Fort Clatsop
Today would be the last of our trip, and it was fitting to arrive at the place that Lewis and Clark spent their rather horrible winter of 1805-1806, after traversing almost 2,000 miles across North America. While we arrived in the comfort of the Sea Bird, they spent a couple of weeks trying to survive on the Washington side of the Columbia River estuary. They were pummeled by storm after storm as they tried to camp along the shore of the river. Once they made it over to the more peaceful Oregon country away from the river and chose their campsite for the winter, they quickly erected a 50-foot by 50-foot fortification.
The storms that sweep in across the Pacific shore are anything but pacifying. They do, however, provide great amounts of moisture for the temperate rain forests that thrive along the coasts of Washington and Oregon. The Sitka spruce, western hemlock and western red cedars dominate the forests here. The shafts of light and shadows play along the forests floor as the sun makes its low arc across the November sky. It gave us a feel for the Corps of Discovery as they began their miserable winter near the present day town of Astoria. We, however, get to escape the incoming liquid sunshine that the Corps dealt with all winter and retreat back up river having enjoyed a visit but not a stay.
Today would be the last of our trip, and it was fitting to arrive at the place that Lewis and Clark spent their rather horrible winter of 1805-1806, after traversing almost 2,000 miles across North America. While we arrived in the comfort of the Sea Bird, they spent a couple of weeks trying to survive on the Washington side of the Columbia River estuary. They were pummeled by storm after storm as they tried to camp along the shore of the river. Once they made it over to the more peaceful Oregon country away from the river and chose their campsite for the winter, they quickly erected a 50-foot by 50-foot fortification.
The storms that sweep in across the Pacific shore are anything but pacifying. They do, however, provide great amounts of moisture for the temperate rain forests that thrive along the coasts of Washington and Oregon. The Sitka spruce, western hemlock and western red cedars dominate the forests here. The shafts of light and shadows play along the forests floor as the sun makes its low arc across the November sky. It gave us a feel for the Corps of Discovery as they began their miserable winter near the present day town of Astoria. We, however, get to escape the incoming liquid sunshine that the Corps dealt with all winter and retreat back up river having enjoyed a visit but not a stay.
