We spent 9 days at Cape Disappointment State Park on the mouth of the Columbia River in Washington. The Pacific Ocean was just a hundred feet from our back window. The steady roar of the pounding surf lulled us to sleep each night. We had our own trail to the beach where we threw pieces of drift wood for our dog to fetch. This area was awesome!
Benson Beach and North Head Lighthouse…just a hundred feet out of our back door
Arleen and I each have our “jobs” each time we break camp. We feel that it’s important for both of us to be proficient at everything so occasionally we switch “jobs”. This time Arleen hitched the trailer, drove to Cape Disappointment, backed the trailer into the site, and unhitched. She was a bit nervous driving over the Astoria bridge, but she did great! That’s my girl!
We had two great bike routes to choose from. First we rode into Ilwaco to sample clam chowder at “Harbor Lights”. The chowder was thick and had good sized pieces of clam. The route was on narrow, windy, hilly, smooth asphalt with little traffic. We often had views of the Columbia River…it was a great ride. We also bought fresh halibut and salmon. The next day we went back to the Ilwaco harbor to test drive the clam chowder at “Imperial Schooner” and get fresh veggies at the Saturday Market. This chowder was thinner but had small pieces of bacon…excellent!
The second bike ride was on the “Discovery Trail” ( http://funbeach.com/local-attractions/discovery-trail/ ) from Beards Hallow to Long Beach. This trail was freakin’ fun!! It was smooth pavement that had many sharp turns, small rolling hills, and parralled the beach the entire way. We effortlessly rode 10 miles out with a 15-20mph tail wind and got a good workout on the way back. There were few people so we took the turns and hills pretty fast. We thought ice cream would be a good treat and found the perfect place: Scoopers. They had 48 flavors and all kinds of other goodies…yummy!
Clark inscribed his name and date on tree
We went out on the North Jetty to try some fishing. The targets were rock fish and surf perch. I caught a small 10 inch rock fish and only saw one other fish caught that day on the jetty. The surf was increasing ahead of a storm. I was fishing about 15 feet above the water and got drenched by spray as waves exploded against the rocks. It was nerve wracking so I moved to the calmer side of the jetty. We watched one large ship (maybe 300 feet long) try to tackle the waves. The bow would completely disappear each time the ship settled into the trough. He went about a half mile out and came back. I think he said “screw this” and turned around!
Click on the picture to see the spray that soaked me. It would be dangerous to go further on the jetty!
As expected one of the first strong Pacific storms of the season nailed us. We were pelted by winds to 50mph and sheets of rain. The huge waves pounding the cliffs mesmerized us.
Instead of weathering the storm in the trailer all day, we checked out the Cranberry museum ( http://www.cranberrymuseum.com/ ), the World Kite museum ( http://kitefestival.com/ ), and ate clam chowder at “Castaways” in Long Beach. We agreed with the local folks who voted it the best clam chowder on the peninsula. The large chunks of smoked ham and generous amount of clam made it a winner. It was so good, we went back a second time!
It’s time to harvest cranberries! Amazing kites at the museum
The kite museum, and Mary telling us to “go fly a kite”, inspired us to get a kite!
Me and Arleen flying our kite on Benson Beach in Cape Disappointment State Park, WA
On October 8 & 9, “One Sky, One World Kite Fly” takes place “across the world”. We will be on the beach at Fort Stevens State Park in Oregon and will gladly participate!
As the weather cleared and the waves decreased from “certain death” size to “marginal death” size, we gave surf perch fishing another shot. The tide was slowly coming in. The waves were getting bigger and we weren’t getting any bites, so we called it quits after just an hour or so.
It was hard to leave Cape Disappointment. Other than not having phone/internet and TV during our 9-day stay, this place was awesome! Now we just drive across the Columbia River and into Oregon to stay at Fort Stevens State Park for 9 days…That’s 18 days playing around the mouth of the mighty Columbia River! However, winter has begun in the Pacific NW. Nice weather days are getting scarce, but we’ll make the most of it!
Another glorious sunset on the Washington coast. William Clark stood at this same spot in Nov 1805.
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