Mile 131 - Horsfall Beach, Oregon Dunes NRA - January 27, 2017

Report Details

When I arrived for my walk, there was a limited area of beach to walk on. By the time I left, the waves were sweeping clear up to the foredune in many places and there was no beach to walk on at all. Due to the height of the tide, I only walked about 3/4 of a mile, but I checked out the other quarter mile through my binoculars and saw no extraordinary changes or any people. There were only a few people walking the beach near the parking lot, and two surf fishermen standing on the surf and who seemed certain they wouldn't be washed away, though they did complain about the height of the tide. Logs and stumps and other large wood debris were being rolled around by the waves in a quite impressive way. The only wildlife were a couple of surf scoters; interestingly enough, not a single gull was present. One short section of beach reflected wave action, vehicle abuse, or both, where the steep foredune had been flattened into a ramp-like entrance onto the beach from the higher vegetated dunes. It was scarred by vehicle tracks. The most impressive aspect of my walk was the power of the waves that crashed in a calm but inexorable violence as though in a carefully rehearsed assault on the land.

Conditions

Temperature: 55 F. Cloud Cover: Sunny. Wind Velocity: Calm/Light. Wind Direction: SW. Tide Level: 8.0 feet.

Human Activities

Number of people: 9. Number of dogs: 2. Walking or running: 4. Sitting: 2. Fishing: 2. Other Activities: Riding ATV. Surf was so high that hardly anyone ventured onto the beach

Vehicles

Cars/trucks parking: 5. ATVs/OHVs on beach, allowed: 1.

Notable Wildlife

1 dead bird with lots okf white on stomach. Was partially covered by sand so I couldn't identify it, and waves were quite high there so I didn't attempt to get close for a better identification.

Beached Birds

Total dead birds: 1.

Driftline Content

Wood pieces. Many logs, partial logs, root wads, other large pieces of wood on beach. Smaller remnants of driftline were widely dispersed due to waves that ran clear up and sometimes over the foredune.

Natural Changes

Erosion of vegetated foredune, Visible retreat of solid bluff, Evidence of wave overtopping. The high surf was controlling the beach so that beach walking was dangerous as I discovered immediately; therefore, it was difficult to assess exactly what was happening to the foredune. It was obvious that waves had overtopped that dune in places and that it had changed the the "solid" sand dune and had eroded into the vegetation here and there.