Mile 154 - Oregon Dunes NRA, west of Butterfly Lake - January 15, 2021

Report Details

I hiked the 3-Mile Lake - Tahkenitch Dune Loop Trail today, starting and ending in the Tahkenitch Dune Campground trailhead parking lot. The beach portion of the loop covers Mile 154 and southern half of Mile 155.I met just one trail runner on the entire 6.2 mile loop. Only notable wildlife were bunches of Rough-Skinned Newts doing their slow-motion stroll across the trail surface. A few Pacific Winter Wrens were peeping away from the foliage, no other notable birds or critters observed, mostly due to foggy conditions on the beach. Even though I was out on the beach 2 hours after high tide, the occasional sneaker wave would force me up against the eroded sandy foredunes.There are debris piles at both beach access points from beach walkers picking up the worst of the marine-sourced debris, mostly plastic bottles and fishing/crab pot floats. If you look closely at the contents of the high water wrack line, it is filled with plastic bits and pieces - bottle caps, shotgun shells, inhalers, immense numbers of dime-to-quarter sized plastic bits, and lots of nylon rope pieces and shreds. This was hands-down the worst collection of plastic debris I've ever seen on this beach since 2007 (see photo).

Conditions

Temperature: 55 F. Cloud Cover: Foggy. Wind Velocity: Calm/Light. Wind Direction: W.

Human Activities

Number of people: 1. Walking or running: 1.

Driftline Content

Seaweeds and seagrass, Shells, Animal casings (e.g., crab, shrimp molt), Wood pieces, Marine debris (plastic, styrofoam, etc. washing in from the sea), Styrofoam, Ocean-based debris (from fishing boats, ship trash, etc.).

Natural Changes

Erosion of vegetated foredune.