INTRIGUED BY THE NAME, CAPE DISAPPOINTMENT, and assuming it couldn’t be all that disappointing, we pulled into the Washington state park with the same name and 2,000 acres located right on the beach. As with Oregon, the beaches were open to dawgs and this one even had not one, but two lighthouses, the North Head Lighthouse (shown, built in 1898) and currently active along with the Cape Disappointment Lighthouse (1856) to the south which is open to the public.
The names? Apparently the mouth of the Columbia River had eluded sailors over the years, therefore the name, Cape Disappointment. The area around the confluence of the west’s largest river meeting the world’s largest ocean, is hike-worthy but on a better day than we had. The Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center was also closed so I guess you could say Cape Disappointment was aptly named, even to this day for us.
The L&C Interpretive Center is built on the site of Fort Canby, constructed in 1863 to defend the entrance to the Columbia River from enemy warships. It was manned from the mid-19th century until the end of World War II and here you can take in what remains of the fort.
We met fellow Airstreamers, Roberta & Rick while at Cape Disappointment, who joined us for cocktails. The Pacific Northwest and all it’s natural beauty continues to amaze me and if there is one thing they excel at in the PNW, it’s the abundance of Rhododendrons, my favorite being the brilliant, multi-trunk tree version!
Camp Dawg 