Mile 224 Report
Beverly Beach north, Johnson Creek
August 23, 2025
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.
Report Details
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. According to the HMSC tide table, the maximum minus tide at South Beach was -1.05 at 7:11 am. The HMSC tidetable doesn't provide an estimate of when high/low tide will occur at my mile (Otter Rock/south side) or the estimated time difference of high/low tide plus ratio for tide levels. Closest location for which it does is Kernville, quite a bit north. So I don't feel I could accurate state what the tide level was when I arrived at my mile. I can estimate that I probably arrived at the north end of my mile not long after the low tide. I can say for sure the tide was way out when I arrived. Very foggy, few people, a very enjoyable, close to solitary walk on a foggy beach. The fog started to break up at about the halfway point of my mile but there was still pretty heavy fog in towards the south end of the mile, it was less foggy off the beach, in Otter Rock, at both parking lots. My primary observation is that even more erosion, trees gradually slipping, falling down the bluff has occurred. I saw evidence of erosion along most of the mile, signs that included mats of salal hanging down from the top of the bluff-indicating the usually poorly consolidated sandstone that had underlain the salal had eroded. I saw a mound of clay/mudstone that was all that was left of a fairly large slide of that "rock" several years ago during a heavy rain/windstorm, and at least 4-5 trees that were on their way to sliding down the bluff or falling over, or that had completed the slide/fall I'd watched happen gradually over a 2-3 year period.
Conditions
Cloud Cover: Foggy.
Human Activities
Number of people: 5. Walking or running: 5. Other Activities: I saw two bicycles parked on the beach near the access stairway off of 1st street. I believe they belonged to two people I saw exploring the sand exposed by this morning's minus tide near the headland. If they later cycled along the beach, I didn't see them but it was pretty foggy for the first 1/2 or 3/4 of my mile/walking south, possibly if they were 40' away when they cycled by, I wouldn't have seen them.. I saw only people walking & very few people. A rare occurrence on this beach during the summer. I enjoyed the fog, relative solitude & listening to ocean sounds uninterrupted by yapping/barking dogs.
Concerns
Apparent violations: none observed..
Notable Wildlife
Saw only a few crows, if I see any birds on this mile, it's usually a few gulls, once I saw an osprey. What are notable invertebrates? I saw 4 jellyfish, one large (more then 12" in diameter) brownish, the rest were clear, all in the vicinity of or in last high tide's drift line. I did see evidence of a possible underground invertebrate.
Driftline Content
As noted above I saw 4 jellyfish. One cigarette filter.
New Development
Stairway owned by a set of condos/STRs was let down to the beach. I believe this stairway can be lifted up & off of the beach at the end of the season so it doesn't get battered, etc., by winter storms, etc, as many "permanent" stairways along this mile & in the Moolack Beach area have been. There's a culvert &, near Beverly Beach/south end of the mile) a drainage pipe. I could actually see the rectangular opening of the culvert on this walk, I wasn't able to the last time I walked this mile, there were too many driftlogs/driftwood piled up in the front it. There's also been slides along the two bluffs on both sides of the culvert. There's still water draining through it, through the driftlogs, gravel, across the beach & down to the ocean. I didn't see much additional erosion by the drain pipe--it sticks out fairly far beyond the edge of the bluff & in past years, it was clear that the water that drains through that pipe, onto the beach, was eroding the bluff below the pipe. This time, there appeared to be some vegetation below the pipe, and it may be stablizing the bluff below the drainpipe.
Man-made Modifications
Noted noted. All of the beach bluff along this mile appears to eroding freely.
pattern of marks on beach, it may/may not be possible to enlarge photo enough to see the small holes that the darker sand seems to emanate from.
tree on its way to sliding down or falling off the beach bluff
Report Images
Malachite
CoastWatcher
All Mile 224 Reports
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
Mile 224
Beverly Beach north, Johnson Creek
Very low tide this am, I have no idea what the exact tide level was so I didn't enter a number.
malachite
Mile 224
Beverly Beach north, Johnson Creek
Pleasant if chilly walk on the beach.
malachite
Mile 224
Beverly Beach north, Johnson Creek
Quite a dynamic winter on this mile, more erosion noted, and a moderate sized slide seen on the mile.
malachite