May 31, 2019

Temperature: 59 F. Cloud Cover: Partly Cloudy. Wind Velocity: Calm/Light. Tide Level: 2.2 feet.

Number of people: 8. Number of dogs: 1. Walking or running: 6. Sitting: 2. For once, I saw no destructive human activities, usually dog owners allowing, even encouraging, their dogs to harass shorebirds. The OHV on the beach was a state vehicle, probably a beach ranger--seemed to be driving pretty fast, 30 mph or so.

5-7 whimbrels, I thought they'd left this part of the central coast (part referred to is from the north jetty of Yaquina Bay to Otter Rock) already. Otherwise, saw only seagulls & one soaring vulture.

Seaweeds and seagrass, Shells, Animal casings (e.g., crab, shrimp molt), Wood pieces, Land-based debris (picnics, etc.).

A private beach access had put their stairs down to the beach, iirc, whoever owns/uses that access has a temporary set of steps that are pulled up at the end of the summer/early fall, extended down to the beach some time in the spring.

Newly exposed roots/trees falling, Visible retreat of solid bluff. Same old, same old. Erosion continues, perhaps a bit more occurred this past winter/spring on a few of the bluffs (where the Alpine condos are, and the large bluff exposure just north of the beach access for Beverly Beach state park. There is no action to take.

Very pleasant walk on the beach, air temperature cool & pleasant, a light breeze. Very few people, most of those present were near the base of the long stairway coming down the street across from the restroom/parking area. I counted the vehicles in the two parking lots (the other lot is for the tidepool area), but not the vehicles parked along the streets & near the viewpoint for the Devil's Punchbowl. Only issue was two small piles of softened corn chips left on the sand not far from the stairway, my dog scented them, found them, started to eat them before I got there to stop her. No reason to leave unwanted food on the beach, unless someone wants to attract rats/raccoons, etc. Trash cans by the parking lot across the street from the stairway. Otherwise, the beach looked pretty clean to me. I was a little surprised to see no surfers, the water was relatively calm, that might've been the reason, the tide seemed to have just turned when I arrived. I was on the beach from 5pm to 5:30-5:40pm. I did not walk the entire mile, but 2/3rds -3/4s of it, visually inspected the remainder. There were probably 10-15 people on the beach just south of my mile, the Beverly Beach state park beach access is just south of the southern boundary of mile 224. Drift log distribution was north & a bit south of Alpine Chalet access, although the overall number seemed less then in some years past. There were also some around the culvert that channels Johnson Creek under 101. Sometimes the state bulldozes all drift logs, etc., that have washed through the culvert or been deposited by winter tides/storm surges, that may not have happened this spring. Again, the mass of logs, etc., seemed less then I've observed in the past. I have no idea what the actual air temperature was when I arrived and when I left the beach/ascended an access path to return to street level. I don't know what the actual tide level was, according to my tide table, on May 31, 2019, low tide in South Beach, OR was at 4:53, 2.1. I estimated the tide level at a location 10 or so miles north of South Beach.