I was brutally awakened at 1:30am by floodlights shining into my van. Oh uh, and I was in such deep sleep it took a while to figure out what was going on. Sadie barked, and I heard a man's voice identify himself as a police officer. It turns out that off-road parking area was a private residential parking area. Cannon Beach forbids "sleeping in cars" within its city limits.
"I know there are no signs indicating no overnight camping" said the understanding cop,"so I won't give you a ticket." (yikes!) "I just sent another vehicle over to a gravel area a mile away..."
I know I must have looked wonderful with tosseled hair and droopy eyes so early in the morning, and I tried to follow his instructions as to where this parking lot was. I saw a van parked off the road with the lights and side door open, and I opted to just get back on US101 and head into the next town, Seaside. Parking near the other van would have looked suspicious, and I wanted to give the other people their space. I never got to see much else of Cannon Beach. Seaside actually has signs indicating where RV parking is. I pulled over in the RV area, along a river, and slept soundly for several more hours.
I never had any other trouble with law enforcement for the rest of my trip.
As luck would have it, I parked near the salt works that the Lewis and Clark team had developed when they were in this area the winter of 1805. The salt they made here was used for meat preservation, for that winter and for their return back to St Louis. It's the first thing I saw as the sun came up, and Sadie and I had a quick walk to the nearby water's edge where Sadie did her business. The ocean looked very calm here, with nothing to see across that vast body of water.
Without directional signs I never would have looked for the salt works in a tight residential area such as Seaside, so this was a nice surprise to see. The remaining salt works is located between two homes a few hundred feet from the ocean. It's very small, gated off, but one can see the old fire hut where salt was processed. This shows how much the area has been developed since the early 1800s.
Seaside was not on my itinerary but it looked like a big town with all the amenities. Tall hotels lined the ocean, coffee and beer joints jotted the area. Few people were on the streets. I had a quick breakfast at McD's, again sharing my Sausage Egg McMuffins with Sadie. I was now approaching the old Lewis and Clark area and getting excited. The Lewis and Clark history of the Columbia River was one of the big reasons I did this road trip.
Fort Clatsop was not far from Seaside. The area here was mostly flat and urban; lots of strip malls and businesses along US101. When I took the Fort Clatsop exit to the Lewis and Clark National Historical Park, I learned that the park didn't even open until 9am. It was 8:20am so I decided to walk the "Fort to Sea" trail to the overview and back, making for a nice four-mile walk. Sadie stayed on-leash for this one.
The area here is no longer much of its old self. The trees look young (not old growth) and there are many clearings. Many trees were downed from recent storms, too. Lush foliage towered over anyone walking through the park. This is a fairly new trail developed in 2007 that I don't remember reading about in my old L&C guide book to historical sites. It's a wide trail that goes on for six miles to the sea in a forested area.
While not very scenic thanks to the overgrowth, the many flowers were interesting. It reminded me of flora I have seen in Olympia National Park. We were the only ones on the trail and didn't meet a soul until we got to the overview, where I met an older man, Bill, who started this hike from the ocean side earlier that morning. We had a nice chat.
Bill is a retired park service ranger from southern California who moved to Oregon 30 years ago. He had been a frequent visitor to Oregon and liked the area, so he settled here. His son is in the movie business and has appeared in Free Willie2, Kindergarten Cops and a few other big hits. Bill is a birder and carried his binoculars around his neck. He asked to take a photo of Sadie and me. Sadie patiently waited for us to return on our trip and was at her best behavior around Bill. He gave me updates of this trail. The western access to this trail is easy to get to, but is a small trail head off the main highway. He hikes this trail quite a bit as there is little else in the immediate area that isn't too over-developed.
We returned the way we came. We got back to the Visitor's Center by 9:40am. I found a great shaded spot away from the building for Sadie to rest in peace. The Visitor's Center was now crowded! I didn't expect so many people here on a Sunday who were interested in the Lewis and Clark trail! Shouldn't they all be in church?! I spent some time here, read the maps (and realized how far away the salt works were and was feeling lucky I stumbled into that location). I toured the replica fort, watched a demonstration of an old musket getting fired, and looked around at the replica gear the Lewis and Clark team wore. The fort was rebuilt in 2005, and the small structure today would barely be considered large enough for a family of four.
"Make sure you visit Cape Disappointment!" said the ranger. And I took her advice. I bought a long-sleeved shirt at the gift shop, my only sourvenir from this trip outside of the standard pint glasses I buy from decent brewpubs. We also stopped at an old kayak launching area near the Netul River (the word is from the local natives), which is still in pristine condition along this marshy area. I could see the bridge into Washington state from here.
Now I was reeved up. After over 2200 miles I had made it to Fort Clatsop! The area did not disappoint, but what I wanted to see now was Cape Disappointment and feel the cold wind come off the ocean, see the brutal waves crash against the shore. The landing here for the Corps of Discovery was a miserable stay for the crew, so they moved down to Fort Clatsop where the winds were calmer and there were things to hunt.
The bridge into Washington was free-going northbound, but traffic going southbound back into Oregon was stalled. Did I have that to look forward to on my return drive? I didn't let that visual bother me and drove across the Columbia River, driving around the small marine town of Ilwaco, which had fishermen selling their fresh-caught harvest of tuna, salmon and sturgeon. Buyers were walking back to their cars holding big fish in their hands. I missed the small road to Cape Disappointment and landed in the busy tourist-coast town of Long Beach before I turned around and found the right road.
There was much activity at the lighthouses, where people seem to gather for short walks and picture taking. The lighthouses here are under the Washingtong State Park management, which meant I had to pay $10 to view as many state parks as I could for the day pass. This was money well-spent,as one can look out toward the ocean from the lighthouse and imagine how life must have been like for the first white settlers here.
Again, Sadie showed no excitement to walk much, and I kept her in the car for the first hike up the more northern light house. I did take her out on the longer hike to the beach and the more southern lighthouse. Both places were thriving with people and dogs. Sadie got a lot of attention again, including from an older couple vacationing from the South who insisted on giving Sadie a plastic bag of water. (I didn't have my backpack with me)
The day was slowly fading and I had gotten a text message from my old high school friend that she would be back in Portland on Sunday and would wait for me. When I got back to the van I got another text saying her Vanagon had broken down and is still waiting on a mechanic in Fossil, OR. This allowed me some time to get to Portland. It didn't look like she would be back by Sunday night, so I slowed my pace down some and visited Fort Columbia, an old Army fort with original U.S. Army Coastal Artillery fort buildings and batteries, active from 1896 to 1947. This area was also home to the Chinook Indian Nation and their famed Chief Comcomly, and explored by Robert Gray and the Lewis and Clark expedition (according to their brochure). The only building that is open to visitors is the enlisted barracks, a three-story wooden structure designed for 100 men. A chowhall and library were all part of this set-up. I got a shaded spot for Sadie and left the windows down again. She continued to nap.
The inside was a musuem with some of the rooms restored as they were during the wars. The volunteers greeting visitors were a retired Army couple from Texas, Jim and Ammette Finkhouser. We somehow got started talking about the Army, then our service, and Jim then volunteers that they lost their 35-year-old son Alex on Memorial Day, May 26, 2006 when his vehicle was hit by an Improvised Explosive Device. "I can not celebrate Memorial Day anymore" whispered Jim, who himself is a retired Colonel who served time in Vietnam. I felt a flashback go through me, and I started telling the couple about my own experiences in Iraq, crying not so much for me, but for the losses I saw and felt in others. I hadn't had such a flashback in many years, but this time I let it go. They understood my pain, but I knew their pain is so much worse.
Getting back into Oregon was effortless. The traffic jam from earlier was gone and I quickly got into Astoria, and even quicker found an attractive brewpub with the Fort George Brew Pub right in the downtown area. I sat at the bar, tried one Quick Wit which was very good, then tried the Hefe Weizen, which was even better, and then ordered a cheeseburger which was also quite good. This was a very busy place, with a large downstairs, large upstairs, and an outdoor patio. My bartender, a 30-something-year-old man, was proud to tell me that some of the workers brew their own beer here as experiments. The one I tried was quite good, but I wanted to keep my beers down to two with my meal. I still had to drive to Portland so I could meet up with Lynda.
What I should have done is explored Astoria more. That was one town that was on my must-see list. I wanted to explore the old marina and see where the "Googies" was filmed, at least the house in which the brothers lived. Instead, I drove on to Portland which was still two hours away, in the dark.
MORE TO COME
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