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 The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

; obviously it is not named for its length. 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, the beach is hidden from the land except for a brief stretch of road which crosses the dam across Short Creek. The seasonal

shingle beach A shingle beach (also referred to as rocky beach or pebble beach) is a beach which is armoured with pebbles or small- to medium-sized cobbles (as opposed to fine sand). Typically, the stone composition may grade from characteristic sizes ranging ...

is noted for the availability of

agate Agate () is a common rock formation, consisting of chalcedony and quartz as its primary components, with a wide variety of colors. Agates are primarily formed within volcanic and metamorphic rocks. The ornamental use of agate was common in Ancie ...

s, (the beach is sometimes erroneously called "Agate Beach") and

jasper Jasper, an aggregate of microgranular quartz and/or cryptocrystalline chalcedony and other mineral phases,Kostov, R. I. 2010. Review on the mineralogical systematics of jasper and related rocks. – Archaeometry Workshop, 7, 3, 209-213PDF/ref> ...

, sometimes called "coastal jade" or "beach jade". Agates and jasper become more available after heavy winter or spring storms, which often cause landslides or rockfalls, bringing fresh parent rock to the beach, where the upper slope is a rock berm. These rock collapses eventually become the smooth, rounded rock familiar on beaches by the pounding surf that brought them down. 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 wi ...

. 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 water flow or wind) that removes soil, rock, or dissolved material from one location on the Earth's crust, and then transports it to another location where it is deposited. Erosion is distin ...

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: ' or '; Sahaptin: ''Nch’i-Wàna'' or ''Nchi wana''; Sinixt dialect'' '') is the largest river in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. The river rises in the Rocky Mountains of British Columbia, C ...

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 Oregon Oregon Swimming venues in Oregon Tourist attractions in Oregon Oregon Oregon () is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundar ...

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

See also

References