The Sea Bird was on approach to the Columbia River Bar early this morning. It was a gray on gray day with shades of dark green, as our vessel made her way out past the port town of Astoria, heading west following the outgoing waters of the Columbia! Huge waves were braking over both jetties and the light at Cape Disappointment’s lighthouse continued its circular path of light. It is a beacon of warning and guiding. We spent a short time on the bow hearing about the history of this extremely dangerous piece of water that has taken so many ships and human lives. Today, we watched as the waves scoured the jetties, a reminder of the danger and fierceness the Pacific Ocean was capable of...just a few miles ahead of where the Sea Bird motored at a slow speed safely behind the two well-constructed jetties. Soon Captain Graves made an announcement about returning to Astoria, as the sea conditions would deteriorate very quickly and the Sea Bird would begin rolling in the waves created by the storm just off the coast.
In a short time we were tied up dockside just in front of the Columbia River Maritime Museum. We were scheduled to make an extensive tour of one of the world’s finest maritime museums. Once inside the museum we were met by a fine docent and taken through many of the exhibits continuing our education about the history of the Columbia River Bar.At 10:30AM two coaches met our group outside the museum, ready to take us to the final western stop made by the Lewis and Clark Expedition. Thirty minutes from the town of Astoria, across the Young’s Bay bridge near the Lewis and Clark River was the recreated Fort Clatsop. It was here that the Corp of Discovery spent the winter of 1805 and the spring of 1806. Once our orientation was complete we walked the short distance to the fort and had some time to explore the two rooms and common central grounds, roughly fifty feet by fifty feet where thirty-five people lived in extremely close quarters.
Our weather today was very close to the weather that Lewis and Clark experienced during their fourth month stay at Fort Clatsop. We explored the grounds around the fort and then took some time to walk to the canoe landing a short distance below the fort on the shores of the Lewis and Clark River. The trail from the fort to the canoe landing led through a gorgeous stand of Sitka spruce, Western red cedar, Western hemlock and Red alder. As we walked quietly through this forest of seemingly young giants, we could only wonder what it must have been like nearly two hundred years ago...a small group of people so far from their homes, building a fort and surviving not only a long and dangerous journey west, but four months at Fort Clatsop, then contemplating the return trip home. We would be ending our trip tomorrow, returning to our homes as well, taking many stories and hopefully new knowledge about the extraordinary journey of Lewis and Clark and a tiny part of the Pacific Northwest.
