OREGON COAST-1
(Last updated 2/8/08)



The Long Beach peninsula (map, left) is actually on the Washington (north) side of the mouth of the Columbia River. The 28-mile long strip of sand along its western edge is one of the world's longest beaches. To the east lies the shallow Willapa Bay - site of a National Wildlife Refuge teeming with over 200 species of birds, and famous for its oyster beds. The latter fueled the area's economy in the last half of the 19th century, spawning towns like Oysterville (now restored and on the National Register of Historic Places), which became the county seat, and Nahcotta, the northern terminus of the "Clamshell Railroad" that operated into the 1920's. Leadbetter Point State Park occupies the northern tip of the peninsula - looking north across the tidewater flats towards Cape Shoalwater (center) and east across the low dunes to the Willapa Hills (right)

The interior of the Park is a forest of lichen and moss-covered spruce and alder (left); to the west, less than a mile and a half away, is the ocean, separated from the beach by low dunes which run the length of the peninsula (right)

Just south of the park, access thru the dunes allows vehicles onto the beach, a natural highway running the length of the peninsula - complete with a speed limit of 25 mph. A change in the tides, and what appears to be the entire population of the peninsula crowds the beach (left) to dig for clams (right)

Some of the many statues in the city of Long Beach - the official greeter (left); a bronze of Lewis and Clark, who first saw the Pacific Ocean just south of here (center); and a chain-saw log sculpture of Robert Gray of Boston (right), captain of the trading ship "Columbia Rediviva," which he sailed thru the breakers of Meare's "Deception Bay" on May 11, 1792, to discover, explore, and name the long-sought river of the west, also establishing U.S. claims to the Northwest and, in particular, Oregon

The 1700 acres of Fort Canby State Park - armed with smoothbore cannon in 1862; named in 1875 for a general killed in the Modoc Indian Wars; and with a WWII artillery battery at its center - is located just to the south at the mouth of the Columbia River. On the ocean side lies North Head (left); the NH Lighthouse (center) was built in 1898 to warn ships coming from the north of their approach to the River; the Park's Benson Beach camping area (right) is located below on a square mile of new and already-forested sand that accumulated in the area after construction of the 3-mile long North Jetty on the west side of Cape Disappointment

Now a mile from the ocean because of Benson Beach, Cape Disappointment was named by British sailing captain John Meares in 1788 in his anger at not finding the mouth of the Columbia, which the breakers on the river's shallow bar led him to mistake for a bay (Deception). In 1792 British Naval Captain George Vancouver, searching for the river, also mistook the 7-mile wide mouth for an estuary and sailed on by, only to be scooped a few days later by Gray. It was also from here that Lewis & Clark first thought they saw the Pacific (on November 7, 1805), although in fact they were still many days from their first actual sighting of the ocean. The 53-ft brick tower of the CD Lighthouse (left) was built in 1856 (it's the oldest lighthouse on the West Coast still in use), three years after the freighter carrying the first lighthouse "kit" capsized and sank two miles offshore. Its Fresnel lens (right), removed in 1938 when the light was converted to an electric beacon, now resides at the L&C Interpretive Center, which is located on the site of L&C's November sighting

Finally on the Oregon side of the river (but not on the coast), the city of Astoria (left), founded by John Jacob Astor's Pacific Fur Company in 1811 and America's first permanent settlement west of the Mississippi, is about 5 miles up the Columbia at the mouth of the Youngs River. Built on steep hills adorned with picturesque and beautifully preserved 19th and early 20th century homes (more than 6 dozen are on the National Register of Historic Places), Astoria has been the location for movies like "Kindergarten Cop," "Short Circuit," "Free Willy," and my personal favorite, Steven Spielberg's "The Goonies." The city's best viewpoint is the park at the top of Coxcomb Hill, or even better, from the top of its centerpiece, the 125-ft Astoria Column (center). Built by the Great Northern Railroad in 1926 to promote rail tourism, and with 164 steep steps spiraling up its interior, the Column is made of reinforced concrete and is covered with a spiral frieze illustrating the history of the region (right)

Looking north from the top of the column, the start of the Astoria Megler Bridge (1962-6; it replaced a 55-yr old ferry service), which spans the 4.1-miles between the Oregon and Washington shores of the river, with Cape Disappoinment on the horizon (left). Looking southeast, the triple peaks of Saddle Mountain, at 3283 ft the highest point in Oregon's northern Coast Range (right)

Commissioned in 1863 as a Civil War fortification and deactivated shortly after WWII, the 11-square miles of what is now Fort Stevens State Park (Oregon's largest campground) occupies the peninsula between the Columbia River and the Pacific. On June 21, 1942, the Fort was the target of a Japanese submarine, which fired 17 shells in its vicinity; in spite of gun emplacements like Battery Russell (below), the Fort did not return fire

View north toward Cape Disappoinment along the Park's coastline (left), which looks like a slightly narrower and steeper continuation of the one on Long Beach. Further south in the Park, the wreck of the "Peter Iredale" - a huge (278 ft) British 4-masted steel sailing bark that has decorated the shore since October 25, 1906, although now only its rusting iron skeleton remains (right)

Ecola State Park is situated on Tillamook Head, a huge lava bluff that rises 1000 feet above the ocean; the headland is a remnant of the 15-million-year-old Columbia River basalt flow that originated in Idaho and flooded down the Columbia Gorge, finally spreading out along the seashore. Looking down from the bluff towards Indian Point and the northern end of Indian Beach (left), just south of the Head's western tip - note the small creek that flows thru the driftwood and across the sand into the ocean; a close-up of the creek mouth (right)

Crossing the creek on a small bridge along a path leading to the beach (left); view back up the creek from the beach (right)

The northern part of Indian Beach is a favorite with board surfers and kayakers - wet suits are required year round (left); the southern part of the beach is narrow, rocky, steep, and strewn with giant pieces of driftwood (right)

Just south of Indian, the path to Ecola Point (left); just off the Point lies Seal Rocks (right), a breeding ground for the California sea lion

Looking north from the Point towards Indian Beach and the bulk of Tillamook Head (left), with the town of Seaside a few miles beyond. About 1 1/4 miles offshore on a 133-ft high basalt rock islet is the 62-ft tower of the Tillamook Rock Lighthouse (right) - operational from 1881 to 1957 in spite of waves from winter storms that periodically swept over it, breaking windows with rocks and sometimes depositing fish in the lantern room over 150 ft above sea level

Looking south past Crescent Beach and Chapman Point, with its "small" seastacks, to the town of Cannon Beach, with Haystack Rock and The Needles at the south end (left); closer view of Haystack - a massive 235-ft high 'stack and prime seabird breeding ground - and The Needles (right), with Silver Point, Jockey Cap, another large seastack, and Arch Cape beyond


The town of Cannon Beach (left) is an incredible stretch of sand below dunes and low hills lined with elegant hotels and private homes, with the 235-ft tall Haystack Rock (right) as its centerpiece

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