August 6, 2007

Report Details

I walked Mile 164 between 10 a.m. and noon on August 6, 2007,It was overcast and fairly foggy. I covered the area from North Jetty Road Parking Area 1 (the beginning of OHV area) south almost to the south end of the OHV area, and the conditions are pretty much the same all the way, with moderate to heavy OHV activity dominating the beach from about 10 a.m. on.I borrowed a friend's GPS and couldn't match the coordinates listed on the website with the coordinates I was getting on the GPS. I was getting about N 43.55 at what I believed to be the north end of Mile 164. The website says N 43.93 at that point, which seems to be a little high, since south Florence is N 44. The manner of describing coordinates now has been change and should reflect what I was reading on my next trip. There really are no landmarks on that stretch of beach, other than the OHV markings.The foredunes are cut through in a few places where OHVs are allowed to connect to trails on the east side. The beach is pretty clear of human trash. I saw one dead seal or small sea lion in what I believe was the south end of Mile 165, but it was so badly deteriorated I couldn't determine which. It looked as if it had been dead for several weeks. Several vultures were feeding on it. They disappeared as soon as the OHV use became heavy. In the same area there were remains of a freshly killed and eaten shorebird.The beach area all along that stretch is fairly flat, and has very little pedestrian use -- probably because of the OHV traffic. One couple walking north from Mile 164 said they sometimes find Native American artifacts -- mainly arrowheads and spearheads. There are several areas where there are fairly heavy crushed shell beds, and I suspect the crushing is from wave action -- not OHV.The OHV traffic makes the area very unpleasant for walking during the high-use hours. Both commercial and private vehicles use the area. I saw as many as 35 OHVs at a time. The noise is constant, and probably keeps the birds away during midday.