A Lost Beach

[AlanLichty]

This small beach was one of my favorite scenes to shoot in Harris Beach State Park about 8 years ago with the delightful rocks colors contrasting with the sand and the surrounding scenery. This cove was just a few minutes walk from the park campground where I always stayed so I visited it almost daily whenever I was down there.
Sometime in late 2017 there was a storm that pretty much washed almost all of the sand out of this little cove and left behind a lot of rather unphotogenic looking dark rocks. The sand never returned at least as of when I last visited there in 2022. This is from a visit in 2016.

C&C always welcome.

 

[Graeme F]

wonderful shot Alan. I especially like the greenery clinging to the middle stack. It must look very dramatic when high tide or stormy?

 

[Jameel Hyder]

I remember this place. The forces of wind and water offer for continuously changing landscape.

 

[AlanLichty]

wonderful shot Alan. I especially like the greenery clinging to the middle stack. It must look very dramatic when high tide or stormy?

Thanks Graeme - this is low tide. High tide does a nice job of cleaning up all the footprints to leave pristine looking sand for shots like this.

 

[AlanLichty]

I remember this place. The forces of wind and water offer for continuously changing landscape.

Thanks Jameel - I have no idea how many hundreds of shots I have taken in this little cove. The water gushing in under the arch off to the right of this view is always fun to watch when the waves are up and at low tide its easy access to the beaches south of this area.

 

[JimFox]

This is really great.

Storms can sure make changes to beaches. It's too bad the sand hasn't returned, but it's great that you were able to capture this.

 

[AlanLichty]

This is really great.

Storms can sure make changes to beaches. It's too bad the sand hasn't returned, but it's great that you were able to capture this.

Thanks - I have lots of images of this little cove looking like this so it was a shock to drop down the trail and find all the sand gone. At least as of 2022 when I was last down there none of it had been redeposited.

 

[Beth]

that's a shame about the loss of the sand there. looks like a fun place to photograph. i love what you captured here.

 

[AlanLichty]

that's a shame about the loss of the sand there. looks like a fun place to photograph. i love what you captured here.

Thanks - this isn't the only Oregon coast beach that is getting scoured in the last couple of years. Not sure what the long term trend is for where it's going and whether/when the sand will rebuild. My observations are short term at best compared to the forces that shape our coastlines.

 

[Beth]

Thanks - this isn't the only Oregon coast beach that is getting scoured in the last couple of years. Not sure what the long term trend is for where it's going and whether/when the sand will rebuild. My observations are short term at best compared to the forces that shape our coastlines.

here on the east coast we dump all kinds of sand on the beach to build it back up. but we don't have cliffs on the beaches to contend with. and we're rebuilding every year or two, depending on how bad the winter storms and hurricanes get.

 

[AlanLichty]

here on the east coast we dump all kinds of sand on the beach to build it back up. but we don't have cliffs on the beaches to contend with. and we're rebuilding every year or two, depending on how bad the winter storms and hurricanes get.

That would be a little hard to do for this beach - there is a 120' cliff directly overhead and the only access is on a trail with switchbacks

 

[Beth]

That would be a little hard to do for this beach - there is a 120' cliff directly overhead and the only access is on a trail with switchbacks

our problem is the ocean deposits the dunes (and occasionally large amounts of water) on the main highway. getting a dump truck full of sand on scene is a simpler ordeal.