Cape Disappointment … camping!

September 21, 2020

And now for my next camping adventure back in 2020 (yep, we’re still back in 2020). On this great camping trip, I went to Cape Disappointment, on the Pacific coast in Washington State, and camped in the State Park campground there.

Cape Disappointment is situated right where the mighty Columbia River empties into the huge Pacific Ocean. Cape Disappointment juts out into that river (on the northern shore of the river), and Cape Disappointment juts out into the Pacific Ocean there as well. It’s the last corner of land that the Columbia River flows past as it flows into the Pacific Ocean.

“Cape Disappointment” is a funny name for a place that is so amazing in so many ways and is so beautiful. My trip here was not disappointing! But evidently, when British fur trader John Meares sailed past this area in 1788, he thought the water inland of the cape was simply a bay, and not the huge river that he had heard of and was trying to find, so he named the cape “Cape Disappointment”. Little did he know that he had indeed sailed right past the mouth of the mighty Columbia River. A Spanish ship explored the area and discovered the mouth of the Columbia River in 1775. It was that report from that Spanish ship in 1775 that John Meares was using to try to find the Columbia River in 1788. The over-land explorers Lewis & Clark didn’t arrive here until 1805.

So, this is where I went camping …

The wavy blue line is the Columbia River; we’ll talk more about the Columbia later. From the YELLOW marker (Home), my truck and trailer and I (and Little Towhee too) followed the RED line on the map above. We drove west, out Highway 12 from Olympia to Montesano towards the Pacific Ocean. We then turned left (south) and followed pleasant two lane roads through gorgeous country, past small farms, through dark green forests, lovely small towns, across dozens of bridges that spanned streams and small rivers, drove around the edge of very large and wonderful Willapa Bay, and eventually arrived at the small town of Ilwaco (pronounced “ill-wah-co”) at the mouth of the Columbia River. Cape Disappointment State Park was another minute’s drive west of Ilwaco. This state park sits immediately adjacent to the Pacific Ocean beach. In fact, the state park may include the beach, I’m not sure, but the campground is right next to the beach.

Here’s a video below that shows just a bit of my drive west from Olympia to Montesano on Highway 12. Just cruising along, easy as pie. Some day I’ll remember to pan up to the center rear view mirror inside the truck and show you that Towhee the Trailer really is behind me. She was right behind me on this trip for sure.

The music in the video is a portion of one of my favorite driving tunes … “One Dime Blues” by Etta Baker.

The entire three or four hour drive was just as comfortable and calm as that. 🙂

After turning left at Montesano, I was then on country two lane roads heading south. I stopped in the small town of South Bend to eat my lunch. I found a parking area right on the Willapa River (that feeds Willapa Bay). The parking area also had a boat launch ramp so I was nicely entertained by folks launching their boats for a day on the water. It was a gorgeous and relaxing drive.

Eventually I reached Ilwaco, then headed further west on a very narrow two lane road (mostly with no shoulders) towards the state park.

The water along the bottom edge of the photo above is the Columbia River (running from the right … to the left … to the ocean), including Baker Bay. Of course, the river is so wide here (north to south … the river is four miles wide here), that the photo above shows just a tiny portion of it. The RED star is the Cape Disappointment campground … that’s how close I was this week to the Pacific Ocean (on the left) and the Columbia River (on the bottom of the photo).

There is so much human history here, so much geology, so much bird and fish and mammal history, so much shipping history here. The coast along northern Oregon then up along Washington’s coast and then up along Canada’s Vancouver Island … this area is known as the graveyard of the Pacific, with reason! The mouth of the Columbia River and its “bar” have contributed more than their fair share of foul weather and ship sinkings. The Columbia River is oft referred to as the mighty Columbia River; the second most common adjective used is “treacherous” … the treacherous Columbia River bar. There is so much to learn and to tell that it would take a lifetime. I’ll share a little bit more with you soon. 🙂

For now, for today, just know that I had a marvelous drive, easily found my campsite in the state park, and backed Towhee the Trailer into her spot lickity split. Happy to be “home”!

 

I had a great spot, almost completely private, but for a family right next to me who were tent camping (outside the photo above, to the right). They were really nice people. We respected each other’s physical space and noise space, and we had fun chatting together too.

Two friends of mine who also own an Escape trailer had already arrived and were all set up in their spot. I set up my remote solar panel (no elec plug-in here), leveled the trailer, unhitched the trailer from the truck, and tidied up inside the trailer.

With still a bit of light left in the late afternoon, my friends and I couldn’t resist heading out to the beach for a quick look at the Pacific Ocean. The walk from our campsites (their campsite was right behind mine) was only about 100 feet.

 

The ocean was so close that we could hear it at night inside our trailers.

I’ll share more photos of the ocean and the beach. More info and some photos of the Columbia River will be forthcoming too. And, as usual, I found other intriguing things to see and do in the area … stay tuned!