at 95480 Hwy 101 S stated that during the storm the first week of January the storm surge threw large pieces of driftwood up over the bluff and onto their grass areas

Several areas of the bluff north of 95500 Hwy 101 S had erosion of the dirt bluff with the dirt sloughing off onto the beach.

Mile 211 is relatively unspoiled, at least south of Thiele Creek.  The mud and standing pools of water have disappeared for the moment, and the level of the beach has dropped several feet, uncovering rocky substratum that is covered in sand in summer.  The beach is beautiful, broad when the tide is out, and has relatively few people walking it.

Some scumbag dumped a truckload of house remodeling debris into the Siuslaw River lagoon alongside the North Jetty Road (photo).  Honeyman State Park personnel notified.

Harbor seals and black surf scoter ducks observed in the near-shore surf.  Mole crab bodies and bits and pieces of Moon jellies along the mile today.

Pleasant day.  First time I have seen surfers in the "jaws of death" Siletz rivermouth.  One appeared to be temporarily pulled south by currents but he managed to get back.  Almost no trash to pick up.

A beautiful sunny day.  First time I have seen a Raven on the beach. It is good to see the Osprey with a fish.

Previous concern about near-by dredging has been helped by equipment problems. The company packed

up their trucks and left.  Small amount of garbage, picked it up, and disposed of it.

Since my last visit in June 2017 there were noticable difference to the bluff on the southern end of mile 147 before the Jetty.  The beach had been swept clean of driftwood and the usual amount of garbage by wave action.  The bluff had become more pronounced as evidenced by the ATV entrance to the beach from the east side by the river.  What was a walkable and drivable grade from the beach to the foredune area is not a drop off and to steep for people or vehicles to climb up and over. 

A very nice day at Cove Beach.  Sixteen people were enjoying the nice weather.  There is nothing unusual to report.  The beach was very clean.

Beautiful day at the beach, large number of people enjoying nature. Parking at Cooks Chasm and Devils Chum, only four parking spaces open.

Pleasant Friday morning after a big wind. Handful of people on the beach. One man with 2 kids playing in sand. Two people with dogs, one on leash. On man fishing for surf perch.

The vegetative foredune all along mile 23 continue to recede as evidenced by fallen clumps of dune grass in front of the dunes.   A few starfish are evident on the rocks. Driftwood is being cut and and perhaps removed. Trash is limited to one pickup bed liner partly buried in the sand.

The beach was clean of debris except for some scattered items coming in from the water.  There were significant plastic pieces in the driftline along the sandy areas of the beach.  Lots of rocks exposed today.  There has been a great deal of erosion over the past year.  There are places where recent slides have occured with debris and rocks at the bottom of the bluff.  It was a beautiful March day with a nice low tide so there were more people on the beach than we normally see.  

Beach is very wide. Foredune appears steeper and lower than previous visits. Public access trail in Mile 254 across foredune is trench like. Very little trash on beach. Beautiful view up and down beach.

It was one of those rare sunny and almost calm winter days.  Erosion has been less severe than last year.  Overtopping brought more drftwood and sand inland than I have observed in the last 5 years.  

Where oh where are all the pcs of yellow rope coming from?  

A sunny day on 220. Lots of rocks and very little sand on the first 1/2 of the walk South , then lots of sand. Texted Fawn to have State Parks come and pick up garbage at Marine Debris sign as it was piled up quite high. The cliffs have had a lot of errosion over the winter, many huge boulders have fallen, large sections of cliff have sloughed off. More drainage pipes from the cliff are exposed. 

39 degree, calm morning with scattered clouds.   1 person walking.  Beachside campground closed.  1 pair Canada geese flying SE.  Scattered 2-3" Velella velella  at tide line.  Shells and small pebbles along drift line.  Clean beach.

Winter waves have been washing all the way up to the bluffs and vegetation zone. Some damage to stairs and railings. A dead porpoise or dolphin washed in 2/19 and now is mostly just a carcass due to scavengers.  Our debris survey found very little small or mediium debris. However there were 8 lengths of rope and 15 lengths of white plastic strapping material over 2 feet long, much more than normal. Possibly output fom the crab boats that are active off shore.

Pleasant late-winter day on the beach between showers.

Dead harbor seal (see photo)

More dead critters on Heceta Beach.  The previously reported recently deceased sea lion yearling was nowhere to be found on Mile 171 today, but I found another mangled sea lion corpse up in the high beach log pile about a 1/4 mile south of the Driftwood Shores Resort.  Looks like a shark bit off the head, plus a lot of scavenger damage.  This one has been deceased for several weeks. Two very happy turkey vultures were hanging out nearby.

Several "Sea Nettle" jellies observed along the mile.  The high tide line of the north section of Mile 171 is heavily coated with 1" long fiberous cellophane tube worm feeding tubes/feelers/tongues (?).

The Army Corps of Engineers has sent out a crew to paint over the offensive spray-paint graffitti on the Siuslaw River North Jetty vehicle barrier rocks.  They did a nice job of matching the natural rock colors - thanks, guys!

Lots of dead things on heceta Beach today.  The north half of Mile 171 had a major stranding of Velella velellas (By-The-Wind Sailors) with individuals up to 4-5 inches long - easily the biggest specimens washed ashore in several years (photo).  There were also scattered bits and pieces of Moon jellies and Sea Nettle jellies along the mile.

A deceased yearling Steller sea lion had just washed ashore (photos) halfway between the North Jetty and the Driftwood Shores Resort.  Appears to have died just an hour or two before discovery as the scavangers had not touched it yet.  About 5 feet long, no obvious signs of trauma (sharks or bullets), no tags or tattoos.  Appears to have been well fed with normal body fat.

I still need to compare to last years photos but section north of .7 miles appears to have more erosion (photos included) from our last report. beach edge is cliff-like with shear face and drop-off from grass dune area above. visible roots and old logs within the cliff face. 

Way more people than expected on this cold and windy day.  The usual shells & small rocks decorated the sand and a handful of seagulls braved the elements.  Not a lot of beach junk but more plastic rope and styrofoam than average...most found near the R.B. Wayside area.  High seas over the past few weeks have taken away some of the dune build up that covered the almost 20 year old rip rap...hopefully the sand will return as it did before.  Some banks south of the Wayside and near St Mary By The Sea Church have experienced substantial erosion, with up to 6’ drop off.

Wind started out from the SW, then rotated up to the NW. Also, there were 15 or so sheep feeding on the bluffs and cliffs. Quite a bit of erosion on the bluffs close to the Elk River. A large hole has appeared in the clog face, about 20’ up—some water was running from it. Surf was from the W, 1-2 ft. Sets 3 ft.

Cement buffer destroyed by the ocean in 2018

A nice beach walk. Good weather (50F, calm breeze, mostly sunny) added to neutral tide (0.0ft. at 5:50PM) plus more sand this winter than usual on the beach.

Very clean, flat beach abruptly ends at vegetated hillside. North side of dune gently sloped enough for 1/3rd of the way up for vehicles to have gone up that far, judging from the tracks in the sand. Lots of little rocks on beach at north end. Lots of big rocks at south end, base of Cape. Access road at McPhillips Park is deeply eroded but trucks still driving it.

Gorgeous day: low temperature brought out only the hardiest, well-wrapped walkers. Beach looks good. As usual in winter, high waves and loads of driftwood.

Clean, beautiful but bitterly cold the recent storms have cleaned the erosion at the base of the cliffs and deposited sand.

Few people walking on the beach, dogs present, few gulls and beautiful weather.  

Stairs that washed away with the storms a few weeks ago were replaced, no other modifications. 

A sunny day so there were lots of people enjoying the beach.  There was one section of debris and tree trunks up against the bluff, probably from the king tide.   The rocks in the water most likely keep most of the from landing on the beach.  The tideline was pretty clean with only small colorful plastic pieces and woody bits.  The beach was mostly cobbles with the sand gone for now.  We saw 5 orange seastars out in the water.  The Yellow-rumped Warbler was a new bird for the mile.

It was a beautiful winter day, with sun and gentle breezes from the northwest. 46 degrees when we arrived and an empty beach for the first hour. People began arriving around 11:00. It was 59 degrees when we left shortly after Noon with visitors enjoying the day beachcombing and dog-walking, among a few other activities as noted in the report.  

Today was my first visit with a camera since the January storms. Most of the mile is part of Cape Lookout State Park. There has been considerable damage to parts of the park itself. The spit has been seriously eroded in places. Wave overtopped the spit north of the campground for about a 300 yard stretch as well as parts of the campground itself. Sections of the picnic area  were also damaged by waves. The south section of the mile cannot be accessed, even at low tide, due to beach erosion. Photos of the damage and erosion are attached.

Quiet foggy morning, slight breeze from NW. Few crows, 1 mature bald eagle  flying S,carrying twig. 5 people, 2 dogs walking.Tideline contents: pebbles, clam and sand dollar pieces, very few small  pieces of plastic removed.  Campground host notified of 1  wet crab bait waxed cardboard box, too heavy  to to carry. It will be removed.  

The attached photo was taken to show the change that has taken place to shoreline erosion. At this time of year, the shoreline is fairly smooth with a small hump near the water with a gentle slope toward the land. The photo shows that the ocean has carved out the sand almost up to the bluff.  The location of this photo is just north of beach access marker 50B.

Exceptional low tide for this time of year. COASST survey and Marine Debris conducted.  This was an unusual winter day for tide pooling >23 flora/fauna identified along with COASST dead bird Cassin's Auklet along with live birds and seals. Thirteen people on the beach.

A lovely winter day at the beach. The most notable physical changes since my last visit in December were the foredune erosion and deposition of large quantities of driftwood high on the beach, as well as on top of and behind the foredune - evidence of the size and strength of the high waves in last week's storms.

Observed normal high and low tide movement of sand and exposure of rocky areas.

First beach visit after the major storm surges.  No dead animals.  Documented movement of the Giant stump, 2014 to the present.  This last storm broke it apart (deep crack up the middle) and moved it another .25 mile, almost to Ona Beach entrance.  Beach was scrubbed off.

Beautiful day on the beach. Lots of families respectfully exploring the rocks and tidepools. One woman wearing far too much patchouli. I could smell her long before I could see her. There was far less garbage on the beach then I had expected to see, especially for how many people where on the beach, which is always a pleasant surprise.

Lots of activity on the mile this time with people with dogs, people riding on horses, a cyclist, and 5 helicopters.  It was very mild with some sun.  Storm evidence more apparent in the area south of Henderson Creek.  4 dead birds which may be gulls.  Awaiting confirmation before posting their photos.

   Updated on 2/16/18:  Fawn Custer has identified the 4 beached birds as being Northern Fulmars - 2 in light morphology, the other 2 in dark morphology.  COASST will be notified of these findings.

Nothing special.

This dispatch is following up on a rip-rap project going on at the second house north of Little Creek/Big Stump Beach. Dump trucks are continuing to bring large rock to the site and the track hoe is setting what I understand to be backing rock. The track hoe also appears to be trenching at the base of the embankment where the larger boulders will be a starter course and then more boulders set on top of each row to eventually make a robust and protective rock wall. 

At 1:30am, our NOAA radio announced a tsunami watch for the Oregon coast, predicting a possible tsunami at 5:10am in our area. We immediately started packing up necessities for an extended stay away from our house (which is 43 ft above sea level thus definitely in the inundation zone.) What we want to highlight is this: there are 6 houses near ours, all within the inundation zone. None of them turned on lights, meaning that they did not know about the potential tsunami. If the "tsunami watch" had changed to "tsunami warning", hopefully they would receive automated emergency calls, however they would not have as much time to respond as we did. We were dismayed that so few people had NOAA radios, an inexpensive lifesaving communication method. Several of these houses are short-term rentals; those visitors would be disadvantaged in a real emergency. At 4:45am, the all-clear sounded. We went back to bed. 

This report is primarily an addendum to the report I filed for January 20th (and before) where a rip-rap project has resumed after it was previously halted by strong storm/extremely high and rough surf.

***NOTE***

Edit - January 23, 2018 - Starting with image #6, these are added to this report rather than in a new report because they are the continuation of the operation to repair the rip-rap armoring. No other inspection was made of mile 199 due to stormy conditions. The plan was to get pictures of the track hoe setting the rock in place and doing the 'finishing touches' but the weather was not conducive to getting the additional pictures.

The recent high-energy storm waves washed a lot of the high beach sand away, exposing long-buried driftwood logs and stumps, along with re-arranging the larger driftwood logs all along Mile 171.  At the beach access trail just to the south of the Driftwood Shores Resort, high tides/big waves have blown huge logs on to the access trail, making beach access/egress challanging (photos).

Numerous reddish Pacific Sea Nettle (Chrysaora fuscescens) and common clear Moon (Aurelia labiata) jellies are washed up on the northern half of Mile 171.

The following images identify activities of contractor activity accessing the beach and preparing for a permitted rip-rap project to the north. Also, changes to a septic system repair(?) with changes in the bank. Finally, images that show some of the changes that took place from the extreme wave action against the bank/foredune and beach debris changes like logs that have moved.

They go along with the previous text of this report. Some are from months/years past so that comparisons can be made. Dates of the previous images will be provided.

A high water event occurred on Jan. 18, 2018. Waves came up the the bottom of the steps at beach access #48 and deposited new sand a few steps up. Water entered the parking lot (up the ramp) at Canyon Drive City Park (#46), and the Inn at Spanish Head had sand deposited on its lower level wrap-around porch and had to board up all its lower windows. Mo's Clam Chowder house was flooded inside, along the Siletz River (and was closed for weeks afterwards).

Although not king tide level, high waves at high tide on Jan 18, 2018 reached all the way into the inner reaches of Whale Cove's sandy cliffs. The beach is normally exposed at high tides (king tide excepted). High waves picked up large driftwood logs hurling them against the ladder to the beach breaking one of the rails.  The ladder has been used by local residents for access to the public (State) beach. 

Quiet day, beach was quite clean, no sea pickles (pyrosomes), numerous bits of jelly or sea gooseberries, and an old black tire.  Got an email off to the park ranger about the tire.  Seems to be the same tire that's been around for years.

Large flocks of Sanderlings busy feeding in the surf wash along the entire mile this morning.  Surf Scoter ducks and harbor seals out in the near-shore surf.  Big waves and high tide were setting up frequent "sneaker waves", necessitating the occasional dash to the high beach to avoid getting wet.  Lots of huge and small driftwood logs and woody debris were rolling in the surf zone.  The extensive summertime accumulation of driftwood logs and stumps at the "lagoon" next to the north jetty structure have been mostly washed away.

The Portland regional office of the Army Corps of Engineers have said they will have a work detail out to the jetty "within 3-4 weeks" to remove the spray-painted graffitti on the jetty vehicle barrier rocks.

It was a rare warm, dry day with numerous beach walkers. Nothing unusual was sighted. I just enjoyed the beautiful surf and a walk with Westly.

Martin Luther King holiday weekend...mild weather. Breezy enough for kite flying. 14 people, 1 dog, 1 dead Northern Fulmar, 1 dead seal, algae at the driftline.

It was very noticable since I surveyed in october that the "D" river was flowing straight into the ocean. In October it was crooked and channel like from the sand. Notice new graffiti panted on the wall below The Sea Gypsy Hotel. Sunday was a great day for the beach, perfect weather.

A beautiful afternoon at the beach. It was low tide but there were many swells from an oncoming wind or storm. I had never seen dead crabs with one to two small holes in their backs and legs and claws intact? There are less pyrosomes on the rack line.

It was a glorious day - 60 degrees, with a moderate wind from the northeast.  The waves were beautiful with the wind raising the spray high in the air.  Since this was a long weekend, there were more people than usual, with 28 cars in the parking lot and 25 people on the beach (4 with dogs), mostly just walking in the sun.  There were no birds in the air and no carcasses on the beach, although there were parts of a clean skeleton of a larger animal.  The sand is high, with a long slope to the water, and a second dune is forming in front from the old large logs and beach grass there.  A sign at the entry from the parking lot indicated some work on the beach soon to help encourage Snowy Plover to nest here but there are no restrictions on using the beach yet. 

Happy to see such a clean beach.  Live animais 5 gulls and a duck.   20 people on the beach including 4 on horseback. No concerns

It was a beautiful winter day and many people were out enjoying the beach.  The beach was quite clean probably a combination of the fact that the OR Parks Department had recently been on the beach cleaning up debris and the King Tide.  We did see a very large piece of debris (see photo) that was about 20 feet long with 3 pieces connected together --- probably a retaining wall.  We saw this piece about 1.5 miles down the beach a few weeks ago -- reminder how powerful the ocean tides are!

There were a few large tires on the beach. We cleaned debris off the beach but was unable to remove large tires.

Vandals have spray-painted the vehicle barrier rocks (3) on the Siuslaw River North Jetty.  It is jarringly offensive in this otherwise pristine ocean beach environment.  Phones calls and emails sent to the local newspaper editor and Florence Public Works department.  No one seems to definitively know what gov't agency "owns" the jetty structure.  Hopefully a crew from the local Coast Guard base or Honeyman State Park might have a portable power washer or something appropriate to remove the paint.

Calm, cloudy, 46' morning, 1 person, 1 dog walking on beach.  Shells and pebbles on clean beach, only 1 plastic empty garbage sack  removed from beach. Several gulls flying at a distance. Nice conversation with  new camp hosts at closed Beachside State park campground.

Mild day, people even walking barefoot. Lots of driftwood compared to the usual for this stretch. Very little debris. I picked up maybe an ounce of small plastics.

It was a beautiful warm day at the beach.  Nothing abnormal to report today.  Several man made structures made out of driftwood to look at.

Day was mild, cloudy with intermittent rain, mild wind. Surf was higher than I've seen it. There were more logs and wood debris than usual at Yachats State Park. It seems as if there is more shore erosion occurring both north and south of the Yachats River, and south of the river I saw an uprooted willow and what seemed like more vegetation barely holding ground.Surfbirds (I think) were grazing at the north end of mile 193, fleeing the large waves and spray. 

I am filing this report to add photo documentation of the king tide today. My previous post for January 2, 2018, explained that today’s  high tide according to the tide chart was 8.1 yet in actuality it was much higher than yesterday’s high tide which was supposed to be 8.3. The tide reached the rap and/or sand bluffs of miles 244 and 245. In fact the north end of mile 245 at Roads End was dangerous today during the king tide. I did not walk my full mile today due to the high surf and tide. I hope the dead sea lions get washed out- what a stench! On the beauty side i watched rainbows fly off the waves for a long while which was amazingly wonderful.

I was three times at the beach.

The times were 8:30AM (four hours before King Tide, 4.9 ft.), 10:30AM (two hours before King Tide, 8.65 ft,), and 12:26PM (10.5 ft.)

The first two times I took pictures North and West from a point 45 ft. Southeast of normal entry to beach. At King Tide at 12:26PM I got picture to the North from that point--but had to time the waves. In order to get picture to the West, I slighty angled camera to WNW, and moved back another 40 feet to Southeast (total of 85 ft. from normal entry of beach in order to stay dry--wave came within 5 foot of that position.

Coast Guard and Depoe Bay fire crews rescued a 19-year-old male hiker in the vicinity of Whale Cove, after he reportedly suffered seizures and became immobilized Tuesday evening. Sector watch standers received a report from Lincoln City 911 dispatchers at 4 p.m. of a male with medical issues on a cliff and was unable to be moved by local rescuers. Members of Depoe Bay Fire and Rescue and Pacific West ambulance were already on scene and had stabilized the patient. In addition to the Dolphin aircrew, a crew from Coast Guard Station Depoe Bay took a station vehicle to the scene, where they used radios to relay information between the fire members on the cliff and the aircrew. Due to the tree height and a strong east wind over the steep terrain the aircrew was unable to hoist the hiker from the cliff and landed in tidal pool on a cove shelf, which was only accessible due to it being low tide, 100-feet below the cliff, where they could safely conduct the medevac. An MH-65 Dolphin helicopter crew, from Coast Guard Sector North Bend and forward deployed to Air Facility Newport, medevaced the hiker and safely transferred him to medical personnel. He was first flown to a local hotel for assessment then transferred to Samaritan Pacific Communities Hospital.

Warm (55 degrees), sunny with high clouds, calm/slight wind.  King High Tide today.

Human Activities

• Observed 17 people and 4 dogs on beach.
• 8 vehicles in parking areas.

Wildlife

• 6-7 dozen seagulls observed.
• 1 dead crab observed.

Physical Changes

• Large amount of small pieces of trash on concentrated on several hundred yards of beach west of Sea Perch RV Resort to Beachcomber Cottages. (see pic)
• 9 sets of steps observed and photographed.  One set of stairs was made from rubber tires with cement and rocks imbedded in them. One of these tires have “been moved” and is in front of a small waterfall on the beach. (see pic).
  • This waterfall was producing enough water to erode sand from the beach (see pic).

See 'Comments' on observing the king tide.

Dispatch- photo of molting elephant seal.  

The afternoon low tide -- and mild weather -- on New Year's Eve brought out 40 people (and 3 dogs) on to Cove Beach, mile 306. They were walking, taking photos, crabbing, playing on the sand, and partying around campfires. An unusual sight for Dec 31st. 

Very pleasant ending to 2017. Moderate amount of trash. Most trash was close to the dune line.

Paddled solo on a beautiful calm day with small surf and a light off-shore breeze.  I paddled around the entire cape and into three or four caves with the notable blow-hole that is in the back of the large sea cave at cape's end spouting on my way south but on the return was exposed enough to actually paddle into!  What a great surprise.  It turned right for around 50 ft, then turned left with a low roof angling down with a lot of rumbling and turbulence signaling the end of the line for me.  The caves on the south side were unusually colorful and beautifully lit.  I generally steer well clear of these due to the abundant birdlife around these, but very few birds this time of year.  The most people that I have ever seen were at the end of the trail high above, probably looking for whales.  I didn't see any on this day.  I landed on the small beach in front of the large shallow cave in Well's Cove, north side of the cape, and picked up some foam floats that are so abundant.  The winter surf has cleaned out the usual debris that at times is quite a pile.  Since it has been so wet lately, small waterfalls were dropping into the ocean in many places.  Some caves had a wispy curtain of water from abave at the entrance.

All and all a very good day with the cape looking good.

Unusual to see so many people this time of the year. It was a delightful day, sunny after other rainy days and holiday vacation. Families from Kanas, Texas, Pantagonia the usual Utah, WA and CA.

It delighted me to see others sharing my love of mile 11. The Whale Watching signs brought them in. It's rare to see more than 2 cars at either House Rock or Cape Ferrelo view points. 10 cars and some 14 people parked at Cape Ferrelo December 30, including plates from Washington, Texas, and New York. Elusive though the whales were folks curiously questioned the well informed volunteers. Who, by the way, happened to be a fellow Coast Watching couple. The weather invited a good time and the low tide kicked it up.

I'm getting cut off from accessing a little more of mile 11 due to the ocean throwing more 'path' blocks (boulders, log jams, etc.) in my way but I trudge on.

I miss the seastars but as I mentioned I did see an odd totally black pisaster about 6 inches across. I looked it up and according to someone on the internet starfish color is determined genetically. If true, the black isn't due to it's physical condition or diet. He's just diverse.

News on the vegetative front screams on. Since the 'view restoration' project (aka tree removal) on House Rock viewpoint the Sitka Spruce have rebounded with a vengence. I have 2010 photos of regrowth 3 feet high which now tower 3 - 4 times my height. Also, I'm anxiously watching to see what will become of those plots where they have come back impossibly thick. Those trees' growth is quite different from those on the perimeters. They are maybe only 4 - 5 feet tall and squeezed in 4 per square foot. 

All for now