Mile 288 - Bayocean Peninsula, Kincheloe Point - December 16, 2010

Report Details

Mid-December walk on mile 288 was mostly delightful. The beach was fairly clean with debris relatively light. Debris noted included more than 8 piles of rope, a few plastic bottles, some plastic bins, and small pieces of plastic and all the debris was at the high tide line or even higher, in the foredunes. The beach itself was scoured with only small rocks on it and no noticeable new driftwood. Birds seen on the beach included seven Western Gulls, 1 Sanderling (unusual because there was a flock of several hundred on the Bay side of the Spit), 3 Western Sandpipers, and 2 Great Blue Herons, fishing in the ocean rather than on the Bay. The weather was pleasant, dry, partly sunny, and overall a relief from the previous many days of rain.

Conditions

Temperature: 49 F. Cloud Cover: Sunny. Wind Velocity: Moderate. Wind Direction: S. Tide Level: 2.6 feet.

Activities

Number of people: 1. Number of dogs: 1. Walking or running: 1.

Other Activities: Only person seen was walking his dog. No evidence of other human activity..

Vehicles

Cars/trucks parking: 5.

Notable Wildlife

On Tillamook Bay, near the parking lot, there were hundreds of Sanderlings, Western Sandpipers, and Brant. There were also numerous gulls, many Yellow-Rump Warblers, and 1 Hermit Thrush.On the beach, I found one Western Grebe sitting well above high tide line, actually on mile 287. I approached it to see if I could motivate it to move and it only hissed at me, but apparently could not move, being either sick or injured. A photo of the bird is included.

Wrackline Content

Ocean-based debris (from fishing boats, ship trash, etc.), Plastic debri (plastic, styrofoam, etc. washing in from the sea), Small rocks.

Report Images

YaakovM

CoastWatcher

All Mile 288 Reports

Date

Showing 8 of 60 reports

Mile 288

Bayocean Peninsula, Kincheloe Point

January 14, 2026

A sperm whale, approximately 15 feet in length, washed up on Bay Ocean Spit in early January and was first spotted by ORPD Ranger Simon Freeman.

Denise Harrington

Mile 288

Bayocean Peninsula, Kincheloe Point

April 23, 2025

There was no human activity observed along Mile 288 during my visit. Due to our March 9th cleanup efforts along Mile 288, there was very little debris visible (although I did not enter the nesting area to survey the wrack line. I found one unidentified dead bird during my visit.

Karen Schank

Mile 288

Bayocean Peninsula, Kincheloe Point

November 10, 2024

Mile 288 showed no signs of man-made disturbance, and no one was on-site during my monitoring. I was glad to see a flock of plovers flying in the foredune again!

KMS

Mile 288

Bayocean Peninsula, Kincheloe Point

March 14, 2024

It was an incredibly busy day for Mile 288 the day before the snowy plover nesting season began! I was glad to see DOGAMI and OPRD on-site, and appreciated OPRD's willingness to haul the debris I collected back to their dumpsters. It was also exciting to see so many plovers in the wet sand.

Karen Schank