Short Beach is a 1,000-meter stretch of beach on the northern

Oregon Coast The Oregon Coast is a coastal region of the U.S. state of Oregon. It is bordered by the Pacific Ocean to its west and the Oregon Coast Range to the east, and stretches approximately from the California state border in the south to the Columbia ...

in the United States. Locals guess that both the beach and the creek that runs onto it—Short Creek, several miles in length—were named after an early resident of the area. Just south of Cape Meares State Park, and a bit north of

Oceanside Oceanside may refer to: Places United States *Oceanside, California ** Oceanside Transit Center *Oceanside, New York Oceanside is a Hamlet (New York), hamlet and census-designated place (CDP) located in the southern part of the town of Hempst ...

, the beach is hidden from the land except for a brief stretch of road which crosses the dam across Short Creek. The seasonal Short Beach Other attractions are the

mussel Mussel () is the common name used for members of several families of bivalve molluscs, from saltwater and Freshwater bivalve, freshwater habitats. These groups have in common a shell whose outline is elongated and asymmetrical compared with other ...

s, which can be gathered from offshore rocks at low tides, surf fishing, and beach fires. An occasional surfer may be seen, as well as paragliders who, now that there is safe access, sometimes land on the beach. Offshore, and partly onshore, are a number of

rocks In geology, rock (or stone) is any naturally occurring solid mass or aggregate of minerals or mineraloid matter. It is categorized by the minerals included, its chemical composition, and the way in which it is formed. Rocks form the Earth's ...

belonging to the

Oregon Islands National Wildlife Refuge Oregon Islands National Wildlife Refuge is a U.S. National Wildlife Refuge off the southwestern Oregon Coast. It is one of six National Wildlife Refuges comprising the Oregon Coast National Wildlife Refuge Complex. The Oregon Islands provides ...

. In recent years, both these and the higher land around Short Beach have suffered significant erosion — collapse of rock faces and shoreward

erosion Erosion is the action of surface processes (such as Surface runoff, water flow or wind) that removes soil, Rock (geology), rock, or dissolved material from one location on the Earth's crust#Crust, Earth's crust and then sediment transport, tran ...

along the bluff of over five feet in the last decade. The sand level has been dropping steadily ever since the first dams went up on the

Columbia River The Columbia River (Upper Chinook language, Upper Chinook: ' or '; Sahaptin language, Sahaptin: ''Nch’i-Wàna'' or ''Nchi wana''; Sinixt dialect'' '') is the largest river in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. The river headwater ...

and other area rivers, and continues to drop, leading to a local joke that "Short Beach" means it is getting very short on beach.

References

Beaches of Oregon Landforms of Tillamook County, Oregon {{TillamookCountyOR-geo-stub

See also

References