Tag Archives: Cape Disappointment

The Beach at Cape Disappointment

My Cape Disappointment visit had started with a look at the area best known for big waves but I then decided to head off and explore the other parts of the area.  I drove out along the shore until the road ended and started walking west along the peninsula.  The water was to my left but I could hear the sound of waves from the right.  I eventually came to the beach at which point I could see what the source of the noise had been.

A fantastic beach lay off to the north.  It was a wide expanse of sand with another headland at the end with its own lighthouse.  It was one of those scenes where it was hard to judge how far away anything was.  Since I had not fixed place to be, I started walking north towards the Headland.  The sun was out and it was a gorgeous morning to be out.  There were plenty of people on the beach doing the same thing but the beach was so large, it felt like you could have been totally alone and, if you wanted to avoid everyone, it wouldn’t have been tricky.

I was certainly right about not having a clue how far along the beach things were.  It was true that I was in no hurry and so was ambling along at a leisurely pace.  Even so, I didn’t seem to be getting closer to the headland.  In fact, it was quite a while before I realized I was almost there.  At this point, I glanced back over my shoulder and realized the other end of the beach was disappearing from view.  A look out to see suggested rain coming in from there and that I might be about to get wet.

I turned around and made the return leg with a little more urgency than the outbound leg.  Even so, the rain soon reached me.  Despite this, I actually wasn’t too unhappy.  I had a good coat on and my pants seemed to openly get damp.  The rain didn’t last long and I was dry again not long after.  I did take a slightly shorter route back to the car, though, and a second rain shower hit as I was getting close so I was glad I had done so.

Later, as I visited the North Head Lighthouse, I got a great view from above back down the beach I had been on earlier in the day.  It looked just as large and deserted as when I had been on it and I was quite taken with what an amazing place it was only a relatively short drive from Seattle.  This is a place I shall definitely be back to explore, both in the nice weather of summer and when the winter brings storms.

Cape Disappointment Lighthouse

I have seen many photographs of incredible waves breaking against the shore at Cape Disappointment at the far southwest corner of the state of Washington.  While the storms that can lead to such waves are most likely in the winter months, I decided I wanted to do a recce trip to the Cape to get a feel for the area and see whether I wanted to go back when the weather is more rough.  It is a three and a half hour drive to get there from home so an early start was in order.

The area has much to offer so there will be other posts to come about this visit but today I shall focus on the Cape Disappointment Lighthouse itself.  It sits on a headland on the outlet from the Columbia River and it is this headland that is the backdrop for the most dramatic photos.  There is another lighthouse nearby but more of that on another day.  Looking from the beach up to the lighthouse on a calm day, it is hard to image how violent the waves can really get.

The lighthouse was off limits while I was there – presumably as a result of the pandemic.  However, you could go to the visitors center which was a lot closer to it so you could have a different perspective on the light itself.  While it was early in the day when I first got there, I hung around until mid afternoon before leaving for the drive home and the light had come around a bit by then.  Sunset would be very nice but that was not the plan for this visit.  I hope to go back, though.