Mile 224 Report
Beverly Beach north, Johnson Creek
October 6, 2022
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.
Report Details
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. Continued erosion, perhaps increased by the almost normal rainfall of last winter/spring.
Conditions
Cloud Cover: Foggy. Wind Velocity: Calm/Light. Wind Direction: N.
Human Activities
Number of people: 35. Number of dogs: 7. Walking or running: 14. Surfing: 14. Other Activities: 6 people cycling on beach, some on fat tired bicycles, one rider on what looked like a hybrid (wider tires then a 10 speed), 1 person lying down. Several children, one playing in the sand. This stupid report form refused to let me put a "1" into the "playing in the sand" box, so I have removed it, so I can submit this report. I tried several times, deleting the 1, retyping it, & every time the webform highlights the box in red and won't let me submit the report. Be nice if someone could fix that.. 2 of the cyclists had an out of control dog. All dogs were off lead, but other then the cyclists' dog, other dogs seemed under control (not chasing birds/other wildlife, staying w/their people). In the southern 1/3 of the mile, closer to Beverly Beach state park, it looked like the driftwood scattered along the base of the bluffs had become a playground/wood legoland for (I suspect) mostly people staying at BB state park. Lots of wood structures, some charred drift wood, lots of footprints, etc., above the summer high tide line. I did see some vehicle tracks, but believe they were made by the coast ranger, they were old tracks, near the drift logs above the reach of all but the highest of the summer high tides.
Concerns
Disturbances: Shorebirds moving in response to humans/dogs
Vehicles
Beached Birds
Total dead birds: 1. Looked like a black comorant. Had the webbed feet, but had no head, had been in driftline for awhile.
Driftline Content
Seaweeds and seagrass, Shells, Animal casings (e.g., crab, shrimp molt). Very few plastic pieces, mostly sea grass, sea whips.
New Development
Drainage pipes. drainage pipe just north of BB state park now has graffiti on it & continues to rust & deteriorate, the water that drips from it in the winter/spring continues to accelerate erosion on the lower part of the beach bluff the water hits.
Natural Changes
Landslides/major boulder falls, Newly exposed roots/trees falling, Visible retreat of solid bluff. There were half cones of sediment shed by or eroded from the bluffs, looked like they were 3'6" to 4' high, at the base of the bluffs. There's a culvert under 101 in the southern 1/2 or 1/3 of mile 224 that's been gradually falling apart. Took more photos today, looked there'd been a small soil slide on the southside of the culvert, another small slide or landmass movement on the north side. Fairly large pile of drift logs extending like a delta from the mouth of the culvert towards the ocean (but terminating pretty far away from the day's low tide line). The culvert is place in an "indentation" or slot in the bluff line, to the north, the bluff surface perpendicular to the culvert showed two slides of islands of salal, almost to beach level. It's been about 13 months since I walked this mile, there's been very noticeable erosion, small slides, trees finally losing hold on their position at the top of a bluff, etc., since September 2021. Some of it due to the almost normal rainfall we had last winter & spring, but some seems to have happened as a result of wind & gravity. There's no action I can take. Some years ago, I tried to alert ODOT to the deterioration of the culvert--which goes underneath highway 101, w/no success. Remainder of the erosion is mostly natural processes, except some of it might be accelerated by humans creating paths from unofficial parking areas and treading them all summer and perhaps more of the year.
Actions & Comments
No action to take, erosion appears natural. Some of it might be accelerated by humans creating paths down from unofficial parking areas. I arrived on the beach at 3:55 pm, left the beach at 4:55pm. I estimated a maximum of 39 people on the beach while I was walking on the beach, but it might've been only 34-35. People tend to move around. For part of my walk, the fog was partly offshore, along other sections of the beach, the entire beach area was foggy. Walking south there seemed to be minimal breeze/air movement, when I walked back (north) there was a breeze coming from the north. No idea of the actual temperature, I had a light jacket on, became pretty warm as I walked. Live birds seen: two crows, 5-7 gulls flying (disturbed by cyclists). Low tide was around 4-4:30pm (estimate based on tide table showing tides at Yaquina Bay/HMSC). It was a good day for a walk on the beach.
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