Mile 224 Report
Beverly Beach north, Johnson Creek
April 3, 2023
Pleasant if chilly walk on the beach.
Report Details
Pleasant if chilly walk on the beach. I walked shortly before, during and after low tide, which was fairly low today. Started out sunny enough for sunglasses, when I left the sky was clouded over and a big gray cloud over head had decided to start dropping raind drops. Didn't feel particularly breezy walking south, seemed like there was a stiff breeze on my way back, going north and w/lack of sun, temp seemed noticeably lower. Sharp decrease in people on beach & vehicles in parking lot by the time of my return to the parking lot, my vehicle was 1 of 4 vehicles in the parking lot I used, there were 6 vehicles in the other parking lot, maybe 4? vehicles parked near the Devil's Punchbowl over look. Saw some rocks exposed near the water line I don't remember seeing before. Most looked like the rock ridges I see exposed on the beach to the north of Yaquina Head, suspect it's the same rock type but there wasn't enough rock exposed to be sure. Only birds seen were 3 gulls, not unusual on this mile. Nice to have so much beach to walk on.
Conditions
Cloud Cover: Partly Cloudy. Wind Velocity: Moderate. Wind Direction: N.
Human Activities
Number of people: 24. Number of dogs: 3. Walking or running: 20. Sitting: 1. Surfing: 2. Other Activities: 2 children, running, etc., while tossing a foot ball around.. When I arrived at the beach I estimated the number of people & dogs I listed. By the time I left the beach, at approximately 5:35pm, there were 3 people, no dogs on the beach & I saw no surfers.
Concerns
Vehicles
Driftline Content
Small rocks, Wood pieces. I didn't see any kelp, I did see a fair amount of what looked like sea grass. A few moderate sized pieces of wood. Overall, a meager driftline although plenty of plastic bits & I saw a few quite small pieces of styrofoam.
Natural Changes
Landslides/major boulder falls, Visible retreat of solid bluff. Slides are small. Photographed a small section w/moderate sized rocks that appeared ot have tumbled down the bluff probably at least a week ago, I suspect soil, etc., came down w/the rocks but smaller & lower weight debris was washed away by the high tides and perhaps what rain we've had lately. Also observed that nicely (and colorfully) stratified beach bluff had alot of sediment cones and other indications that the bluff has eroded. The bases of the debris cones rest on ledges or rock that erodes slower then some of the other strata & so sticks out enough to form a bit of a ledge for sediment shedding from a strata above it to come to rest on. I haven't observed that before that I remember but will check some old photos. The slide I observed on my last visit had been eroded by high tides & rain, it looked to me as if the dominant "rock" /sediment of the slide is a clayey mudstone, which would dissolve into the ocean wavfes relatively easy compared to say, basalt or other of the better consolidated, harder rocks seen on local beaches. More trees in the proces of very slowly losing their hold on the exposed beach bluffs & slowly either sliding or tipping over, but still clinging to the bluff.
Actions & Comments
No action to take.
All Mile 224 Reports
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
Mile 224
Beverly Beach north, Johnson Creek
Nice day for a walk on the beach, clean beach, saw 6 cyclists (one solo, I think the rest were more or less together), first time I've seen cyclists on this beach, have seen them off & on from the south jetty north to Lucky Gap access.
malachite
Mile 224
Beverly Beach north, Johnson Creek
Pretty day on the beach, I was on the beach when the tide was going out, my South Beach tide table indicates the low tide in SB was at 9:43 am & 1.
malachite