August 8, 2008

Temperature: 60 F. Cloud Cover: Foggy. Wind Velocity: Calm/Light. Wind Direction: N. Tide Level: 7.3 feet.

Number of people: 60. Number of dogs: 5. Walking or running: 40. Playing in surf: 5. Sitting: 10. Surfing: 6. Other Activities: boogie boarding. No motorized vehicles w/out permit on this mile. Saw none.

Climbing bluffs/seastacks

None. A few seagulls flying, one vulture soaring over the cliff climbers.

Total dead birds: 1. Unable to identify, probable gull

some dead mole crabs, some crab parts.

Marine debris (plastic, styrofoam, etc. washing in from the sea), Small rocks, Wood pieces.

Looked as though surfboards are being stored on the wood platform that was built on top of an old slide (not far south of the access stairs). According to the state parks people I've spoken to, that slide is private property & not part of the beach (even though it's on top of the beach). There's also a no trespassing sign placed on a post next to the platform. Most of the people were concentrated at the south end of my mile--part of the beach access for Beverly Beach state park (I saw a no vacancy sign for the campground as I drove to the beach access in Otter Rock). I saw approximately 12-15 people on the northern 2/3s of my mile. There seemed to be at least 40 people (50?) on the beach at that end: adults, kids, a few dogs. All the dogs were on leashes or under good control (can't say the same for some of the humans). A bit north of the BB state park access (1/4 mile? probably less) a small group of people had a portable music player & were playing canned "music" loudly. Guess the sound of the surf doesn't work for them, I wonder why they come to the beach in the first place--they might just as well stay at home, turn up the AC & crank up the music there (& annoy their neighbors there instead of people who come to the beach to enjoy the surf's "music."). In addition to about 3-4 people climbing the unstable/eroding bluffs near the south end of the mile, there was someone "rockclimbing" the sandstone outcrop near the beach access stairs. Looked as though he might be stranded when the tide came in completely. I didn't walk all the way to the end of my mile but about 5/6s of the way, too many people at the south end. Considering how many people were on the beach, it looked pretty clean. Near the Alpine Chalet access, someone had built a driftwood shelter, & several people had built a fire in front of the shelter & looked as though they planned to be there for some time (chairs, etc.). I couldn't tell if they were just there for the afternoon/evening or camping. Occasionally people will camp in the driftwood shelters for several days. While the shelter & fire were not built in the area of driftlogs in that part of the beach, there were plenty of driftwood adjacent to the fire.Very few birds in the area but I rarely see many birds on this beach, although I've seen what I believe are whimbrels almost every day on the beach between Lucky Gap Access (Agate Beach) & Jump off Joe. It amazes me that they continue to stay in those areas, as so many of the people walking along the beach cannot be bothered to give the birds (who have been very obviously trying to feed when I've been there) any space/room but instead will try to walk right through them or into them. So the birds spend lots of time flying to different stretches of the beach. Pretty unaware behavior.