Mile 262
Cape Kiwanda State Park
Tillamook County
Longitude: -123.974519764100
Motor vehicle travel is prohibited from the base of the headland north of Cape Kiwanda (45° 13.3248', Mile 262), southerly to a point north of the beach ramp near Cape Kiwanda (45° 12.9684', Mile 261), except as follows:
(A) From the base of the headland south of Cape Kiwanda (45° 13.0950', Mile 261), southerly approximately 400 feet to (45° 13.0632', Mile 261), motor vehicles essential to and engaged in boat launchings, boat recoveries, transferring equipment or supplies onto boats, unloading equipment or catches from boats, or emergency repairs of other vehicles or boats will be allowed at any time during the year;
(B) From (45° 13.0632', Mile 261), southerly approximately 700 feet to a line located north of and parallel to the beach ramp near Cape Kiwanda, the point of intersection of said line and the line of vegetation being at (45° 12.9684', Mile 261), operation or parking of motor vehicles used for towing boat trailers or essential to boat launchings will be allowed.- Motor vehicle travel is allowed at any time from the mouth of Sand Lake (45° 16.6920', Mile 266) southerly to the base of the headland north of Cape Kiwanda (45° 13.3248', Mile 262), except as follows: From the mouth of Sand Lake (45° 16.6920', Mile 266), southerly to the approximate north boundary of Cape Kiwanda State Park property (45° 14.7900', Mile 263), motor vehicle travel is prohibited May 1 through September 30 and from sunrise to sunset on legal holidays (as defined in ORS Chapter 187) and on Saturdays and Sundays between October 1 and April 30.
2022
Mostly I took photos for the CoastWatch Fall Challenge project on iNaturalistread more
About 30 people and six dogs. read more
Lots of people. Great warm weather. Water was warm too.read more
Actually a really quiet calm warm day.read more
nice day, lots of people and their dogs enjoying the beachread more
Finally, the park has put up a no vehicles beyond this point sign that will last and not get buried in sand. It is at the north end of the dune.read more
lovely day with people enjoying the sunshine, no problems to reportread more
A beautiful day during spring break week brought many families to this beach with no crowding because of the very wide beach at a minus tideread more
2021
strange bright liquid oozing out of bluff bank (photo attached), trail down bluff well used and causing erosion (photo attached)
3 of the 16 people hunting for nurdles, toxic plastic pellets, as part of a world wide catalog in October of the extent of nurdle pollutionread more
lovely morning on the beach with people enjoying themselves. Very low tide allowing access to normally water-surrounded cliff-side rocks. More cars and people were arriving for the afternoon when I left. A training tepee had been set up in the McPhillips Park access parking lot, by the time I got...read more
Beautiful sunny day with few people enjoying the weather and the beach. Most significant change was the natural sinking of the north side of the big dune creating access to vehicles (judging by the tracks). No signs prohibiting such activity.read more
2020
A foggy day with few people. Vehicle tracks on beach show that vehicles had been there the day before, where they are no longer allowed. One pickup was on the beach today. McPhillips Park access is blocked off so they must have come from Tierra del Mar direction. Perhaps people...read more
The north bluff face of Cape Kiwanda is a sheer cliff now, much eroded from my last trip. There was evidence of many campfires in front of the vegetated dune all the way along my mile. Some, unfortunately, had been buried in sand by folks not realizing that just keeps...read more
beautiful day with people keeping the prescribed distance apart on this Covid-19 sequester day. The vegetated cliff is now a sheer cut off with many small streams running out onto the beach. Two Black Oystercatchers were foraging on a shellfish covered rock offshore that was uncovered at this low tide.read more
2019
Most everyone enjoying the beach in a responsible manner. All cars but one in allowed area. Always seems to be one group that thinks the rules are not for them.read more
very wide beach at low tide with people widely separated enjoying themselves in various waysread more
Sunny windless morning with few people on the beach. Tracks of ORV up dune and down from earlier... some tracks on lower beach had been wiped out by earlier wave action. Dune shows sign of waves eating away still more of the bank, probably from earlier king tides. A Peregrine...read more
2018
The ocean continues to move inland, undercutting the bank. "Dune stabilization" efforts don't seem to be working, mostly because of natural erosion apparently. Vehicle tracks show lots of vehicles have been driving on beach in allowable areas. Sand and rocks have filled in between Cape Kiwanda and offshore rocks where...read more
Most people were on the south side of the dune, not in my mile. Two hang gliders and 3 vehicles with helpers/onlookers with them on north side. A few people walking the beach, two with dogs. A couple kids playing in the waves. Very wide beach on this minus tide...read more
About 20 people, all but 2 from cars parked below the dune, walking on beach and climbing the north side of the dune, with 2 dogs. Jillions of little sand crabs in the low tide zone burrowing in the sand and gathering in little pools. I have never seen the...read more
Very clean, flat beach abruptly ends at vegetated hillside. North side of dune gently sloped enough for 1/3rd of the way up for vehicles to have gone up that far, judging from the tracks in the sand. Lots of little rocks on beach at north end. Lots of big rocks...read more
2017
At high tide, there was no beach in sections. The other photo is taken on my way back of that same stretch of beach but looking north instead of south. On the way, I had to scramble up the bank to avoid the waves. You can see from the second...read more
A beautiful, sunny, windless day just after high tide. More dead birds in the driftline than I have seen here before. All the signs are gone that had indicated the vehicle-prohibited areas, presumably because the dune (north side) where the signs had been has been cut back farther than ever...read more
Large amounts of algae noted.read more
A foggy, windless day on very wide beach with abrupt cliff edge; lots of illegal fireworks this day after the 4th of July and lots of picnic junk including clothing! Most people were driving around in vehicles; one surf-fishing; 3 walking/running. PEFA plucking gull kill.read more
Clean beach and very wide this time. No signs left saying where vehicles prohibited but no one was trying to drive up the dune. Two hang gliders sailing. Nice day and people enjoying the beach, most with their dogs.read more
Warm windless day. Picked up one sack of trash. Lots of driftwood, lots more bank and dune erosion. No vehicle tracks in prohibited area, even though sign down.read more
2016
more debris than we could pick up including refrigerator casing. We hauled off ropes and plastic big pieces. Most junk I've ever seen there. Large eroded hollowed out (eroded) area at north end of dune. New signs telling people to not go beyond... dangerous area. And new no camping signs,...read more
https://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/albums/72157673244006880 Many more photos of the beauty and ongoing destruction of this natural area.read more
Amazing change to the beach and dune. Tons of sand gone from the edge of the dune... it's now a cliff. Cape bluff more collapsed with lots of rocks at shoreline. Sand gone from beach leaving exposed lava flows.
More photos here: http://mycoastwatch.blogspot.com/2016/07/july-7-2016-mile-262.htmlread more
sand has been washed off the beach uncovering lots of rocks. Dune no longer descends gently to beach... high steep cliff instead. My camera quit after the first few photos.read more
Lots of erosion of bank and dune from recent high tides and storms. Many photos here: http://mycoastwatch.blogspot.com/2016/02/february-9-2016-mile-262.htmlread more
2015
Most dramatic was the debris (logs, etc.) blocking the access road so there were no vehicles on the beach. Next was the obvious (by foam and flattened vegetation and erosion) overtopping of waves on the vegetated foredune, plus the dune remodeling. Photos here: http://mycoastwatch.blogspot.com/2015/12/dec-25-mile-262.htmlread more
Always lots of vehicle traffic here... less today because of extremely high tide (King Tide). Vehicles routinely park on the beach beyond the signs saying no parking beyond this point but this is the first time I've seen car tracks up the dune itself. I did not recognize the mass...read more
