I'm so glad to hear that others feel the same way about driving on beaches. Beach walks on the Long Beach peninsula are so disturbing, with cars whizzing by every which way, that I don't even go there anymore. One of my former favorite places to kayak camp on the Oregon coast has been ruined by beach driving. I used to love going to the spit at the mouth of Nestucca Bay, and camping in the dunes. Even in the summer, one could feel like they had the bay to themselves. Unfortunately, a visit three years ago was ruined by the beach drivers. There were tracks over every spot on the spit, every little hill had tire tracks on it and toilet paper "flowers" were scattered everywhere in the sand. It took a long time to gather and burn enough trash to clear a place to camp, and there was a nagging feeling the entire time that some crazy 4 wheeler would come crashing over the dune we were next to, and land on our tent. The most disturbing thing about all this is that there is a movement in Oregon to ban camping on the public beaches, due to the trash left by campers. Unfortunately, this would affect conscientious campers also, and wouldn't eliminate those that do the most serious damage to the beaches. In Oregon, there are places where ATV and dune buggies can go play in their own designated beach parks, and nobody would consider strolling or camping in these places. It's a shame that legislators don't get out beach walking and kayak camping and see these things for themselves. Tina >I live in an oceanfront house in WA state (USA), and I have mixed >feelings about the public policy on beaches. On the one hand, I'm very >glad that the beaches are public land. For me, a coastline - the edge >of a continent - is a sacred place, and personal ownership just doesn't >seem right to me (personal ownership of bits of earth is already a >somewhat absurd concept to me - although I can understand the utility >in some of it). > >However, there is one thing that really really REALLY bothers me about >my state's policy... Driving is allowed on the beach (ack!!!). What's >that all about? I've been told that it's because the beach is >designated a *state highway* (I've never seen anyone using the beach >for point to point travel - especially at the beach in front of my >house, as I live on a little spit of sand sticking out into the ocean - >effectively a dead end). That (state highway designation) may be why >it's allowed, but why is it designated as such in the first place??!! >This is something I've never understood. There is no real need to >drive on the beach (except for surf rescues and other possible >emergencies). > >I've written to the Governor a few times regarding this disgusting >practice, but haven't heard back from him. I've written to the DOT, >and haven't heard from them. It's a sad situation. > >Melissa ------------------------------------------------------------- ___________ / OOOOOOO- / I / -OOOOOOO- / I /___________/ / I___________I / Healthy meals on wheels; The BENTO BUGGY website http://www.pcez.com/BentoBuggy Check out The Panama Pages trip at: http://www.pcez.com/panama ------------------------------------------------------------- *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - All postings copyright the author and not to be reproduced outside PaddleWise without author's permission Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
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