Back to the Pacific Ocean At Last

We stayed at Silver Falls State Park because the Tulip Festival was nearby but also because it is called the Crown Jewel” of the Oregon State Park system. The Trail of Ten Falls is well known for the number of gorgeous falls you can walk behind. Parts of the trail were almost impassably slick and muddy due to all the recent rain, but we liked Upper and Lower South Falls best, both of which have huge walkways behind them. Be prepared to get wet!

Cape Lookout State Park was our next campground, with a windy and rainy walk on the beach, but we were back at the Pacific Ocean!

“I must go down to the seas again, for the call of the running tide
Is a wild call and a clear call that may not be denied;
And all I ask is a windy day with the white clouds flying,
And the flung spray and the blown spume, and the sea-gulls crying.”
-Sea Fever by John Masefield

Another reason we camped here was to visit Tillamook Cheese nearby that we had missed on our trip down the West Coast in 2019.


The factory floor at work was interesting to watch before we took the tour and then sampled so much cheese we barely had enough room for ice cream. (We managed!)


The next drive up the coast was on a much prettier day!

Fort Stevens State Park was where we landed at the day’s end, lured by more beach access, history including WW2 and Lewis and Clark, and a spring festival. Trifecta! Spring seemed to have mostly arrived on the coast by late April so we had some lovely weather. On the beach, we enjoyed morning walks and photos with the Peter Iredale wreck from 1906 that is ever so slowly being claimed by the sea.

Below are details from the Oregon State Park brochure.

“I must go down to the sea again, to the lonely sea and the sky
And all I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by;
And the wheel’s kick and the wind’s song and the white sail’s shaking,
And a grey mist on the sea’s face and a grey dawn breaking.”
-Sea Fever by John Masefield

The historic area from Fort Stevens has been well preserved and we enjoyed a self guided walk one morning followed by a picnic lunch on the Oregon side of the Columbia River’s Pacific entrance watching the big and little ships come in. It was clear why the Fort was so strategic to protect the waterway access to the Columbia River from the Civil War to WW2. In 1942 a lone Japanese sub lobbed shells at the battery, making it the first time a mainland military fort had been fired on by an enemy since the war of 1812. The Army did not return fire lest they give away their position and defenses. The Japanese sub commander returned after the war to apologize and commented that they would never have fired on the fort if they knew all of the artillery pointed at them!

The Lewis and Clark expedition spent the winter of 1805 at nearby Fort Clatsop, which has been reconstructed according to drawings and writings in their journals. The day we were there a school group was on a field trip learning frontier skills—we needed to declare ourselves and intentions to the youthful fort “guards” to go inside! The adult volunteers were kind enough to let these two old kids practice making tallow candles and lighting a fire with flint and steel. What fun!

On a gorgeous day we drove up the very steep hill to the Astoria Column. Astoria, Oregon is often called little San Francisco because of the similar appearance of the homes and streets. We climbed to top of the tower, whose hand painted images on the spiral frieze commemorate the history of the Pacific Northwest, and launched little gliders we had purchased at the gift store below. Afterwards we retrieved them from where we saw them land and passed them on to other visitors to enjoy. We had a Dutch Bros coffee, enjoyed the view, and chatted for awhile with other sightseers.

I had purchased tickets for the Astoria Crab, Seafood and Wine Festival (we think the wine part should be listed first as there were lots of local winery booths) to continue celebrating Spring. Shuttles ran from the campground to the festival, making transportation easy. We ate “clowns” which are a NorthWest version of lobster rolls but with crab and cheese—delicious! We also purchased smoked salmon dip and saved some for a picnic as we drove up the 101 the next day.

Who is the clown now?
On our drive from Astoria, Oregon to Potlatch, Washington we stopped briefly at the Dismal Nitch. The Corps of Discovery had been stranded there for 6 days due to bad weather and we agree it was aptly named. It must have been so frustrating for Lewis and Clark to be able to hear the ocean after their long journey but not be able to get there!
April’s last stop was at a delightful campground, the Waterfront At Potlatch, on the Hood Canal in Washington State. We didn’t, but we could have spent a week here watching the tide change, the seals fish, and the boats glide by! Such a very peaceful and a wonderful way to end the month and our journey from Arizona to Washington.

“I must go down to the seas again, to the vagrant gypsy life,
To the gull’s way and the whale’s way where the wind’s like a whetted knife;
And all I ask is a merry tale from a laughing fellow-rover,
And a quiet sleep and a sweet dream when the long trick’s over.”
-Sea Fever by John Masefield