Mile 43 Report
Beach south of Humbug Mountain
April 24, 2008
Accessing mile 43 requires a 10-15 minute walk down a moderate slope on an informal game trail.
Report Details
Accessing mile 43 requires a 10-15 minute walk down a moderate slope on an informal game trail. With the rapidly growing vegatation, spring is the season where the trail goes from being the easiest to follow, to being the most challenging to follow. The ocean was fairly clear, blue green in color, and there was lots of young seaweed in the water. The seaweed was not espcially floating or on the bottom, but seemed to have netural bouyancy. Some seaweed was present in the high tide driftline, along with numerous foam pellets. Are the pellets from sea or locally uncovered and being redistributed? Many recent international items were present, including a few water bottles with asian characters on the lables, which I found interesting.
Conditions
Temperature: 55 F. Cloud Cover: Sunny. Wind Velocity: Calm/Light. Wind Direction: NW. Tide Level: 5.0 feet.
Human Activities
Number of people: 1. Walking or running: 1.
Concerns
Litter
Vehicles
Cars/trucks parking: 1.
Notable Wildlife
High amount of young seaweed in the water and at the water's edge, that is free and loose. About 10 dead crabs on North end of mile
Beached Birds
Total dead birds: 2.
Driftline Content
Seaweeds and seagrass, Ocean-based debris (from fishing boats, ship trash, etc.), Marine debris (plastic, styrofoam, etc. washing in from the sea).
Natural Changes
Evidence of wave overtopping, Landslides/major boulder falls.
Actions & Comments
Foam pellets on the high tide driftline. and higher upland on the beach, as well as water bottles, continue to be a concrn to me. I am not sure if the foam pellets recently arrived from sea in the driftline, or had been locally uncovered, and redistibuted. On the North portion of the sand beach a small layer of mineral black sand was present. I might point out that the matrix coarse sand on the beach is dark grey to black ( upon close inspection greens are present), but the concentrated mineral magnitite mixes are fine grained and coal black. These are common on some area beaches, but not usual on mile 43.
Dale Lee
CoastWatcher
All Mile 43 Reports
Mile 43
Beach south of Humbug Mountain
Stepping on to be beach I was greeted by a healthy supply of summer sand, low swells and blue water with changing shades of color and contrast as the puffy clouds blew over from the northwest.
Dale Lee
Mile 43
Beach south of Humbug Mountain
Over ten feet of sand has migrated from the north end of mile 43, as remnant bits of last summer's beach can still be seen high near the vegetation line.
Dale Lee
Mile 43
Beach south of Humbug Mountain
Visiting my mile is traditionally a low tide, moderate to low swell event.
Dale Lee
Mile 43
Beach south of Humbug Mountain
Although it is about a 10 to 15 minute walk to the beach, ODOT did a major repair to the place I park and access my mile.
Dale Lee
Mile 43
Beach south of Humbug Mountain
Nice afternoon with exceptionally clean and clear air.
Dale Lee
Mile 43
Beach south of Humbug Mountain
The ocean was quite foamy from a high swell at night but had subsided to around 5 feet when I was there.
Dale Lee