1889 Feb | March 2018

adventure
zoom ahead another six days in their
journey as I pulled in to Maryhill State
Park for my second night of camping.
I woke the next morning to threatening
skies. Just as it had for Lewis and Clark,
weather was closing in—I needed to
get going.
West of Maryhill, Clark had climbed
to get a view of the dramatic Columbia
Gorge, so that’s what I did. At Columbia
Hills State Park, I hiked high above the
river at Crawford Oaks, and finished just
as the storm hit, bringing 40 mph winds
down the Gorge.
I hurried downriver to Beacon Rock
State Park, mentioned in Clark’s journal
as “the Beaten rock.” I had to agree
with him. Sleet was now pounding the
picturesque 848-foot volcanic monolith.
My plan was to climb the switchbacking
mile-long trail to the top, but with the
storm getting worse every minute, I had
second thoughts.
“Climb it, you wussy!” Lewis said sternly
inside my head. I did as ordered, topping
out thirty minutes later in a raging gale.
The end was in sight. I dried off in the
car and zoomed ahead several more days
to Lewis and Clark’s final challenge, a place
where the explorers nearly died.
As they reached the estuary of the
Columbia, Clark wrote happily, “Ocian in
view. O! The joy!” Then, suddenly, a vicious
winter storm forced them to hunker down
for six precarious days in what Clark
famously called a “dismal little nitch.”
I visited Dismal Nitch (now a National
Park interpretive site) just across the
Columbia from Astoria, Oregon, on
another stormy day.
“It would be distressing to a feeling
person to see our situation,” Clark wrote.
Yes, I felt for them.
As darkness started to descend, I sprinted
for the finish at Cape Disappointment
State Park. It was Nov. 18, 1805—they
had come more than 4,000 miles, and they
finally got a view of the Pacific from the top
of McKenzie Head.
“We made it!” I said to them as I took in
the view.
That night, my expedition done, there
would be no camping. I checked into
the 1890s-era Shelburne Inn in Seaview,
took a hot shower and slipped into a
warm bed.
FROM TOP The Listening Circle in Chief Timothy Park
was designed by Maya Lin. Cape Disappointment State
Park served as Nelson’s final stop.
72 1889 WASHINGTON’S MAGAZINE FEBRUARY | MARCH 2018