Mile 157 Report
July 9, 2009
by bzenderson
Other Mile 157 Reports (31)
2022
July 30, 2022 - GasiorowskiM
Mile 157 is a beautiful, little-visited stretch of coastline. It is on the Oregon Dunes Loop Trail, which provides access at the northern and southern ends of Mile 157. (Access at the southern end...
2014
January 1, 2014 - bzenderson
Beautiful New Years Day at the beach, while it was cold and foggy in the valley. Saw few birds--a few gulls and some flocks of sanderlings. Oregon Dunes Day Use Area (my usual access) was gated...
2013
March 5, 2013 - bzenderson
A rainy day; we had the beach to ourselves. Storm seemed to have brought in a lot of mostly plastic debris; much may have been tsunami in origin, but couldn't confirm. Lots of styrofoam in all types...
2012
November 25, 2012 - bzenderson
Gorgeous day at the beach (crappy and cloudy and cold in Eugene). We arrived at about mid-tide and, at first glance, it didn't look like there was much in the driftline. But we wound up finding a lot...
June 20, 2012 - bzenderson
There is a lot of buzz about whether the stuff on the beaches these days is from the tsunami. We found a lot of rigid styrofoam (presumably for insulation); normally see very little of that. Many...
April 15, 2012 - bzenderson
Fair amount of ocean-borne debris, but unlike my last walk here about a month earlier, when the debris was d0ominated by Japanese plastic bottles (tsunami debris?), it was very cosmopolitan: Russian...
January 28, 2012 - bzenderson
Stunning winter day; we were totally overdressed, kept shedding clothes to the brink of immodesty. Saw a few flocks of sanderlings, no other birds of note. Driftline was pretty slim pickings, though...
2011
July 14, 2011 - bzenderson
The special today was CRAB: Crab legs, whole crab, crab molt, you name it. I was able to identify a lot of crab molt, but there seemed to be actual dead crabs among them. Lots of shells. Lots (...
2010
November 13, 2010 - bzenderson
Drizzly day on Mile 157; my friend Patricia came along for the first time. Unusual number of dead birds (only once before have I found that many on this mile), but given that it's November and that...
September 8, 2010 - bzenderson
Stunningly beautiful day on Mile 157; it started out foggy but cleared up. Little wind. As expected this time of year, we saw a fair number of dead common murres. The (presumably organic) scum on...
May 8, 2010 - bzenderson
Lovely spring visit--rhodies in full bloom along with beach pea, strawberries and our friend Mr. Scotch Broom. Big surprise was to see the Sanak, the buried fishing boat I wrote about in my book "...
March 23, 2010 - bzenderson
A beautiful day for breaking rules. I'm calling it my winter visit, since I failed to quite get there before the spring equinox. Found what USFS person said was a sanderling, but I'm calling a plover...
2009
December 1, 2009 - bzenderson
A gorgeous day, the Pacific very pacific. Perfect for opening day of crab season; at one point I could see 8 fishing boats from my mile. Beach quite clean; some debris (bits of bleached nylon rope, a...
May 21, 2009 - bzenderson
A lovely sunny day, but strong winds had blown sand over most everything in recent tide lines; didn't find any dead birds, for instance. I did stop to pick up a small, deep orange agate; when I...
March 12, 2009 - bzenderson
Gorgeous day. Very little going on. Saw sanderlings on next mile, but all I saw on Mile 157 was one soaring bald eagle and a few gulls. Not much in the drift line; no evidence of any big recent blows...
January 11, 2009 - bzenderson
We went on the day with the highest tide of the year (10.4). Got to the beach early, fortunately; high tide was at 11:45, and we were already running out of beach by 9:45. Weather was very mild, so...
2008
October 1, 2008 - bzenderson
Beautiful day at the beach. Minimal ocean-borne debris; mostly lots of kelp, crab molt, jellyfish pieces. Just two dead murres, who had died not long ago. Sand volume high (no boat visible), and...
June 21, 2008 - bzenderson
I'm claiming this as my spring quarter walk, although technically it was just past the solstice! Some some low-tide surprises. Otherwise fairly uneventful. There was a marine mammal (seal? sea lion...
March 8, 2008 - bzenderson
Absolutely beautiful day, shared with my friend and CoastWatch partner Jack Long; wind picked up in early afternoon and got quite chilly, but sunny and lovely and, as usual, not another soul. We went...
2007
December 10, 2007 - bzenderson
Surprisingly little debris on the beach, despite big storms a few days prior. Lots of beach grass in the driftline, but mostly at north end; seems to be more from the earth moving on Mile 158 than...
September 23, 2007 - bzenderson
Beautiful early fall day at the beach with my friend Jim Weber; no one else on the beach, and interesting wrack, including at least nine dead birds, lots of dead crabs and crab parts, and other flora...
July 7, 2007 - bzenderson
Pretty uneventful trip. Very windy. Not many critters. Not much garbage on the beach even; a few plastic bottles and the like.
May 26, 2007 - bzenderson
In the wrack line, many examples of a fish (decomposed) that we couldn't identify; long, slender, no discernable head, strange. I will try to post a photo. Note the backbone, not symmetrical; on one...
March 18, 2007 - bzenderson
After several sunny days (in valley), a stormy evening prior to our walk, and beach had LOTS of stuff. Many bottles of Japanese origin. Oyster pipes. Two skate egg cases. The many dead birds I...
March 6, 2007 - VKnox2
I saw many post-hibernation fecal plugs from bears inland. Fresh bear tracks were in the sand and driftline. With only two bird carcasses on this mile, and no fish or crabs, I can't imagine that the...
2006
December 22, 2006 - VKnox2
Monstrous piles of Bull Kelp. One lone strand of Feather Boa... a first. Hundreds of Sanderlings.
November 11, 2006 - bzenderson
Saw two seals in waves, wondering if Salmon are running up Tahkenitch Creek. Seen one large gull like bird on beach but flew off before we could ID it. Also seen Sanderlings, migrating geese, a Heron...
August 5, 2006 - bzenderson
Very high sand volume, no sharp drop-off at foredune.
June 14, 2006 - VKnox2
Thousands of Mole crab carcasses in the high tide drift line. Some places as many as 20 per square foot also found small amount of Kelp, Rockweed, Bull. Still researching Mole crabs mortality. They...
April 20, 2006 - bzenderson
High sand volume, boat buried. Quite a lot of standing water in dunes. One Kelp strand 48-50 feet long. Lots of broken shells below drift line in sand.
March 16, 2006 - VKnox2
Seen an Osprey and many razor clams on shore. Part of the dune is caving in and some beach grass has washed away