Science Surprises Beneath a Few Oregon Coast Hotspots

Published 8/15/24 at 3:47 a.m.
By Andre' GW Hagestedt, Oregon Coast Beach Connection

(Oregon Coast) – Forget the pirate movies or such references around here. There's more interesting treasures beneath your feet as you walk on the sands of Oregon's shoreline. Some of it is millions and millions of years old – and it will likely surprise you. Your favorite destinations have a whole new side you didn't know about. (Above: whole sand dollars in Seaside / Oregon Coast Beach Connection)

Cannon Beach's Surprising Geology. One major hotspot on the Oregon coast is the slightly more grownup-oriented Cannon Beach. There are numerous weird facts about how the place was made by geologic forces, including the strange story of famed Haystack Rock. Another funky fact discovery can be found by a beach hike to an amazing hidden spot hiding in plain sight.

One of the most famous viewpoints on the coast is Silver Point, just south of town. Below it is where the real wonders lie, however. You can get there by hitting one of the last accesses at the south end of town and walking almost half a mile.

First, there's the enormous grooves carved into the cliffs, which tumble down on occasion, making for all that rock debris there. Millions of years ago all this was under water, say geologists. Those grooves come from currents ripping across it like an underwater waterfall. See geologic origins of Silver Point

The real shocker arrives at Silver Point only on rare occasions: every few years, when sand levels get extremely low, you may get to see the bedrock that Cannon Beach is on.

Photo Jessica Jones / CoastWatch

According to local geologist Tom Horning, this dark gray material is mudstone, part of a massive formation beneath many beaches from Newport up through Astoria, called the Astoria Formation. It's about 18 million years old, a tad older than the sturdier basalt of Haystack Rock (which was formed by lava). See Oregon Coast Storms Reveal What's Beneath Cannon Beach at Silver Point

Both origin stories are wild wonders. See the links above. Hotels in Cannon Beach - Where to eat - Cannon Beach Maps and Virtual Tours

Rocky Point area near Gold Beach, photo CoastWatch

Gold Beach Really Does Have Gold. Notice those black or really dark sands in the Gold Beach area of the south coast? That's a hint at what's in there.

The place was actually named for the gold sometimes found in these beaches, but they are tiny flecks of gold that take some long, back-breaking work to find. There's a whole small industry based around equipment for that kind of DIY enterprise, and some people know how to actually eek out a small profit.

Geologists believe the stuff has washed down from mountains in southern Oregon, even reaching some parts around Bandon and just south of Coos Bay. Oregon Coast Hotels in this area - South Coast Hotels - Oregon Coast Vacation Rentals - Where to eat - Maps - Southern Coast Maps - Virtual Tours

Rockaway Beach's Bizarre Beach Secrets. As you're walking along parts of Rockaway Beach, either at the Oceans Edge Wayside (the main access with the caboose) or a couple blocks down, you're walking on some curious history.

Two blocks down, beneath those sands, sits the wreck of the Emily G. Reed, which crashed in the area about 100 years ago. Half of it drifted here, and its skeletal remains were first raided for treasure and then sat exposed for another fifty years or so. Then it mostly disappeared beneath the sands, not to return until a brief period in the 1970s.

Another nearly 40 years went by and it finally popped up again, and just about everyone had forgotten it was down there when it showed up in the winter of 2010. Sand levels reached record lows during that winter. Secret Oregon Coast Shipwreck Shows Up after 35-Year Absence

At the main wayside, there are on occasion just small hints of a natatorium that was once a big attraction in Rockaway Beach. Every once in awhile, you can see a small, circular wood structure, comprised of what look like little pilings jutting up from the sand. Secrets Beneath Sands of Rockaway Beach

This was part of a barrier kind of structure back before the '40s, one that kept the creek from destroying the natatorium. These natatoriums – a heated salt water pool -,were all the rage about 100 years ago. Hotels in Rockaway Beach - Where to eat - Rockaway Beach Maps and Virtual Tours

Seaside and Whole Sand Dollars. This isn't the only spot where this happens: there's maybe one or two on the south coast and reports sometimes come in of Nehalem Spit having quite a few. Yet Seaside is the only one that's really confirmed. One part of it (and Gearhart) is chock full of whole sand dollars at times, more than you'll find anywhere else.

By far and away one of the biggest hotspots along the coast is Seaside, which is why it seems absurd to to say there is a little bit of a hidden spot. But there is: right up at the very northern edge of town, just after 12th Ave at the Necanicum River.

It's not guaranteed to happen every day, but low tides after a period of stormier waves increase your chances of discovery. It happens for two reasons. One: there are fewer people here to pick them clean when they show up. And two: there's something in the water here that makes more of them.

It's a simple matter of the food chain, said Seaside Aquarium’s Tiffany Boothe.

“Most of the nitrates and phosphates are delivered via the Columbia River, but some also come down the Necanicum and other smaller coastal rivers,” Boothe said. “This is why there is such good razor clamming on almost all of Clatsop County beaches.” Why This N. Oregon Coast Spot Has So Many Sand Dollars, Brown Waves, Clams

This also means that the very southern part of Gearhart contains them as well. It all happens right about the Necanicum.

And yes, the area from Seaside up to Warrenton is king for razor clams. While that's closed every year from July to the end of September (for conservation purposes), you can't go wrong for clams here. Hotels in Seaside - Where to eat - Seaside Maps and Virtual Tours

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