Cape Disappointment: history, lodging, activities, food

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Graveyard of the Pacific

Cape Disappointment is on the southern tip of the Long Beach Peninsula in southern Washington. The area around the cape is known as the “Graveyard of the Pacific” for its treacherous waters, rocky cliffs and ever-changing sandbar formed by the Columbia River. North Head Lighthouse, first lighted in 1898, was the second of two lighthouses built on the cape. (Tim Hubbard / Los Angeles Times)

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North Head Lighthouse

Visitors check out the view from the North Head Lighthouse at Cape Disappointment State Park. The 65-foot-tall lighthouse was first illuminated in 1898. The original lens burned five gallons of kerosene a night and could be seen 20 miles out to sea. In 1998, a marine rotating beacon was installed. North Head was the second of two lighthouses built on Cape Disappointment. (Tim Hubbard / Los Angeles Times)

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Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center

The Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center can be seen across Dead Man’s Cove from Cape Disappointment Lighthouse. A muralized timeline chronicles Lewis and Clark’s westward journey to the Pacific Ocean. Sketches, paintings and writings help depict the trials and triumphs of their three-year odyssey. There’s a gift shop loaded with Lewis and Clark memorabilia, as well as books and posters pertaining to the uniqueness of the maritime locale. (Tim Hubbard / Los Angeles Times)

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William Clark and Corps of Discovery

This bronze marker commemorates the location of William Clark‘s campsite at Cape Disappointment. The trail at McKenzie Head offers eight interpretive panels chronicling the nearby exploration by Capt. Clark and other members of the U.S. Corps of Volunteers for Northwest Discovery. The bas-relief sculpture was commissioned by the Pacific County Friends of Lewis and Clark and done by Olympia, Wash., sculptor Gareth Curtiss. (Tim Hubbard / Los Angeles Times)

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Dead Man’s Cove

A look down at Dead Man’s Cove, which can be seen during the 1.2-mile round-trip hike to Cape Disappointment Lighthouse. The cove can be accessed through stairs from the Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center. As the story goes, the body of a shipwreck victim washed up on the shore here thus the cove’s name. (Tim Hubbard / Los Angeles Times)

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Cape Disappointment Lighthouse

This was the first of two lighthouses constructed at Cape Disappointment. Ironically, the cargo ship carrying the materials to construct the lighthouse wrecked directly below the cape in 1853. The 53-foot-tall lighthouse was first illuminated in 1856. The horizontal black stripe was added later to distinguish it from North Head Lighthouse, which became operational in 1898. (Tim Hubbard / Los Angeles Times)

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Astoria Column

This 125-foot column sits atop Coxcomb Hill in Astoria, Ore., southeast of Cape Disappointment across the Columbia River. (Tim Hubbard / Los Angeles Times)

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Astoria Column

Etchings on the column depict vignettes of the areas past. Interior stairs, which are currently being replaced, lead to an observation deck and views of the Columbia River. (Tim Hubbard / Los Angeles Times)

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Astoria-Megler Bridge

Take a spin across the 3-mile-long bridge that leads to the fur-trading enclave founded by John Jacob Astor in 1810. (Tim Hubbard / Los Angeles Times)

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Wet Dog Cafe & Astoria Brewing Co. in Astoria

Many would say this place has all the ingredients for a great dining experience: good food, enjoyable atmosphere, reasonable prices and tasty microbrewery beer. (Tim Hubbard / Los Angeles Times)

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Wet Dog Cafe & Astoria Brewing Co. in Astoria

One recommended combination is the chicken wings with a pint of Shark Spit IPA. (Tim Hubbard / Los Angeles Times)

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Rental House

Back at Cape Disappointment, the former residence of the head lighthouse keeper at North Head can be rented for $377 plus tax per night. Two adjacent houses rent for $267 plus tax per night but lack the view offered by this main house. The refurbished house accommodates six guests. Hardwood floors extend from the living room into the lovely grand dining room and library. The century-old, two-story Victorian-period house features a comfortable living room with TV and DVD player, a spacious tiled kitchen with modern appliances, and three bedrooms with two queen-size and two single beds. (Tim Hubbard / Los Angeles Times)

By Tim Hubbard

July 13, 2008 12 AM PT

Los Angeles Times Staff Writer

Discovering Cape Disappointment may have been a downer for British Capt. John Meares in 1788, but the state park on the southern tip of Washington’s Long Beach Peninsula is a great destination for history buffs traipsing through the Northwest.

THE HISTORY

* Meares gave the area its name after he failed to navigate around the cape in his search for the mouth of what is now the Columbia River. American merchant sea captain Robert Gray sailed his sloop the Columbia Rediviva into the river in 1792 and gave it its current name.

* Lewis and Clark’s westward journey led to their first sighting of the Pacific Ocean near Cape Disappointment in 1805. The two took separate exploratory trips around the cape before deciding to set up a winter camp at Fort Clatsop on the south side of the Columbia in northern Oregon.

* Dubbed the “graveyard of the Pacific,” the waters around the Long Beach Peninsula have long been a navigational nightmare for boats. Nearly 2,000 boats have been taken down by the rocks and ever-shifting sandbars near the Columbia’s entrance to the Pacific.

ACCOMMODATIONS

* Cape Disappointment State Park has 250 sites, including 14 yurts and three cabins. There are also three renovated Victorian-style rental houses available that used to house the keepers of nearby North Head Lighthouse.

WHAT TO DO

* Go hiking. There are six miles of hiking trails that offer startling coastal views and tread on some of the ground covered by Lewis and Clark. The trail to McKenzie Head takes you to William Clark’s campsite.

* Check out the two lighthouses on the cape. Cape Disappointment Lighthouse, completed in 1856, and North Head Lighthouse (1898) are reminders of the treachery that lies beneath. The first doesn’t allow visitors inside. Admission to North Head is $2.50 per person.

* Walk the three-quarter-mile trail to the Cape Disappointment Lighthouse. It takes you past Dead Man’s Cove, where the turquoise water glistens.

* Visit the Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center, which chronicles their struggles and triumphs during their three-year journey to the Pacific Ocean. Admission is $5 for adults, $2.50 for children ages 7 to 17.

* Go to the beach. It can be cold and windy but still offers up good clamming and fishing. There’s even a sand sculpture contest July 25-26 a few miles north in Long Beach.

OUTSIDE THE PARK

* The Discovery Trail, a six-mile walk from nearby Ilwaco to Long Beach, covers the same ground that members of the Corps of Discovery traversed during their fact-finding missions. Highlights include a 9-foot monolith marker that’s hard to miss; a gray whale skeleton; and Clark’s Tree, a 20-foot bronze statue that’s a nod to the tree that explorer Clark carved into.

* Travel south across the 3-mile-long Astoria-Megler Bridge into Astoria, a town equally rich in history. Set up as a fur trading enclave by John Jacob Astor in 1810, Astoria became the first permanent settlement on the Pacific Coast. Atop Coxcomb Hill sits the 125-foot Astoria Column: etchings on its exterior depict vignettes of the area’s past. Interiors stairs, which are currently being replaced, lead to an observation deck and views of the Columbia.

WHERE TO EAT

* Overlooking the Columbia, the Wet Dog Cafe & Astoria Brewing Co. in Astoria has all the ingredients for a great dining experience: good food, great atmosphere, reasonable prices and fantastic micro-brewed beer. My recommended combination is the chicken wings with a pint of Shark Spit IPA.

Sources: Long Beach Peninsula Visitors Bureau, Washington State parks, Oregon.com

Cape Disappointment: history, lodging, activities, food

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