Long Beach Peninsula

If you’ve come this far, you might be interested in pushing on a bit farther in a trip to Washington State’s Long Beach Peninsula, a long (28 miles) spit of land that separates Willapa Bay from the Pacific Ocean. It’s a quiet spot, long ago inhabited by the Chinook Indians, with a surprising selection of unique inns and the promise of tranquility. A glimpse of Northwest history, fishing, and strolling wild and sandy beaches: these pleasures have lured visitors to this corner of Washington State for years. Fort Canby State Park resides at the southernmost tip of the peninsula. It’s primarily a camping and picnicking spot, but Lewis and Clark historians will appreciate the Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center there (open daily from 10 am to 5 pm; 360-642-3029). Perched high on a cliff overlooking Cape Disappointment, the center reminds us that it was here that the Corps of Discovery first reached the shores of the Pacific. Before jetties were constructed to control its sandbar, the mouth of the Columbia was known as the “Graveyard of the Pacific.” You’ll take a self-guided tour detailing the events of the momentous Lewis and Clark Expedition and follow a path to the Cape Disappointment Lighthouse, the oldest (1856) operating lighthouse on the West Coast. A tour of nearby North Head Lighthouse, perched atop layers of pillow basalt (formations that shape when lava hits the ocean) is available daily from 10 am to 6 pm between April and October (360-642-3078). Protected by tall headlands to the west, Ilwaco lies just northeast of Cape Disappointment. It’s a popular spot for sports fishermen and a wonderful place to stay. Oysterville at the northern end of the peninsula was, in the 19th century, a key supplier of oysters to the city of San Francisco. The town is now on the National Register of Historic Places. Buildings of note include a church, an oyster cannery, and an old post office. The peninsula is still a great place for sampling the oysters of Willapa Bay. Leadbetter Point State Park, at the very top of the peninsula, offers hiking trails through coastal forest, across sand dunes, and over mudflats to the beach or bay. (Open daily year round from dawn to dusk; 360-642-3078.)