Mile 155

Oregon Dunes NRA, Tahkenitch Creek
Douglas County

Latitude: 43.796490327606
Longitude: -124.171555929180
Google Map: Nearby Roads, Directions to/from, Google photos, Satellite image, Terrain overlay
Vehicles:
  • Motor vehicle travel is allowed from approximately one mile south of the mouth of Tahkenitch Creek (43° 47.4330', Mile 155) to the Umpqua River, (43° 40.3404', Mile 146).
  • Motor vehicle travel is prohibited from the Lane County-Douglas County line (43° 51.8604', Mile 160), southerly to approximately one mile south of the mouth of Tahkenitch Creek (43° 47.4330', Mile 155).
Weather: Current weather conditions at nearby stations
Tides: NOAA Tide Predictions. Click on the station nearest to your location to see predicted tides in graphical and tabular formats.
Oregon Dunes NRA, Tahkenitch Creek
Mile 155 Reports (18)

2018

October 13, 2018 - ploverlover
July 1, 2018 - ploverlover

I first adopted this mile in 1995. I left Oregon and discontinued my watch in 2007.  I've returned to Oregon and have just re-adopted this very same mile.

I hiked in on the Tahkenitch Creek trail.  The first thing I noticed is the extensive roping off for the plover along the...read more

2017

September 25, 2017 - marcus

2016

October 12, 2016 - marcus

Overcast following morning fog. Wind 10-15mph from the south.read more

  • Maybe Raccoon tracks
  • Likely Otter prints
October 11, 2016 - marcus

Warm, sunny day with the wind from the NE at 10-15 mph. 3 foot waves with average tide. Many long coils of Bull kelp littered the beach below the high tide line.read more
October 10, 2016 - marcus

An overcast day with light wild (10mph) from NW. Many more birds at mouth of creek. 2 flights of Brown Pelicans (5 & 7 birds).
4 seals were swimming in the surf 20 feet from the surfline. They appeared to be trolling parallel to the beach in about 10ft of...read more
October 9, 2016 - marcus

Clear, sunny day with 20 mph wind from southwest and 3 foot waves. Few seabirds were observed on the beach but 1 common egret was observed fishing in the estuary as well as 1 immature sandhill crane (extended neck & legs while flying, sandhill crane call, dark plumage). 2 dead...read more

2015

October 5, 2015 - marcus
Takenitch creek and its associated estuary contained much lower water flow than in previous years with the outlet to the ocean approximately 10 feet wide and 1 foot deep (see pix).read more
  • The ATV tracks show a motorized incursion north of the US Forest Service motorized exclusion sign seen left of center west of the beach grass on the sand near the south horizon.
  • This photo shows the low water condition of the Takenitch estuary just west of the sand cliffs and north of the creek's bend into the ocean outlet.
  • Here the reduced flow of the Takenitch creek can be seen with approximately 1 foot of stream flow and 10 - 20 feet width. The current was moderately strong towards the ocean
  • This photo shows the congregation of various gulls in Takenitch creek 50 feet east of ocean outlet. The number of sea birds was observed to be less than previous years and restricted to gulls only (no oelicans).
  • View of Takenitch creek ocean outlet from the north looking south. The sparse sea bird population can be readily seen.
  • The placid 3 foot breakers can be seen in this photo taken 200 feet north of the Takenitch ocean outlet.
October 4, 2015 - marcus
Arrived to find a clear sunny beach with extensive winter erosion of the Takenitch west estuary. Takenitch creek was the lowest that I have observed with minimal (10' wide x 1' deep) outflow to the ocean. Fewer than normal sea birds were congregated at the mouth of the creek.read more
  • Takenitch creek was very low with only about 1 foot of water flowing into the ocean.

2014

October 15, 2014 - marcus
In previous years, I have observed many more sanderlings than this visit, which maybe just a sampling issue. As mentioned, I did observe two dead or dying Franklin's gulls. One had been dead for at least 24 hours and the other was acting very strangely by sitting in the surf...read more
  • Photo taken after storm surge abated.
  • This photo shows the condition of the flat sandy beach near where Snowy plover nest looking towards the wet sand and surf.

2012

July 15, 2012 - mbbsmile
The beach was deep and looked to be lower tide than the numbers indicate. Sunny beautiful day with more people on the beach than I've seen before. Also very clean, no litter or debris. The group of birds is still a mystery. We hiked in via the Threemile Lake route...read more

2011

August 15, 2011 - mbbsmile
Tahkenitch Creek is a new mile this year for me and I seem to always miss the lowest of tides, but this time there was soooo much beach. I crossed the creek easily, waded in a large pool about the size of an acre of water and found a vertebrae...read more
  • several of these bouquets of kelp were scattered along the beach.
March 14, 2011 - mbbsmile
Walking through the woods I saw a few Trillium. The dune you cross to the beach looks unchanged but this is my second time walking this area. I was the only one on the south side of Tahkenitch Creek. It looked like the person on the north side of Tahkenich...read more
January 9, 2011 - mbbsmile
First time walking this mile. Lovely day, mild rain briefly. Parked at the Tahkenitch camp grounds and took the creek trail to the beach then followed the ThreeMile Lake trail back.The beach was littered with large scrubs. The edge of the dune before it drops to the beach had lots...read more

2008

October 11, 2008 - naturalworld@frontier.com
Led hike out Tahkenitch Dunes trail to beach then south along S end of mile 154 and all of mile 155 with 15 people for South Coast Striders hiking group. Short earred owl was a treat to see along with carcass of Dosidicus gigas (Humboldt Squid). We hiked out on...read more
  • Very large squid growing up to 2 meters long and 45kg weight. Go to http://www.kqed.org/quest/television/view/774 to view good video about this animal.
  • The mouth of Tahkenitch Creek has moved south to a pt very near the N end of Mile 155.
  • I think these are what is left of the squid's tentacles. You can see remains of suckers and hooks.
  • Lots of remains of small shrimp (krill?)along with Sand crab - Emeritus analogia. The surf zone had a nice dark brown upwelling color.

2007

September 21, 2007 - ploverlover
I wasn't able to access my mile because the Tahkenitch Creek trail ,at its mouth, had been eroded back at least 200 yards. ODNRA says trail will be repaired in 3 months. We had 10 plover nests and 2 fledglings this year.read more
January 6, 2007 - ploverlover
Since September when I last observed, the trailhead has eroded away. Shore Pines that have recently been eroded were evident in the heavy surf. I would estimate about twenty-five yards to fifty yards of the trail are gone.The ocean had two feet deep foam drifts which looked like snow drifts.read more

2006

September 13, 2006 - ploverlover
Beach was clean and quiet no problems of any kind that I could see.read more