Cape Disappointment State Park

Travel Day

We left Crooked River Ranch for the long drive to join our extended family at Cape Disappointment State Park at the mouth of the Columbia River. This was one of our longer drives.

We pulled out of Crooked River Ranch at about 8:20 am and headed up on US Highway 26 with an unscheduled bathroom break in Madras, OR. We made our next stop at the Rest Area in Government Camp, OR. We then took US Highway 84 west to meet up with I-205, where we took it North to I-5 Northbound. We made one more unscheduled stop at the Gee Creek Rest Area by Ridgefield, WA. We crossed back into Oregon at Long View to take US Highway 30 east. We crossed back to Washington at Astoria, OR and then drove the short leg to Cape Disappointment State Park.

Trip Info & Stats

Departure Time: 8:22 AM
Arrival Time: 1:34 PM
Duration (h:mm): 6:41
Total Miles: 258
Number of Stops: 3
Weather: Sunny/Overcast

Life around the campground

Our family has been camping together for Fourth of July longer longer than papa and mama have been alive. Sadly we have not been able to join every year. This year we returned to the lower campground and enjoyed a week of camping without hookups. We do not get to do enough of this style of camping. This is also our favorite state campground to date.

This year, the local deer were more friendly than normal. We had a Buck that visited our campsite several day while we were there.

North Head Lighthouse

Each year we return to the North Lighthouse for pictures with the kids. It is a short ‘accessible’ hike down a paved trail from the park lot with a nice overlook of the beach and lower campground.

Long Beach, Washington

The Chowder Stop in Long Beach, Washington is one of our favorite restaurants we have visited and make a point of visiting each visit to the area. They have some of the best Chowder and seafood we have had.

Thousand Trails Long Beach Campground

We had a couple extra days from when our family’s reservations at the State Park ended and to get us back to our Sunday move day rhythm. We moved about 5 minutes outside the State Park to one of only 3 Western Washington Thousand Trials Campground we have never stayed at. The Park is tight and not much to do, but the staff is very nice with great access to the beach trail (backed up to the campground). They staff also did a great job of having activities for the kids. We also enjoyed a campground hosted Pancake breakfast.