Once-treacherous Cape Disappointment seems a misnomer to today’s visitors
CAPE DISAPPOINTMENT STATE PARK, Wash. — The breeze sings, the sea glistens and treachery lies all around.
I peek beyond a thicket of brush at what was long ago dubbed the “Graveyard of the Pacific,” a stretch of ocean that has struck fear into the hearts of many sailors. I’m muttering my own prayers on this solo, late-morning hike that has my back to a seaside cliff and my gaze focused on the underbrush — just . . . over . . . there — where there’s a loud thrashing made by something not human.
Over the years, nearly 2,000 boats have gurgled to saltwater oblivion and 700 sailors have met their Maker near the mouth of the Columbia River. Washington’s Cape Disappointment State Park, the spot where I now sweat, lies at the bottom of Long Beach Peninsula, extending from its southern end into the maw of the river.
The ever-shifting, fan-shaped sandbar played havoc with vessels trying to navigate in a pre-GPS world. Even the first attempt to build Cape Disappointment Lighthouse in 1853 ended in disaster when the ship carrying the building materials foundered directly below the cape.
Eventually two lighthouses — Cape Disappointment and North Head — were constructed two miles apart to help those at sea.
North Head Lighthouse is just around the corner from me. I edge along the cliff, wondering: What is that thing in the brush? Could it be a bear, a coyote, a weasel? All are inhabitants of this cape, whose deep-green beauty stuns me despite my predicament. The 1,882-acre park has plentiful camping, with 250 sites that include yurts and vacation-home rentals, plus six miles of hiking trails rich in history. If I had stayed on one of them, I wouldn’t be in this fix.
The cape was named by British Capt. John Meares in 1788 after his failure to find the mouth of what is now the Columbia River.
Visitors can walk in the footsteps of Lewis and Clark, who caught their first glimpse of the Pacific Ocean on Nov. 15, 1805.
The two took separate exploratory trips around the cape before deciding to set up a winter camp at Fort Clatsop on the south side of the Columbia in northern Oregon. William Clark carved his name in the trees. I’m not nearly as intrepid.
Steering clear of my mystery nemesis, I pull myself through the chest-high vegetation, holding onto the rusty poles of a broken-down fence. I get to the top. All is quiet. I exhale. Then I run. I’ll live to hike another day.
If you go
Accommodations Cape Disappointment State Park has 250 sites, including 14
yurts and three cabins. There are also three renovated Victorian- style rental houses available that used to house the keepers of nearby North Head Lighthouse.
What to do
• Go hiking. There are six miles of hiking trails that offer startling coastal views and tread on some of the ground covered by Lewis and Clark.
• Check out the two lighthouses on the cape. Cape Disappointment Lighthouse, completed in 1856, and North Head Lighthouse (1898) are reminders of the treachery that lies beneath. The first doesn’t allow visitors inside. Admission to North Head is $2.50 per person.
• Walk the three-quarter-mile trail to the Cape Disappointment Lighthouse. It takes you past Dead Man’s Cove, where the turquoise water glistens.
• Visit the Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center, which chronicles their struggles and triumphs during their three-year journey to the Pacific Ocean. Admission is $5 for adults, $2.50 for children ages 7 to 17.
• Go to the beach. It can be cold and windy but still offers up good clamming and fishing.
Outside the park
• The Discovery Trail, a six-mile walk from nearby Ilwaco to Long Beach, covers the same ground that members of the Corps of Discovery traversed during their fact-finding missions.
• Travel south across the 3- mile-long Astoria-Megler Bridge into Astoria, a town equally rich in history. Set up as a fur trading enclave by John Jacob Astor in 1810, Astoria became the first permanent settlement on the Pacific Coast.
Atop Coxcomb Hill sits the 125-foot Astoria Column: etchings on its exterior depict vignettes of the area’s past. Interior stairs, which are currently being replaced, lead to an observation deck and views of the Columbia River.
Where to eat
• Overlooking the Columbia, the Wet Dog Cafe & Astoria Brewing Co. in Astoria has good food, great atmosphere, reasonable prices and fantastic micro-brewed beers. Try a pint of Shark Spit IPA.
