Tripometer – 7795
Gas Gauge – 590.306 gal
Location – Fort Stevens State Park, Hammond, OR
Lodging – $32
Cans of OFF – 4
In the afternoon, Stratis, Regina, and the two of us took the bridge from Astoria to WA state to visit Lewis and Clark National Park on Cape Disappointment. The bridge is a fairly amazing structure. It sits right at the mouth of the Columbia river so it has to permit the largest of ships to pass beneath it. What makes this bridge remarkable is not the height but rather road leading up to its highest point. The road approaches from the side, curving up to the ultimate height of the bridge surface. The Chesapeake Bay Bridge is a very high bridge that most of us have been across, but the approach to the Bay Bridge is straight on and doesn’t give a good perspective of the size of the bridge. When approaching the Astoria bridge around this curve the pit of your stomach has all the time in the world to realize exactly how tall, precarious, and insignificant the bridge construction is.
Shortly after crossing the bridge into Washington we had to stop briefly to watch a coastguard helicopter doing search and rescue drills far out in the Columbia River. The helicopter was hovering just above the water putting and taking divers from the water. Really fascinating.
Cape Disappointment is in Washington State on the opposite point of land across the Columbia River from Fort Stevens State Park where we are camped. We’ve been following Lewis and Clark from historical marker to National Park all the way across the United States. Just a guess, but we think we’ve been to at least a dozen Lewis and Clark related destinations in the last two months. We decided not to pay the $5 fee to read another series of museum boards about their famous journey. Apparently Lewis and Clark wintered here over 1805-1806 before their return journey (back) east.
Fort Stevens State Park is named for a WWII era fort located on the peninsula extending into the mouth of the Columbia. It was part of a network of three forts to defend the mouth of the Columbia, not unlike Fort Howard and Fort Smallwood on the Patapsco River guarding the entrance to Baltimore. We ended up touring the Fort Harvey on Cape Disappointment with Stratis and Regina and then taking a hike to the lighthouse on the point of the peninsula. On the way we passed Deadman’s Cove, an oft photographed location. The light was awful when we were there so we opted for an overhead picture. For an amazing shot google “Deadman’s Cove, WA” and look at some professional photographer’s images!
We parked near the truck above fairly early in the day. We’ve seen train horns put on trucks in the past as a high school-like prank. Neither of us have ever seen a ship’s horn on a truck. What can’t be seen very well in the picture are the air lines running into the bed of the truck which was filled with the engine, compressor and tank required to power this big of a horn. This was a full-on commitment to loud on this person’s part. They weren’t going to be able to use the truck for much else with all of this equipment on board.
We ended the day swimming Ranger in his first salt water. We decided to slowly work him up to full ocean surf. He started his ocean swimming journey in the salty water on the east side of the peninsula in the Columbia River. He handled the waves and salt quite well and we’ll be moving him up to full surf tomorrow! On the way back from swimming we saw an entire heard of elk relaxing by the river side. That’s an amazing sight.
Special Note: One button showers. Several of the campgrounds and RV Parks we’ve been in have had one button showers – Push the button, get water, no control over the temperature, you get what you get. We are both really longing for our own shower where you can actually burn yourself if you turn the knob too far. Apparently our water heater at home is set to a dangerous range because we’ve not had a truly hot shower since we left home.