Jumpoff Joe, Sandstone sea stack at Nye Beach, Newport, Oregon, United States.
Jumpoff Joe was a sandstone sea stack on the beach at Nye Beach in Newport, Oregon, rising roughly 100 feet (30 m) above the sand. The rock was made of material from the Astoria Formation and stood as a visible landmark along that stretch of coast until it disappeared.
The rock formed as part of ancient marine deposits and was gradually worn down by coastal erosion throughout the 20th century. By the 1990s, nothing remained of it above the beach.
The name comes from Joseph McLoughlin, a trapper who fell near the rock during the early settlement period. Local people passed this story down and used the name to point out the spot to visitors.
The rock no longer exists, but the stretch of Nye Beach where it once stood is still open to visitors. Walking along the shoreline there gives a sense of how strongly coastal erosion has changed the Oregon coast over time.
Decades before the whole formation disappeared, an arch that had formed through the rock collapsed in 1916 from natural weathering. This arch is almost entirely forgotten today, even though it was once a notable feature of the site.
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