Mile 214 - South Beach SP, South Jetty Yaquina River - January 10, 2021

Report Details

Sunshine on a weekend brought more visitors to south beach's mile 214 this past Saturday. Many groups of people walking, playing in the sand, and surfing. The tide was really low so plenty of space for people to spead out at a safe distance. It looks like some of the recent storms have really carved the beach out from the dunes forming a cliff between the two. The path from the south jetty road also had numerous hazards where the path had fallen in and signs telling people to stay off the jetty.

Conditions

Temperature: 55 F. Cloud Cover: Cloudy. Wind Velocity: Calm/Light. Wind Direction: E. Tide Level: -0.3 feet.

Human Activities

Number of people: 125. Number of dogs: 19. Walking or running: 71. Playing in sand: 10. Sitting: 21. Surfing: 13. Other Activities: biking= 5. vehicles counted at the end of the jetty road, not the state park day use lot

Vehicles

Cars/trucks parking: 21.

Driftline Content

Small rocks, Shells, Wood pieces, Marine debris (plastic, styrofoam, etc. washing in from the sea), Ocean-based debris (from fishing boats, ship trash, etc.). lots of large wood washed up along with something that may be buried in the sand.. see photographs

Natural Changes

Erosion of vegetated foredune.

Actions & Comments

Recent wave action really carved out the beach leaving a 6+ foot sand cliff near the dunes in some places.

Report Images

Beach entrance blocked from South Jetty path due to hazardous seas. Multiple sections of the path were also sectioned off as sink holes have formed from recent storms.

Looking south on South Beach mile 214 during a sunny winter day with low tides.

Four tufts of rope were sticking out of the beach and appeared to be attached to some structure under the sand.

What once was a gradual slope into the dunes is now a 6 foot cliff from the recent storms. The waves have carved out the beach up to the dunes, exposing beach grass roots.