Mile 214 - South Beach SP, South Jetty Yaquina River - 08/08/2025

Report Details

Absolutely beautiful day to walk a mile of the coastline in honor of the fundraising and awareness campaign, Surf & Sun Walk & Run! Very little wind and lots of warm sun made this is a busy beach morning in Newport and we saw lots of people and pets enjoying the day. A highlight of the walk was when a little guy excitedly pointed out to us the barnacles feeding in a shallow pool of water on a rock on the jetty. Another key find was a beautifully intact Lion's Mane jelly freshly washed up. It's deep red and orange colors were stellar and the key identification characteristics of white ridges/lines on the outer edge of the bell were prominent. We collected debris along the way.

Conditions

Temperature: 67 F. Cloud Cover: Sunny. Wind Velocity: Calm/Light. Tide Level: 2.5 feet.

Human Activities

Number of people: 70. Number of dogs: 15. Walking or running: 62. Tidepooling: 2. Surfing: 5. Kayaking: 1. Other Activities: 2 biking and 1 horseback riding.

Notable Wildlife

~10 seastars washed from the jetty and stranded in shallow water pockets in sand 4 gulls (2 juvenile) 3 crows

Dead Fish or Invertebrates

Lion's Mane jelly (~24" wide, full body in great condition)

Driftline Content

There were two wrack lines - the lower wrack line near water was very fine debris, mostly worm casings, crab molts, broken shell pieces, and small rocks and wood. The higher wrack line was mostly large woody debris with some dried jellies, marine debris and land-based debris.

Natural Changes

Charissa, who watches this mile often, mentioned that the dunes actually seemed very stable. She said the grasses and plants were much greener and fuller than in previous surveys and even growing at the base of the bluff without sand burial from sloughing.