May 28, 2025

Report Details

Strawberry Hill is one of the most beautiful spots on the entire Oregon coast, with beaches, tidepools, and rocky islands that harbor a wealth of wildlife as well as agates and other geological treasures. This is especially true at very low tide, when the tidepools and rocky islands are most accessible, displaying large numbers of seastars, anemones, harbor seals, and other sea creatures. But erosion increasingly threatens the Strawberry Hill area, especially the paths leading down from the parking area to the north and south beaches.

Conditions

Temperature: 55 F. Cloud Cover: Partly Cloudy. Wind Velocity: Calm/Light. Tide Level: -0.62 feet.

Human Activities

Number of people: 12. Number of dogs: 2. Walking or running: 12. Tidepooling: 12. Other Activities: 5-6 visitors were looking for agates, which is common on the south beach.. A group of 5-6 visitors had climbed far out in the tidepools south of the parking area, almost to the surf line. They seemed to know what they were doing and did not seem to be causing harm.

Concerns

Climbing bluffs/seastacks

Apparent violations: There is new or recent graffiti on the sandstone bluffs just north of the parking area..

Notable Wildlife

The very low tide presented an excellent opportunity to see the large number of seastars and green anemones that live in the rocky intertidal areas, especially on the north side of the parking area. There are many hundreds -- and maybe thousands -- of seastars visible there, especially around the large rocky island on the north shore that becomes partly accessible at very low tide. See attached photos. There were also 12-15 harbor seals dozing on the rocky islands directly west of the parking area. And a juvenile bald eagle seems to have begun nesting in the trees above the far northern part of the north beach.

Driftline Content

The north and south beaches are remarkably clean, with only a few small pieces of plastic and styrofoam visible.

New Development

Steps down bluff. The paths down from the parking area to the north and south beaches continue to erode, as noted in my previous reports. The two paths to the south beach now are especially treacherous, particularly in wet and windy weather.

Natural Changes

In addition to the paths down from the parking area, the bluffs above the north and south beaches continue to erode -- as I have reported previously. This erosion seems to be due mainly to water dripping down from the bluffs, which is quite visible at this time of year on both the north and the south beach. The most immediate concern probably is the erosion occurring just under the south side of the parking lot, which at some point will undermine the pavement.