September 24, 2011

Report Details

Very warm day at the beach, not much wind. While it was sunny, there were mare's tail clouds and a fog bank offshore. There was some ground fog further south and it was foggy this morning north of Yaquina Head (south of mile 224) that didn't dissipate (until around 4pm) until 11 am or so. Felt humid. Many people on the beach for this beach, and parked along the lookout & near the Otter Rock, Mo's. All the spots along the road were occupied. Not everyone wants to go down (and back up) the 90+ steps, generally they just walk in the area near the lookout or to the north side of the park. Many surfers, not all of them in the water, there were probably over 30 people w/boards & wetsuits on, but some were resting. All but one of the dogs appeared to be well under control, even if off lead. The 5th dog was let off lead & ran wildly all over the beach and into the ocean. Eventually the owner caught up with it & while not putting it on lead, did keep the dog closer to her. The driftlogs continue to seem to shift location slowly to the north. There were again only a few driftlogs at the Alpine Chalet access, very few near the stream flowing (except it wasn't really flowing today, more like a slow moving puddle) just to the north of AC, so the bulk of the drift logs were to the north of the stream outlet, stretching north for perhaps 100'. There were signs of at least 3 fires near the stream outlet, one at the base of the bluff & right next to bluff vegetation, horsetails, etc. The Coast Guard helicopter flew by in the general vicinity (you can hear it coming some time before you see it) as I turned back to walk north to my access point/Devil's Punchbowl park). However, the helicopter flew to the EAST of the beach, either over the highway or to the east of the highway. The further south it went along my mile the further east it flew. So, instead of flying OVER (or at least near) the beach on a very warm day when many people were surfing or south of my mile, wading and playing in the ocean, they flew further & further away from the beach and over land. There did not appear to be any interest in keeping an eye on all the people in the water. That happens fairly often, maybe it's because the CG's been part of DHS for a number of years.