On the trail of Lewis & Clark...

Reconstructed Fort Clatsop

...and their Corps of Discovery.  As we reached our most northern point in Oregon, it put us dead center in the area where the Corps of Discovery wintered over 1805-06.  I've been wanting to see this place for quit some time.  I don't recall when I became interested in Lewis & Clark, but I recall remembering that I wanted to check it all out after traveling to Boeing in St Louis, MO during the mid 1990s for work and remembering that's where they departed on their trip.

Of course "where it starts" depends on who you talk to.  I've read a couple of books on the Corps of Discovery, and the tendency is to start with Meriwether Lewis being an aide to President Thomas Jefferson.  So, maybe, Monticello, VA?  No matter, they got as far as here.  And if I'm reading stuff correctly, they pretty much found a metropolis when they got here.  And, at least for me, it was fun to finally see things I've only read about.

Lewis & Clark (Netul) River

If you visit, you'll find several interpretive centers to enjoy.  We visited reconstructed Fort Clatsop and Cape Disappointment.  Drove past Station Camp (Where Clark's "Ocian in view! O, the joy." was probably written) as it's now just a nice parking lot with raised viewing stands. Nice place to camp, though.  We skipped Dismal Hitch figuring if Lewis & Clark didn't care for it, we probably wouldn't, either.

Cape Disappointment (& Lighthouse)

Today it's a shipping, fishing area with a history of coastal defense (see our Fort Lewis State Park post.)  North and south jetties were added during the later 1800s and early 1900s to try to control the sand bars at the mouth of the Columbia River to allow easier navigation for river traffic. These jetties changed the land in this area somewhat as they believe the point of land at Fort Stevens now extends

about a mile further west than when Lewis & Clark were here. We also saw an area near Cape Disappointment where a historic beach with a large rock just off in the ocean (think traditional northwest pacific beach photos with huge rocks out in the water) was now filled in as a spruce & fir woodland marshland.  Still pretty, but my photo just didn't do it justice and it would be hard to imagine what it looked like from my photo.

What's also enjoyable is that it puts other things into a little better perspective. It seems whenever we're headed back east running I-90, I'm always in the middle of people traveling to/from Bike Week at Sturgis, SD.  And this year is no different.  This time we'll stop & set a spell and make our break east during Bike Week.  

So where did we find a place to sit?  Yellowstone National Park!  Who's one of the most prominent people that explored the Yellowstone area? John Colter.  And where did John Colter get his start?  He was a member of Lewis & Clark's Corps of Discovery.  Small world isn't it!

So, glad we came.  Pretty location.   Highly recommend Fort Stevens as a campground should you come visit this area with an RV.  There's a KOA across the street if you can't get into the campground at Fort Stevens. Later, David

What they knew vs. what was out there map