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Author Archives: Teri J Pieper

Fort Stevens State Park

We stayed two nights at Fort Stevens. After an evening at the beach, we were driving back to camp and were lucky enough to see a herd of eleven Roosevelt elk. They were all bulls with velvet-covered antlers. We had seen them near Warrenton outside of Astoria, before going to the park and Ken had seen one from the beach. Some of them were grazing on Scotch broom, a nasty yellow-flowered invasive weed in the Pacific NW.

Just before we left Oregon, we went to see the wreck of the Peter Iredale. It crashed into the sand in 1906. The ship was 287 feet long and 30 feet wide. Only a small portion of it remains visible in the sand. The area surrounding the mouth of the Columbia River is knows as the graveyard of the Pacific in regards to shipping disasters.

One of those high dune crossings to the beach. Beach sand in sun was quite hot and I worried about the dogs’ paws. We got them to the wet beach sand as quick as possible. It was too hot for us to cross with bare feet.
Ken finally got to fly his kite.
How happy is this?
South Jetty of the Columbia River
Roosevelt elk. All bulls in velvet
The wreck of the Peter Iredale
Dogs on the leash. Waiting. Good dogs.

Another Day, Another Park

For the second half of our camping trip, we went to Fort Stevens State Park in Oregon. It is also at the mouth of the Columbia River but on the south side. It is an enormous park with lots and lots of paved bike trails and miles and miles of beach. Much of the beach is open to driving which decreases the wild nature of the place but there weren’t too many cars on the sand while we were there. The tracks were evident though.

The campground is a long ways from the beaches so we drove to them with the dogs. Some beaches are much less popular due to a high dune to cross to access the water. And the campgrounds cram a lot of people into a small space so they were noisy and crowded. We probably won’t go back to Fort Stevens. Oregon has lots of other nice state parks on the coast. This park is good for families and people that bring their bicycles.

Part of the famous Astoria bridge that crosses the Columbia. It is over four miles long!
Container ships waiting to go into Portland. Someone said they were there for months, waiting.
See that white head poking out from behind the dead seal?
This Bald Eagle did not go far and it was not disturbed by the presence of people, dogs or cars.
A kite surfer
Luna wanted to meet the kite surfer
But then she changed her mind.
Sunset at the south jetty
Jellyfish at sunset
Dog at sunset
Ken’s brother Carl joined us for our first night at Fort Stevens.

Sights Worth Seeing

We enjoyed walking to both of the lighthouses with a tour of the North Head Light. As we walked through the woods, we could hear the noise of a nearby helicopter. Once we were out on the bluff we could see that the Coast Guard crew was practicing rescues off of the cliff. There was a child wearing ear protection along with a couple of adults. When we asked if he always walked with ear protection, we were told that his dad was part of the helicopter crew and he was there to watch him work. Pretty cool.

The North Head light has been restored and is open for tours. The Cape Disappointment light is in a state of disrepair and while we could walk to it, no one is allowed in. We also visited Fort Columbia State Historical Park and the town of Long Beach.

Foxglove grows wild everywhere
An old water tower
Looking north to the Long Beach Peninsula
I wondered about this viny plant with the delicate while flowers
It’s a wild cucumber!
And native to western WA
Salmonberry, a NW native
Like many other Washington State Parks along the coast, this one used to be a military installation and the old infrastructure is still present.
This relic and the next one are from Fort Columbia State Park on the Columbia River.
The world’s biggest carved razor clam is in Long Beach.
And the world’s biggest frying pan used to make the world’s biggest clam fritter.
The campground is in those trees.
North Head Lighthouse
Pelagic Cormorants nesting on this vertical cliff
Can you imagine going over the dangerous Columbia bar in this open boat?
This fresnel light used to be in the North Head lighthouse
Cape Disappointment Lighthouse

Beach Dogs

The dogs had fun at the beach.

Andy doesn’t look like it but he sure does howl like a hound.
Luna was skeptical of Andy
This chocolate lab really wanted to meet Sky and her big stick.
Sky did a lot of this.

Beach Days

In June we went camping on the coast starting with Cape Disappointment State Park in far southwest Washington. It’s a really terrific park and we recommend it. The camping area is near the beach for an easy walk. Dogs could run around on the beach as long as they were well behaved. There are two lighthouses and lots of trails. Bicycles would be handy for getting around but probably not with dogs along. It is the site of the North Jetty at the mouth of the Columbia River. The jetty is currently being rebuilt and you can see a distant crane in one of these photos. It is used to lift just boulders into place. The jetty, along with the South Jetty in Oregon, is there to try to keep the shipping lanes open in the big river.

North Head Lighthouse
Morning on the beach
Beach art
Low tide reveals channels in the sand
Barnacles and mussels
Sea anemones
Gooseneck barnacles
Sea stars
Vellela vellela, a jellyfish
You can see the crane on the left
Sunset at the beach