YOU CAN NEVER HAVE TOO MANY LIGHTHOUSES

June 9, 2013

Today we crossed the Astoria-Megler Bridge (the 4.1 mile long bridge is very impressive) over the Columbia River to explore the area known as Cape Disappointment State Park in Washington State.   There are two lighthouses in the park as well as the Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center.  This lighthouse known as North Head still has a functioning light operated by the Coast Guard, but the lighthouse now belongs to the State of Washington Park Service.  This lighthouse has stood at the entrance of the Columbia River since 1898.  The lighthouse stands on a point 190 feet above the entrance of the Columbia River.  The area is known as the graveyard of the Pacific due to the multitude of shipwrecks in the area.    

Steve at the North Head Lighthouse

This is the other lighthouse on Cape Disappointment.    This was actually the first lighthouse built on the point, but mariners trying to enter the river's mouth from the ocean from the north could not clearly see this lighthouse and so another lighthouse was built.  Both lighthouses are operational to this day.  This lighthouse also has a Coast Guard observation and weather monitoring station just behind the lighthouse.  The point on which this lighthouse is built is known as the second windiest location in the U.S.  (The information I read didn't say where the windiest place was.)   But today was a gorgeous day and we enjoyed the hike required to get to this lighthouse.

Cape Disappointment Lighthouse

Lewis and Clark's trek to find the northwest passage ended in this area in 1805.  It began in the
St. Louis area and took 18 months.  Tomorrow we will go to the Lewis and Clark National Park.  The park has recreated Fort Clatsop, which is the fort Lewis and Clark built to spend the winter of 1805-1806 here before heading back to report their findings to Thomas Jefferson who commissioned their exploration of the northwest passage.

Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center