We woke at the infamous Columbia River Bar, where so many ships have perished over the last couple of hundred years. Though dredged and controlled, the river bar is still formidable. Our Captain brought us just to the edge of the area where open ocean waves roll into the river. Turning, we travelled upstream, but oceanic life was still around us. We saw brown pelicans, Heermann’s gulls, a few sea lions and even a couple of humpback whales! This area, though much diminished, is still productive enough to attract many piscivorous creatures.
We docked in Astoria and were soon bussing to Fort Clatsop. What a wet place! No wonder Lewis and Clark hated it here! Actually, conditions for us were pretty nice as we saw the reconstruction of the fort and a bit of rain forest. Then we headed for the Columbia River Maritime Museum. This museum is a great one. The boating history of this area is deep, varied and interesting, and museum guides shared much of it with us.
In the afternoon we crossed to the Washington side. The Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center has a comprehensive display about the explorers’ whole journey. Even better is the view from the museum. We look out into the open Pacific, with the Cape Disappointment Lighthouse flashing nearby. Some of us walked an undulating trail past squirrels and Sitka spruce, and others rode to a low area of fort Canby State Park. There we took a quick walk out to a sandy beach. We’ll try to keep this sandy oceanic experience when we get to the sandy shores of Hell’s Canyon, in the near-desert of Idaho!
