Mile 224 Report
Beverly Beach north, Johnson Creek
March 8, 2026
Despite the rain, it was a pretty nice day on the beach.
Report Details
Despite the rain, it was a pretty nice day on the beach. Low tide but an "active" ocean, or plenty of froth. Saw only one surfer, who was not far offshore & sitting on his/her/their board. Clean beach/did not see any litter. I wear glasses, eventually rain drops on my glasses, blurred my vision a bit. Primary observation is continuation erosion of the bluffs, w/more erosion & bare strata exposed as I walked south until about 2/3s of the mile, when the type of bluff, etc, changes & most of the shorter bluffs have retained vegetation. Saw no Velvella aka purple sails, i.e, after attending zoom talk re: Velvella (sp?) I duly looked for but did not see any. Let me add that it's impossible to enter the ACTUAL TIME I spent walking the mile & completing this form. The forms software doesn't allow me to choose 1.6 hours which is what it took. Only 1.3 or 2.1 or who knows what else. Could this please be fixed? Completing this form would be much easier & more accurate if coastwatcher could enter their own numbers, instead of being forced to choose whatever digits the form's designer decided were appropriate.
Conditions
Temperature: 49 F. Cloud Cover: Rain. Wind Velocity: Moderate. Tide Level: 1 feet.
Activities
Number of people: 3. Number of dogs: 1.
Other Activities: Saw tire tracks, probably of coast/park ranger vehicle/pickup, had made a circle of fairly deep tracks around remnants of a beach fire..
Notable Wildlife
Saw an eagle perched in a tree on the bluff above the beach about 1/3 mile from south end/boundary of the mile. Rarely see many birds on this mile.
Dead Fish or Invertebrates
Did not see any, clean beach, low tide. Major feature of the beach was presence of widespread "garnet" sands, i.e, grains of two types of garnet, probable chromite & other minerals contining iron and/or magnesium. Generally the "garnet sands" will be a thin layer on top of more standard lighter sand particles/grains.
Wrackline Content
Did not see much of a high tide line deposition. When I & a friend started walking the mile the rain was mostly a heavy mist, but as we walked south, it became rain. We were focusing more on the signs of ongoing/continued erosion of the beach bluffs/clliffs, along w/signs of small slides since the last time I walked the mile.
Man-made Modifications
Owner of property near/adjacent to Alpine Chalet property (south end of Otter Rock/near where road meets/runs into highway 101), just south of AC, owner of the property is building an addition to former small to moderate house. The addition will bring the exterior wall of the house much closer to the edge of the bluff. AC property has seen much of its bluff erode, slide, etc, it's possible the work done (digging to pour foundation walls, likely vegetation removal, may trigger some erosion of the bluff west of the expanded house.
Natural Changes
continued erosion exposing bedrock on part of the beach/mile. Signs of continued bluff erosion & again noted what appears to be a block of a bluff the south end of the mile that's dropped/slid so that it's surface now appears to be somewhat lower then the adjacent blocks or bluff. The slippage is more evidence because of the distinct layering of poorly consolidated sediment/clay stone, etc., of the bluff.
Pickup tire tracks on beach, note jumbled/tumbled (as in tumbling down) appears of the beach bluff in the background. Eroding bluff w/dead trees to the right of the bluff.
looking southeast on mile, not far from photo 1. Fallen tree & eroding bluff
A little further south on the mile, near the Alpine Chalet beach access. If one walks further south & you can see there's a white multi-person seat placed on top of the bluff. More signs of ongoing erosion & small slides or sediment shed
Looking further south & east on the mile (near Photo 3), photo of addition. Bluff continues to be mostly unvegetated, what looks like a mass of vegetation starting its slide down the bluff to the beach, drift logs and 2 tilted trees. Addition is larger then it looks in this photo.
Report Images
s hogg
CoastWatcher
All Mile 224 Reports
Mile 224
Beverly Beach north, Johnson Creek
Despite the rain, it was a pretty nice day on the beach.
s hogg
Mile 224
Beverly Beach north, Johnson Creek
I was unable to find what the high & low tide were (allegedly) in Otter Rock on 01/14/2026.
malachite
Mile 224
Beverly Beach north, Johnson Creek
While it was cloudy, it was a nice day to walk on the beach, warmish, very little wind & lots to see in the way of erosion, destabilized trees, etc.
idocrase
Mile 224
Beverly Beach north, Johnson Creek
There was a minus tide this morning, I have no idea what the exact tide level was when I descended to the beach at 7:31 am. Very foggy, few people, a very enjoyable, close to solitary walk on a foggy beach. My primary observation is that even more erosion, trees gradually slipping, falling down the bluff has occurred.
Malachite
Mile 224
Beverly Beach north, Johnson Creek
A dynamic beach observed today, notes re: features seen & photographed noted previously.
malachite
Mile 224
Beverly Beach north, Johnson Creek
Sunny & warm day, with more people & dogs then I've seen in years on the beach, probably because of the heat wave in PDX, the Willamette Valley & so much of the US. In addition to walking the mile to do a Coastwatch report, I participated in a Surfrider day after the 4th beach trash pickup.
s hogg
Mile 224
Beverly Beach north, Johnson Creek
Low tide at Yaquina Bay was listed as 12:16 pm today, the north jetty & a headland, and probably about 8-10 miles separate YB from the beach at Otter Rock where my mile is located, I don't know how much those factors change (or not) the exact tide level when I stepped onto the beach this morning OR when I left, about noon. Overall a beautiful day on the beach, on my arrival there were probably 23 people (including surfers) on the beach, that number increased to the number I entered.
S hogg