July 31, 2021

Temperature: 67 F. Cloud Cover: Sunny. Wind Velocity: Calm/Light. Wind Direction: NW. Tide Level: 2.8 feet.

Number of people: 35. Number of dogs: 9. Walking or running: 27. Playing in sand: 6. Sitting: 4. Other Activities: Kayak fisherman was setting up, and put in while we were nearby, but he didn't stay long - was gone by the time we came back by where he had parked. Was maybe 30 minutes later.. One of the SUV-type trucks on the beach was stuck briefly, but was able to "walk" out of the deep sand without help, by accelerating slowly. Didn't tear things up. There was a tent on the sand at Hubbard Creek - may actually have been on Mile 47 side, but I think it was just set up to be a sun-shade for the family as there were 2 smaller kiddos playing in the sand with the Mom nearby.

Fire, Litter

Nothing unusual, other than a handful of seagulls.

Total dead birds: 3. Didn't see any leg bands, carcasses were mostly so old as to be unable to tell why they died.

Total stranded mammals: 2. There were two carcasses of dead marine mammals - one was big enough to be a sea lion, did not appear to have a head. Had been there long enough that it was "flat" and had signs of significant scavenging. The second one was small enough to just be a seal, or maybe a sea otter, but it was pretty much just a pelt that someone had laid out on a rock. See photos.

Seaweeds and seagrass, Shells, Animal casings (e.g., crab, shrimp molt), Wood pieces, Land-based debris (picnics, etc.), Marine debris (plastic, styrofoam, etc. washing in from the sea), Ocean-based debris (from fishing boats, ship trash, etc.). Debris was fairly light. Some fireworks remains closer to the Wayside, but we didn't find much of anything to pick up. Several small crab shells, sand shrimp molt - spotted one live sand shrimp that appeared to be on its last legs.

A couple driftwood structures on the beach - one appeared brand new by Battle Rock, the other 3 on the Hubbard Creek end. One of those was the remains of the surfer camp we reported on in March, the other two were new, and not nearly as elaborate as the surfer camp.

Landslides/major boulder falls. Checked on the landslide noted in previous report - does not seem to have grown (much) larger, but it does/did go back quite a ways from the beach - farther than I initially thought, though my sister (who saw and reported the slide first, in January) pointed out that I hadn't seen the depth of it during my report in March.