Cape Disappointment

ByChristine Updated on

In the far southwest corner of Washington state along the coast lies Cape Disappointment. Named for past explorers’ challenges in finding the mouth of the Columbia River, mistaking it instead for a bay.

A visit here won’t be disappointing though as you’ll have plenty to explore and learn about, starting with the well-known Lewis and Clark expedition.

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Lewis & Clark Interpretive Center

Here we went to the Lewis & Clark Interpretive Center. This is really worth a stop and the center was very well put together.

As you wind your way from the entrance down to the lower level, it details the journey of Lewis and Clark beginning in St. Louis, Missouri to this point on the coast, their time on the Pacific coast, and their return trip, with the exhibit based heavily on journal entries.

This was actually named Cape Disappointment back in 1788 when English explorer John Meares was unable to locate the mouth of the Columbia river.

Lewis & Clark Interpretive Center and sign at Cape Disappointment

Cape Disappointment Lighthouse

While here we did the quick walk up to the Cape Disappointment Lighthouse.

Wreck of the Peter Iredale

We also went into Oregon to Fort Stevens State Park where we saw the wreck of the Peter Iredale on the beach. It was wrecked way back in 1906.

What To See Next

Visit other Washington state bucket list destinations such as Olympic National Park beaches and tidal pools.

Christine is the co-founder of Never Stop Adventuring, and an avid traveler who started traveling the world as a child growing up in a military family. She even lived in Germany for numerous years. Since then she has been to 48 U.S. states, 17 countries, and traveled the U.S. in an RV for over 7 years.

With her 3 kids, the adventures continued family travel style. She has planned and coordinated travel with kids for the last 10 years and shares family travel tips and tricks, destinations, costs and even the mistakes so you can be empowered to take your own family trips with confidence!