June 12, 2022

Report Details

There were more cars than expected at Patterson State Park this rainy Sunday morning. As I headed south to start my mile, I searched for an easy way to cross the heavily flowing Patterson Creek. The two young men riding skimboards in the creek offered me the option to use the skimboard to get across but I decided it was probably better for me to just do a little wading. The tide line closest to the ocean contained dead mole crabs, many rocks, some crab body pieces, kelp and a few sticks. Half way through the mile, I was excited to see a bald eagle flying near the ocean. Other than that, the only birds I saw were some gulls and crows. As I turned around near the Big Stump to head north by the dunes, I observed the water pipe with a very light flow. Close to the dunes, it was nice to see the spring plant growth of the Vetch and Sea Sandwort. One of the dune markers that I regularly check is a path from a HWY 101 pull out that leads to the beach. It winds through the fore dune before a drop off to the beach. Sand has returned to the bottom of this dune making this path more accessible. Last visit, it was quite a bit of a jump to get down to the beach from this path. I snapped a picture of the protruding log that I've been regularly checking. Some sand is also returning to this area below the fore dune. I saw the usual styrofoam pieces in the highest tide line as well as the various trash items laying on the beach or stuck in the sticks near the dunes -  water bottle, straw, plastic bag,  shoe, kid's sand toys and boggie board, food wrapper. There was a fire pit and vertical log structure at the base of the path that leads to the Inn at Sandcastle  Beach Vacasa Rental. As I continued north by the dunes, I snapped a photo of the sandstone bluff and compared it to previous photos of this same bluff. There appears to be new graffiti thanks to Nick or someone fond of them. As I finished the mile, the skimboarders had left the creek and were now enjoying the incoming tide at the foreshore.