After the park dedication, I decided to head out and explore more of the Lewis & Clark territory on my own. After all, the rental car (although not the gas) was free! Oh by the way, check out the price of gas in Southern Washington State!
And is there any doubt where our lumber comes from? I saw TONS of trains and lumber yards that were shipping out on a Sunday afternoon. Bad economy, according to MSM, remember?
So I headed north on Interstate 5 to see how close I could get to Mt. St. Helens. By the time my trip was over that evening, I would have covered pretty much the entire length of the Lower Columbia shown here on the map. From Mt. St. Helens to Cape Disappointment, nearly 375 miles total drive from Portland. It probably would have taken Lewis & Clark a week. It took me a half-day.
Click here for rest of posting including photos of Mt. St. Helens and the place where Lewis & Clark first saw the Pacific Ocean.
The first Visitors Center is about 45 miles from the base of Mt. St. Helens.
I got just a litttttttle closer. And I have to say that I didn’t see the massive destruction I was expecting. In the valley, you can see a lot of grayish mud. But most of the trees are there, they look healthy and so maybe I wasn’t in the spot where things got blown away. But, I would have thought 30 miles away even on this side of the volcano, there would have been a lot more damage.
Then I started down to make a beeline to the Pacific Ocean and follow the Columbia River just like Lewis & Clark did 200 years ago. Oh, this sign on Interstate 5 helped.
So I had to make it to Cape Disappointment before dusk since I figured the Lewis & Clark National Park would close then.
In 1788, while in search of the Columbia River, English Captain John Meares missed the passage over the river bar and named the nearby headland Cape Disappointment for his failure in finding the river. In 1792, American Captain Robert Gray successfully crossed the river bar and named the river “Columbia” after his ship, the Columbia Rediviva. Only a few years later, in 1805, the Lewis and Clark Expedition arrived at Cape Disappointment.
Aside from this quiet and patient friend, I was the only one at the park…..
I kept saying to myself the entire time, “It is still dusk! They can’t shut the gates!” I made the 2 mile total trip to the Lewis & Clark Interpretive Center and the Lighthouse (on another bluff) in less that 20 minutes. Let me assure you it was quite a workout up and down the hills.
I’ll close out this posting with scenes of the Pacific Ocean and Columbia River at sunset and nightfall. Today has been all sessions at Lewis & Clark College. Tomorrow, the Columbia River Gorge…. my first time there.
-Bruce (GayPatriot) – gaypatriot2004@aol.com