June 22, 2023

Report Details

Beautiful sunny Thursday morning - perfect for walking Mile 200. As I entered the beach from the Patterson Creek State Park parking lot, a man was in the process of standing up a very tall log and digging around it to secure it in the sand. It was a very low tide ( -0.3 feet ) this morning which made Patterson Creek easy to cross. A duck was feeding in the creek. I starting walking south close to the ocean in between the pools of water and tried to scan as much of the beach as I could. The low tide debris included crab parts, mole crab bodies, logs, sticks, seaweed and feathers. Lots of people were enjoying the beach this morning - runners, bicyclists, walkers, kids and dogs. I turned around at Big Stump and walked north by the houses and dunes. The sand is starting to build up against the vegetation and dunes as expected during the summer. I passed a few beach fire remains, saw a turkey vulture inspecting a sea palm and discovered a rosa rugosa bush and dune tansy near the sandstone cliffs. A cute little white-crowned sparrow was singing on a bush near the cliffs.  There is new graffiti  (A + T 23)  beside the large piece of crumbling rock from the bluff that I noticed last walk.  The dune where the path to 101 is (SW Sea Way Loop) is still too steep to climb from the beach. A new path is forming crossing the top of the dunes heading south where the dune is lower. As usual, I found trash near the houses and dunes including a cigarette pack, plastic bag, dog poop bag and sunglasses left on a log.