Report Details

Hiked the Three Mile Lake - ocean beach - Tahkenitch Dune Loop Trail (6 miles) today.  The beach portion of the loop covers Mile 154 and the south half of Mile 155.  Met only two other hikers all day and had the entire ocean beach all to myself!  Very clean beach trash-wise.  Major portions of the upper dry sand beach have been roped off by the Forest Service for snowy plover restoration.  Observed several osprey and a bald eagel fishing in the surf.  A single sea lion was just off-shore heading south.  Remains (casts) of Vella vellela were along the entire beach, mixed in with lots of dead mole crabs - which I have not observed on this beach before.  The Forest Service has relocated the west 1/3 mile of the Tahkenitch Dune/Beach trail several hundred feet further inland from the Tahkenitch Creek estuary due to high water damage on the old trail.  Nice trail!The Forest Service has aggressively roped off any hiker access to the Tahkenitch estuary sands at the west end of the Tahkenitch Dune/Beach trail, forcing hikers to use the rather steep but do-able drop-off down to/up from the beach (photo).  Fortunately, the access didn't get washed away by winter storms/high tides like last year.To make my stroll on the beach an absolutely perfect day, a formation of WWII heavy bombers - a Boeing B-17 and a B-24 - flew up the beach apparently heading to an airshow somewhere up north.  What a glorious sound for this old Navy pilot!

Conditions

Temperature: 65 F. Cloud Cover: Cloudy. Wind Velocity: Calm/Light. Wind Direction: W.

Human Activities

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

Vehicles

Cars/trucks parking: 2. RVs/Buses parking: 2.

Notable Wildlife

Osprey, rough-skinned newts, western tree frogs, red-legged frogs.

Driftline Content

Seaweeds and seagrass, Shells, Animal casings (e.g., crab, shrimp molt).

New Development

Western 1/3 mile of the Tahkenitch Dune/Beach Trail has been relocated by the Forest Service.

Report Images

Report Images

Share this post

All Mile 154 Reports

Showing 8 of 26 reports

Mile 154

Oregon Dunes NRA, west of Butterfly Lake

June 8, 2023

Eugene Hikers parked at Tahkenitch Campground parking lot, noting 2 other cars.

Eugene Hikers

Mile 154

Oregon Dunes NRA, west of Butterfly Lake

April 7, 2022

Six Eugene Hikers parked at Tahkenitch Campground parking lot, hiked Dunes Trail, and entered beach at Emergency Sign #115.

Eugene Hikers

Mile 154

Oregon Dunes NRA, west of Butterfly Lake

February 10, 2022

Four Eugene Hikers parked in Tahkenitch Campground parking lot (4 other cars present), hiked Dunes Trail, and accessed beach at Emergency Sign #115.

Eugene Hikers

decorative elemnt for a coastwatch report.

Mile 154

Oregon Dunes NRA, west of Butterfly Lake

July 8, 2021

9 Eugene Hikers parked (2 cars) at Tahkenitch Campground parking lot - 3 other cars were there.

Eugene Hikers

Mile 154

Oregon Dunes NRA, west of Butterfly Lake

February 8, 2021

Hikers parked at Tahkenitch CG lot, where there were 2 other cars, and accessed beach on Dunes Trail at Emergency Sign #115.

Eugene Hikers

Mile 154

Oregon Dunes NRA, west of Butterfly Lake

January 15, 2021

I hiked the 3-Mile Lake - Tahkenitch Dune Loop Trail today, starting and ending in the Tahkenitch Dune Campground trailhead parking lot.

oldMGguy

Mile 154

Oregon Dunes NRA, west of Butterfly Lake

August 27, 2020

8 Eugene Hikers ("Hikers") parked at Tahkenitch Campground day area and accessed the beach on Tahkenitch Dunes trail.

Eugene Hikers

Mile 154

Oregon Dunes NRA, west of Butterfly Lake

October 10, 2019

Four Eugene Hikers parked in Tahkenitch Campground parking lot, hiked Dunes Trail, and entered beach at Emergency Sign #115.

Eugene Hikers