Cape without Disappointment
We recently had the opportunity to visit the mouth of the Columbia River. This is where Lewis and Clark found themselves at the Pacific Ocean. The expedition spent the winter of 1805/1806 here. It was a cold, stormy and wet winter for the Corps of Discovery. The Columbia River is still cold, stormy and wet. One of the landmarks here is Cape Disappointment on the Washington side of the river. This point of land was a “disappointment“ to British explorer John Meares who, in 1788, thought the point was just a peak on a bay, not the mouth of what would become known as the Columbia River. Today Cape Disappointment is known as a famous photographic landmark. We were fortunate enough to spend several hours over a couple of days watching storm generated surf pound the Cape. One point to remember is this is inside the Columbia River jetties - technically this is the Columbia River not the Pacific Ocean.
Cape Disappointment, the lighthouse and Columbia River Bar observation bunker during a squall.
Even without a squall in the area the surf here is impressive.
The cliffs of the Cape (just to the left of the image) reflect the waves back out into the river.
Sometimes the interaction of waves creates delicate fountains.
Sometimes explosions of foam and water are the result.
When the tide, wind and waves come together in the right sequence, the explosions of foam and water are [use your own superlative]!
If you have read our journal before you know we love to dive into the details of a subject.
(You may have to be patient with the gallery above if you have a slow internet connection.)
Cape Disappointment didn’t disappoint us when it came to being image worthy. Oh, and the beach we were on when we took these shots - it is named Waikiki. It is a slightly different vibe here at the mouth of the Columbia River than at the world-famous similarly-named beach a few thousand miles to the southwest. We’ve been to both, and we like the Columbia River one better. You might say it’s a beach that has a Cape without Disappointment.