Cape Disappointment: A Hike to a Lighthouse Leads to an Abandoned Battery
I stayed overnight near Cape Disappointment and in the morning decided to hike the bluff to the eponymous Cape Disappointment Lighthouse. Starting at Waikiki Beach, I climbed to the top, where the still-active lighthouse serves as a monitoring outpost for barge traffic in and out of the tricky channel of the Columbia River. On the way up I passed a small cove, bright with emerald colored mosses and blue-green waters, and on the way back I took a slightly different route and found myself at a decommissioned battery that first served to protect shipping rights to the Columbia River in the 19th century and then monitored the shoreline against a possible threat from Japan during World War II.
Before leaving the park I visited North Head Lighthouse as well as a few of the other beaches on the peninsula.
Those are some big shells!