September 19, 2023

Report Details

Patterson creek was gently flowing and easy to cross near the ocean. Started the mile by heading south and observed some foam on the beach, lots of kelp, tree branches, feathers, one dead bird, and jelly pieces. Lots of gulls and quite a few walkers enjoying this sunny morning. I turned around at Big Stump and walked north near the houses and sand bank. I could see where the tide had reached the bank. I talked with a woman who was walking up to one of the cottages and she said the water came up to the bank during yesterday's high tide. There has been a sneaker wave warning the past two days and I did observe an extremely high tide on the beach at Mile 203 yesterday. There were many crows picking at all the debris which consisted of kelp , sticks, feathers and trash. I saw about 8 bird carcasses on my walk. One was a pelican. Not sure about the others. Someone has placed 2 plastic stools on the beach providing a stair from a path that starts on 101. This is new. I inspected the area where there was a brush fire in July. Grass is starting to return to the area and I even found a Swallowtail caterpillar and eggs. As I walked north, I saw large chunks of wood periodically on the beach. I talked with two people who were cleaning up trash in the washed up debris. They said they do this almost every day as the walk north to the coffee shop near Patterson State Recreation Site. How nice!