We left Cape Lookout and continued north up the coast, across the Columbia River to Cape Disappointment in Washington. In 1788, Captain John Meares was unsuccessful negotiating the river bar in search of the Columbia River and named the nearby headland Cape Disappointment. In 1792, Captain Robert Gray successfully crossed the bar and the Colombia River was named for his boat, the Columbia Rediviva. In 1805 Lewis and Clark and the Corps of Discovery arrived at the base of Cape Disappointment, completing their journey across the country to the Pacific. In 1856, The Cape Disappointment Lighthouse was constructed to warn of the river bar, known as the “graveyard of the Pacific”; it is the oldest functioning lighthouse on the West Coast. In 1862, Cape Disappointment was armed with cannons to protect the mouth of the Columbia during the Civil War, which became Fort Canby, and continued to be improved until the end of World War II.
It was overcast during our stay, but we were not disappointed. We camped next to Wakiki Beach and enjoyed the peace and quiet of this park. We had breakfast in Astoria, walked around town visiting some antique and thrift shops and then went to the Astoria Column for a view of the Columbia River and the surrounding mountains.
