August 19, 2023

Temperature: 55 F. Cloud Cover: Partly Cloudy. Wind Velocity: Moderate. Wind Direction: NW. Tide Level: 1.3 feet.

Number of people: 8. Number of dogs: 1. Walking or running: 7. Tidepooling: 1. Fishing: 1. The fisherman had dug a hole and posted a fairly large piece of driftwood for an unknown purpose. Maybe to hold his rod, though I didn't see him actually do this. Other than that, I saw nothing odd.

Pelicans were fishing in the swells just beyond the (calm) breakers. Oystercatchers were running in the surf line and sitting on rocks, as were seagulls.

Total dead birds: 2. One common Muir, one seagull. Unknown cause of death. Been there a while. No leg bands.

Shells, Animal casings (e.g., crab, shrimp molt), Wood pieces, Land-based debris (picnics, etc.). Beach was mostly free of trash. One nook up by the cliff had three bags (2 paper and 1 reusable cloth) full of trash and other picnic supplies, like a stack of red solo cups. They'd been there a while. Too much to carry, especially because the paper bags were damp enough not to hold up to carrying. (We did not bring any garbage bags, so could not port it out.)

Stream modification. Someone has piled up the river stones at the point below the wayside, where the stream exits the cliff side to cross the beach sand. It looks like a significant amount of work, in order to divert the stream into a channel, in which they placed a long sluice box as if to try to sift for gold. Setup looks both complex and rinky-dink, in that there were several grates in the bottom held down by rocks, as well as what looked like a spring-form bundt cake pan, in pieces, sitting in the sluice box. There was a broken electronic device of some kind (saw wires, but didn't recognize what it was - about the size of a VHS tape.) Also a pair of eyeglasses, right next to a dead Muir. Curiouser and Curiouser. There was also a length of clear hose, similar to what you might see in a fish tank, maybe. Not attached to anything. I speculated that it might be for rinsing things off with creek water, but it was about 4' long, which seems a lot for that purpose.

Maybe a sign of slight rock-fall near the site of the big landslide we reported a couple years ago, but for the most part the beach looked the same. Did see a patch of dead and dying pine trees that might have beetles, or their roots could just be damaged, as they were growing right on the edge of the sand. I took a picture, but I may not be able to post it--wasn't able to on the other report I just filed. Hubbard Creek's exit was pretty far to the south this time. Sand slope was moderately steep, but I've seen it steeper/higher.

CoastWatch programs manager contacted the local beach ranger with a link to the photos in this report.