Mile 43 Report
Beach south of Humbug Mountain
June 22, 2009
Sand movement from season to season, and year to year is always a draw of interest.
Report Details
Sand movement from season to season, and year to year is always a draw of interest. Today with the am minus tide, the beach seemed especially flat and easy to walk. The grain size of the surface sand has sorted finer and is much firmer than most times of the year. Summer beach vs winter beach is easy to notice, but recently in the past few years I have noticed also the sand tends to move south in the winter and back in the summer. The recent south swell through the first three weeks of June seemed to cancel some of the typical n/ a movement, and sorting.A couple botany notes for the record: during the past decade the community of Hawk's Primrose has steadily increased on the northeast portion of my mile. Futher uphill larger numbers of Brodia coronaria var. macropoda are currently in bloom.(I'm told Brodia has been changed to Triteleia if anyone cares) the group are native onion like plants that I find mostly on very dry ground. This one on my mile is very locally abundant but I have not run across it elsewhere.
Human Activities
Number of people: 1. Walking or running: 1. Photography: 1. Tidepooling: 1. Fishing: 1.
Concerns
Litter
Vehicles
Cars/trucks parking: 1.
Notable Wildlife
Gulls, group of diving sea birds, cliff swallows, ravens and 2 raptors
Beached Birds
Total dead birds: 2. Enganglement: 1. Gulls
Dead Fish or Invertebrates
Unusual concentration. Dungeness crab backs from summer molting. 100's in drift line
Driftline Content
Seaweeds and seagrass, Shells. Over 10 bleach bottles
Report Images
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