Mile 287
Bayocean Peninsula north of Bayocean site 2
Tillamook County
Longitude: -123.951854668850
- Motor vehicle travel is prohibited from the north boundary of Nehalem Bay State Park (45° 42.2196', Mile 299), southerly to the south boundary of the Boy Scout property north of Sand Lake (45° 18.6444', Mile 268), except as follows: Motor vehicles essential to and engaged in boat launchings will be allowed any time during the year for a distance of 300 feet northwest from (45° 26.4036' 123° 57.2052', Mile 279), near Happy Camp.
2022
A pleasant, partly cloudy spring day. Despite the lovely weather, not many folks out. Not much wildlife activity noted either; few seabirds and gulls present, resident eagles did not make an appearance. Most notable observation was presence of seveal patches of brown algae which turned the surf and sea foam in...read more
A quiet day at the beach - just a handful of folks strolling along the shoreline, only one of whom had a dog with them. Visited at the apex of high tide and watched the tide recede; observed an extremely large number of beached moon jellies of all sizes ranging from very small...read more
2021
The highest of December's king tides coincided with a cool, calm, dry, pleasant day on Mile 287. I did not witness the dramatically high water levels I had expected with the king tide, however. While there was very little beach between the high water tideline and the foredune, the water still was...read more
Lovely early summer day on coast. Most notable wildlife observations were flocks of brown pelicans. It was nice to see how completely the sand has filled in previously eroded foredune areas. Also remarkable was absence of trash - only saw and retrieved one plastic water bottle, the fewest I've ever seen on...read more
A cool, blustery day with intermittent squalls - lovely to watch the storms move in off the water, but damp! Not many folks on the mile, and those that came did not linger. Good to see the natural sand deposition process at work, filling in the previously eroded foredune area. The...read more
A quiet afternoon on a cool, cloudy, damp winter day. Only 2 other folks were visiting and they did not stay long. The most notable observation was the extent of the erosion of the vegetated foredune and how far inland driftwood had been deposited during this winter's storms. I regret not having...read more
2020
While it was overall a lovely day, it was deeply concerning to observe recent tire tracks along this stretch of beach. This was the first time I've seen evidence of vehicles in the closure area in my 10 years of visiting regularly. Over the course of the summer, the privately-owned property adjacent to...read more
A joy to be able to return to the beach!! This was first time I was able to visit Mile 287 after Covid-19 restrictions had closed beach access in Tillamook County for almost 3 months. I was surprised by how quickly the beach approach paths had become overgrown due to the absence of visitors....read more
A quiet afternoon on mile 287; only a few folks out enjoying walks on the sand. The resident pair of bald eagles were at play, soaring above the shoreline with an additional juvenile bald eagle; the resident herd of elk were grazing peacefully behind the foredune. The only unusual sighting was the substantial number...read more
2019
Warm, sunny summer afternoon that would have almost seemed too warm if it weren't for a strong breeze; surprising that there were only a few folks visiting. Summer sand accumulations have completely filled in previously eroded sections of foredune. Not much trash on beach, only carried out one small bag of litter. Most notable observation was...read more
A beautiful Mother's Day at the coast - overcast/partly cloudy skies with light winds and a moderate temperature made for very pleasant conditions. There was one jogger whose running right along the surf line disturbed the large numbers of whimbrels that were feeding in the shallow surf; all the other folks we saw...read more
SOLVE spring beach clean-up day. While there were not many larger pieces of debris to be retrieved from the beach (amazingly only one plastic bottle), there was considerable microplastic. We retrieved as many small plastic pieces as we could without having an appropriate tool for the job, but it was distressing to...read more
This observation was most notable for the dramatic erosion that had occurred two months since I had last walked the mile. Just prior to this January visit, there had been a couple of major winter storms with high winds and seas that occurred in conjunction with king tides - and the powerful effect of the storm surf...read more
2018
A quiet day on mile 287. There was a pair of bald eagles perched in the fir trees above the middle section of the mile. Sand accumulation was as high as I've seen it in the years I've been monitoring. There was remarkably little debris in evidence on the beach; just a...read more
Despite the high level smoky haze in the sky, it was a pleasant summer day to be on the beach. There was remarkably little trash visible on mile 287, maybe because much of the usual debris had been covered by the large amounts of sand accumulating on the beach over...read more
A lovely winter day at the beach. The most notable physical changes since my last visit in December were the foredune erosion and deposition of large quantities of driftwood high on the beach, as well as on top of and behind the foredune - evidence of the size and strength...read more
2017
Lovely winter day for observing the last day of the December King Tides. Sunny, soft offshore breeze from the northeast, calm ocean. When the high tide was at its peak, waves covered the entire beach and reached the base of the foredune all along the mile, but did not overtop the foredune...read more
A lovely fall day for the SOLVE beach clean-up. We did not see any other volunteers picking up debris during our visit, but others had been on BayOcean spit recently and left stacks of full trash bags above the high tide line. As a result, we didn't find as much debris as we have in...read more
A beautiful summer day on Mile 287! There were fewer people than expected for such a nice day, possibly because it was mid-week. It was a surprise to see a large quantity (as many as 12-14 dozen) lethargic, dying Dungess Crabs in the driftline or ashore at the high tide line...read more
A misty, damp SOLVE beach clean-up day. Very few folks were visiting - other than us, there were only two other people on the beach, and we didn't see any other SOLVE volunteers. Winter storms had deposited large quantities of ocean-based debris high in the tideline, as well as in and behind the...read more
Observed fairly large amounts of ocean-based debris deposited by winter storms, winds, and high tides; also evidence of waves overtopping foredune. Given the wet winter we've had, probably not surprising to see a larger than expected number of people enjoying a dry day at the beach.read more
2016
A challenging SOLVE beach clean-up day! There weren't many volunteers on Bay Ocean spit and there was an unexpectedly large amount of detritus washed up, much of it likely Japanese tsunami debris based on the Japanese characters located on many of the items. Two of us worked for 5 hours...read more
2015
Satisfying beach clean-up day, able to collect a large amount of flotsam and jetsam and leave the middle section of the Bay Ocean spit looking natural.read more
Beautiful day. Large amount of plastic debris; notably a number of plastic children's toys including a doll house and several super hero figures. Created several large debris piles above the high tide line; I hope lots of folks participate in the upcoming SOLVE beach clean-up.read more
