Mile 224 Report
Beverly Beach north, Johnson Creek
November 25, 2010
A nice day for a walk, cloudy but not raining, cold, or very windy.
Report Details
A nice day for a walk, cloudy but not raining, cold, or very windy. I saw more people on the beach than I expected to. No fires, mostly just people & quite a few children, walking on or playing on the beach. Saw one live gull standing on the beach near the waterline, some gulls & a few members of another species (not sure what, was pretty far away) flying off shore. At the south end of my mile, higher energy wave action is (I think) transporting the lighter sand particles off shore, leaving/exposing the heavier pebble & cobble sized sediment, also "garnet" sands were very visible, some of the sand looked quite pink (in a red violet kind of way). See 2nd & 1st uploaded photos for higher energy beach (2nd) and example of "pink" and "purple" sands (1st). Also noted: what I believe is a continued shift in transport of drift logs. There is a creek outlet & path up to a street just a bit north (200 feet? 300?) of the Alpine Chalet access. For at least the past 4-5 years, if I wanted to ascend that path, I had to clamber over a large pile of driftlogs spread out over that part of the beach. Today I simply walked over, a much smaller number of logs lay mostly a bit further north. Because of the lack of erosionally protective drift logs, some of the "steps" or the slope leading up and to the path appeared to have been partially eroded or worn away by the fall/winter rains & possibly storm surges/very high tides as well. In an earlier trip report I noticed a decreasing number of drift logs as well as an apparent shift in placement. Today's observations seem to confirm the decrease/change in location. Will try to remember to photograph the logs next time.
Conditions
Temperature: 45 F. Cloud Cover: Cloudy. Wind Velocity: Calm/Light. Wind Direction: SW. Tide Level: -3.0 feet.
Human Activities
Number of people: 23. Number of dogs: 7. Walking or running: 27. Playing in sand: 6. Surprised at how many people there were on the beach on a Thanksgiving Day afternoon. Looked like quite a few families (people w/fairly young child. Several people had multiple dogs w/them under varying degrees of control.
Vehicles
Notable Wildlife
none
Beached Birds
Total dead birds: 2. I think one was a common murre, the other was in parts, tangled up in some seaweed, I have no idea as to species.
Dead Fish or Invertebrates
Saw only some crab shells in the the driftlines.
Driftline Content
Seaweeds and seagrass, Shells, Wood pieces. plastic bits, see uploaded photo
Man-made Modifications
nothing new noted
Natural Changes
Visible retreat of solid bluff, Landslides/major boulder falls.
Actions & Comments
The erosion observed, small slides, loss of vegetation, is ongoing. Nothing unusual for this mile.
Report Images
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