Cape Disappointment

Another gray, foggy day. We're dressing better for this cool, damp, windy weather so we are not put off too much by the 61°temps. We were very lazy this morning so didn't start exploring this peninsula until after 11 AM. We drove on the beach as far north as we could and then on the road to a state park and wildlife refuge on the point where we took a mile walk along the inlet and forest.

We stopped a couple of times on the drive back to the south end of the peninsula and had a nice picnic lunch before going to Cape Disappointment State Park. This is where Lewis and Clark first saw the Pacific Ocean and were disappointed that there were no ships at the mouth of the Columbia River. It took Lewis and Clark 10 days to travel the last 16 miles of their journey due to extreme storms.

This area is known for its very, very bad weather. They can experience 100 mph winds during the winter and lots of foggy weather the rest of the year. Most of this is due to the cold Pacific waters and winds coming into contact with the warm inland winds. Cape Disappointment is also known as a ships graveyard. Because the river was so wide, the water at its mouth moved slowly and sand bars built up. In the 1800's, the ships could not see the sand and would get stuck on the river bar on its way into the river or they might get over the river bar at a high or flood tide and not be able to get back out. And then there are the horrible winter storms. During one week in January 1853, four ships hit the sand bar and sank. Today there are two long jetties that narrow the river mouth so that the water flow is faster and washes the sand out making it better for ships but it is still a very treacherous crossing. We learned that container ships coming into the river must use a Bar Captain to maneuver it thru the jetties and then a River Captain must pilot the ship up the river.

It became obvious early on that light houses were needed. There are two located on this headland. We only saw one since the weather continued to get wetter and the fog dropped down to completely obscure the view of the second one.

At the end of the day, John got out his newest toy and played with it on the beach.