Aug 8 - 9: Return to Fort Stevens

It's a Sunday, with rain in the forecast, but we head towards Astoria, Oregon and Fort Stevens. Our luck was still going strong and we got a campsite -- probably their worst, but still very acceptable.

We head off towards Astoria and try to get some sightseeing in before it starts to rain. We visited a maritime museum that gave a great history of the perils of the Columbia River and its bar (the five mile area where the river collides with the Pacific Ocean). This region is known as the graveyard of the Pacific because of all the shipwrecks. The picture above depicts some of the daring rescues made with this vessel which has now been retired to the museum.



We visit the Columbia, a bobbing lighthouse ship that sat outside the entrance to the river to give hope to ships trying to get into the harbor in stormy weather. The bar is so dangerous that a "bar pilot" has to been helicoptered to the ship to guide it onto the river. Once on the river, a "river pilot" takes over because the river is so difficult to navigate for the big ships that travel up and down.


It is late when we leave the museum, so will have to visit Astoria in the future to ride on their historic trolley line that runs the length of wharf area.