Mile 204
Driftwood Beach Wayside, Buckley Creek
Lincoln County
Longitude: -124.082486082230
- Motor vehicle travel is prohibited from Yaquina Bay (44° 37.0374', Mile 215), southerly to the Lincoln County-Lane County line (44° 16.5774', Mile 190).
2023
By the time I got to Driftwood Wayside, a lot of people had already arrived for their New Years Day beach walks, some 30 vehicles in the parking lot and 30 - 40 people down on the beach, accompanied by at least half as many dogs, almost all leashed. Driftwood...read more
2022
This was probably the last dependably dry Mile 204 walk before the rains begin in earnest. The incoming tide covered most of the normally wide beach, the tides now beginning to erode the seasonal summer dunes. I walked from Driftwood Wayside to Fox Creek on the north, then south to...read more
After the morning fog lifted and before the marine layer moved in, I walked from Seal Rock on Mile 205 to Beach Access 66C on Mile 203. My wife, Trish, and our dog, Sweetie, met me, Sweetie wearing her spiked Coyote jacket because we know they're here (see my recent...read more
Driftwood Wayside is open again after PacWave's departure, but I was the only visitor on this breezy, drizzly day. I walked north to Seal Rock looking for potential Western Snowy Plover nesting habitat, but the beach is still barren from winter storms and tides. I only encountered two beach walkers,...read more
The PacWave South wave energy project hosted a BBQ today at Driftwood Wayside for staff and neighbors to celebrate the completion of construction work here and the reopening of the Wayside later this month. Taking advantage of the sunny day, a crew also worked at striping the parking lot. The...read more
The year's first beach walk in shirt sleeves, a balmy 60 degrees! With the tide a low 0.5,' the almost flat Driftwood Beach stretched far to the west. I walked my Mile 204 and continued up north on Mile 205, across Fox Creek and Collins Creek to Squaw Creek, looking...read more
Driftwood Beach Wayside remains closed for construction of OSU's PacWave South wave energy project, however the drilling rigs have now been removed from the parking area, as have the sound buffering shipping containers that lined the site. Remaining work includes the construction of an underground vault to join marine and...read more
2021
I did not see any additional erosion or water damage from the few yards I accessedread more
I walked down to Driftwood Beach about an hour after the morning's King Tide. The water hadn't run up too high on the beach, but as always there was evidence of previous strong tidal surges--a concrete block in the sand, bull kelp in Buckley Creek where it enters the beach,...read more
The continued closure of Driftwood Wayside for OSU's PacWave wave energy testing project means that today's Mile 204 walk was more like three miles, with few people on the beach despite this being a beautiful sunny day. After the recent storm, the rolling dunes that form in summer are beginning...read more
With the closure of the Driftwood Wayside parking area for construction of OSU's PacWave South wave energy testing project, hardly anyone was on the beach despite this being a beautiful summer weekend. In the Driftwood parking area (and unseen about 120 feet below the seafloor), work continues on the PacWave...read more
Construction has begun on OSU's PacWave South wave energy testing project at Driftwood Beach State Recreation Site (see my previous reports). The Driftwood parking lot is closed to vehicles, however PacWave has created a walking path through the woods to provide beach access for local residents. Shipping containers line the...read more
The Driftwood Wayside parking area is scheduled to close soon for construction of onshore infrastructure for PacWave South's long-planned wave energy testing project. Driftwood Beach will still be accessible from Quail Street to the north and from Sandpiper accesses to the south. Construction hasn't begun yet in the parking lot,...read more
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has approved PacWave South, OSU's long-planned wave energy collection project. As I reported in June of last year, the project will install and test wave energy collection devices six miles off the coast between Waldport and Newport, with seafloor transmission cables coming ashore underneath Driftwood...read more
Months of winter storms and King Tides have transformed last summer's welcoming Driftwood Beach. The smooth sand entrance onto the beach from Driftwood Wayside has been scoured out, and foredunes have been sheared off into perpendicular faces. The huge 100 year old driftwood log I photographed in October south of...read more
2020
One of the things that I surprisingly did not find, was litter. I normally pick up litter along the beach, either washed ashore or dropped by people on the beach, but there was not any observed todayread more
My first sneaker wave. My wife and I sat in the dunes watching today's heavy surf as two children, maybe 6 and 8, played too close to the water. A man, their father presumably, watched them with a phone to his face. Sometimes I've approached people and reminded them nicely...read more
The recent King Tides and storms have washed away the low sand dunes that formed over the summer seaward of the vegetated dunes south of Buckley Creek, which now flows onto the beach like a real creek. Adjacent to the creek, the driftwood log on which people had left little...read more
The woman ahead of me on the path down to the beach from the Driftwood Wayside parking lot cried out "Yes! Yes! The beach!!!" I don't know where she was from, but that's how beautiful it was today. I walked in the dunes looking at some of the driftwood for...read more
Today's weather forecast called for areas of fog with a Dense Smoke Advisory because of the wildfires, but I didn't smell any smoke, just dense fog all along the beach, with hardly anyone to be seen. Although a Saturday, there were only a few vehicles in the Driftwood Wayside parking...read more
Driftwood Wayside is open again after remaining closed beyond the COVID restriction period due to construction scheduled to begin on the PacWave South wave energy project (see my report for 6/6/2020). The work was apparently postponed, but things look to be starting now judging by the surveying equipment in the...read more
I walked Mile 204 today for CoastWatch along with Miles 203-205 looking for snowy plover nests. Three chicks have hatched this nesting season on Miles 203/205, and beach ranger Doug Sestrich roped off a new nest on the northern border of 203 this morning, but no nests have been found...read more
I've walked this mile for Plover Patrol; this is my first time for CoastWatch. The photos show the future landfall site of PacWave South, OSU's project to install and test wave energy collection devices six miles off the coast between Waldport and Newport, with seafloor transmission cables coming ashore at...read more
2018
5-18-18 mile 204 Driftwood beach wayside north to south end of Seal Rocks beach
8:30 am, 1.7 minus tide, went with 1 other person, cloudy morning, no rain, very little wind
only other people on the beach were 2 people gathering mussels, (not sure if commercial or private) and 1...read more
2016
They're Back...They are in even earlier than last year. Along with the larger Velella velella was a purple mass of tiny substance. I collected it an took it into the Hatfield Marine Science Center. Dr. Bob Cowen confirmed these are the Velella as they are changing into their polyp stage...read more
I walked from the Driftwood State Park access north to the rocks/point. I saw a dead seal on the beach. It had either been there for awhile (and dead) or had been in the water for awhile after death, as little was left of its lower jaw besides a tooth...read more
