Yurt Camping at the Coast

At the end of June we booked a last-minute trip to Cape Disappointment State Park. The cape was named in 1788 by an English sea captain when he failed to make it into the mouth of the Columbia River which is just south of the cape. In 1792 an American captain successfully crossed the river bar and named the river for his ship. Just over a decade later, Lewis and Clark arrived at Cape Disapointment.

We spent four nights at the state park, sleeping in a yurt. Yurts are circular "tents" made of a wooden frame and sturdy canvas. They have wood floors, an overhead light, a locking door, beds, and a heater. We brought all of our own bedding and the other usual camping gear. After the luxury of the dry, warm yurt on our chilly sometimes-rainy coastal visit, I don't know if I'll be able to go back to tent camping.

Below you can see Damon and Maggie outside our yurt just before we left to come home. There was a nice porch, picnic table, firepit, and neighborly racoon. (He tried to open my covered 9x13 Pyrex dish to get at our pan cookies! After that we put food in the car overnight.)

Here we are walking along the beach, which was just a short walk from our campsite. In the distance is one of two lighthouses at Cape Disappointment. (If you don't want the yurt, you can actually rent the lighthouse keeper's house for a vacation.)

And what did we discover on the beach that first morning? A dead baby gray whale. No joke. It looked as though it had been there awhile, but later that day we met someone at the Columbia River Maritime Museum who patrols the beach looking for just such a find, and he said it hadn't been there during his Sunday patrol. He suspected it had died at sea and then washed ashore. In fact, as we continued to visit the beach during the rest of the week the whale progressively moved further up the shore.

It was seriously gross (but not actually that stinky, surprisingly). Adah was totally fascinated with it and kept telling every person we met about it, especially the part about the scientists cutting it open to find out what killed it, and, as she repeatedly reported, "if they find out a human killed it, they'll find that person and put them in prison."

Astoria, Oregon was nearby, just south over the Columbia River, so we spent some time there at the Maritime Museum, riding the historic trolley (only $1!), swimming in their nice indoor pool, and eating ice cream.

We took a nice morning hike at Cape Disappointment which took us to the Southern Head Lighthouse (not the one pictured above). At the Maritime Museum we learned that the Columbia River Bar is one of the most dangerous waterways in the world. Those lighthouses are seriously needed, along with licensed bar pilots that are required to board and accompany every foreign ship across the bar and into port at Astoria.

We didn't tell the kids we were going on a "hike." We called it a "walk" and they seemed to like it better. I think "hike" must just sound too ominous to their short little legs.

In Long Beach, WA (north of our yurt-home) we flew kites and all the girls went horseback riding! We actually found an outfitter that would take any age rider. Under age five rode with an adult, so Maggie was with me, but Adah had her own horse. Maggie and I rode Becky along the beach . . .

. . . and Adah rode Sweetie.

On our last day, before heading eastward, we visited Ft. Clatsop, the winter headquarters for the Lewis and Clark Corps of Discovery. It's now a National Park with a great visitor center and a replica of the original fort, complete with costumed interpreters.

It was sure a fun trip. We saw beautiful and amazing sights, learned new things about the Columbia River region, enjoyed being together, and roasted lots of marshmallows at our campsite.