Mile 204 Report
Driftwood Beach Wayside, Buckley Creek
March 22, 2022
The year's first beach walk in shirt sleeves, a balmy 60 degrees!
Report Details
The year's first beach walk in shirt sleeves, a balmy 60 degrees! With the tide a low 0.5,' the almost flat Driftwood Beach stretched far to the west. I walked my Mile 204 and continued up north on Mile 205, across Fox Creek and Collins Creek to Squaw Creek, looking for potential Western Snowy Plover habitat for this year's Plover Patrol nesting survey. Until north of Collins Creek, recent high tides had crossed the entire beach, so there is very little soft dry sand suitable now for nesting, and no plovers, tracks, or nest scrapes were seen. It's still a little early.At Driftwood Beach Wayside parking area, the PacWave wave energy project is constructing an enormous underground vault for connecting the project's marine electrical conduits/cables to terrestrial cables which will transmit the wave-generated electricity to PacWave's facility east of Highway 101.
Conditions
Temperature: 60 F. Cloud Cover: Partly Cloudy. Wind Velocity: Calm/Light. Tide Level: 0.5 feet.
Human Activities
Number of people: 10. Number of dogs: 1. Walking or running: 10.
Notable Wildlife
Just a few gulls seen. No signs of Western Snowy Plovers (see Summary). In the woods adjacent to the Driftwood Wayside parking area, I looked for adults of the Seaside Hoary Elfin butterfly among its hostplant kinnikinnick, this being only one of two spots on the Oregon coast (Pistol River being the other) where this endangered subspecies is known to occur. It's still a little early for adults to be flying, and I'll look again on my next walk.
Driftline Content
Small rocks, Shells, Wood pieces, Styrofoam, Ocean-based debris (from fishing boats, ship trash, etc.). More styrofoam bits and micro-plastic debris high on the beach than I've seen before.
Man-made Modifications
See Summary and photos for new PacWave construction
Report Images
Jon French
CoastWatcher
All Mile 204 Reports
Mile 204
Driftwood Beach Wayside, Buckley Creek
Today marked my latest sighting of the old growth driftwood log that I've admired and whose comings and goings from Driftwood Beach I've documented since June 2020, when I first photographed it high on the beach south of Buckley Creek.
Jon French
Mile 204
Driftwood Beach Wayside, Buckley Creek
I had read that the 265-foot vessel Seacor Lee would be anchoring a mile off Driftwood Beach in support of OSU's PacWave South wave energy testing project, positioned so that divers from the ship could perform work on previously installed seafloor conduits.
Jon French
Mile 204
Driftwood Beach Wayside, Buckley Creek
I haven't walked Driftwood Beach regularly since the PacWave South wave energy project completed work underground in the Driftwood parking lot.
Jon French
Mile 204
Driftwood Beach Wayside, Buckley Creek
By the time I got to Driftwood Wayside, a lot of people had already arrived for their New Years Day beach walks, some 30 vehicles in the parking lot and 30 - 40 people down on the beach, accompanied by at least half as many dogs, almost all leashed.
Jon French
Mile 204
Driftwood Beach Wayside, Buckley Creek
This was probably the last dependably dry Mile 204 walk before the rains begin in earnest.
Jon French
Mile 204
Driftwood Beach Wayside, Buckley Creek
After the morning fog lifted and before the marine layer moved in, I walked from Seal Rock on Mile 205 to Beach Access 66C on Mile 203.
Jon French
Mile 204
Driftwood Beach Wayside, Buckley Creek
Driftwood Wayside is open again after PacWave's departure, but I was the only visitor on this breezy, drizzly day.
Jon French
Mile 204
Driftwood Beach Wayside, Buckley Creek
The PacWave South wave energy project hosted a BBQ today at Driftwood Wayside for staff and neighbors to celebrate the completion of construction work here and the reopening of the Wayside later this month.
Jon French