Cape Disappointment, WA

Our journey northward nears the end as we cross the Columbia River and enter Washington. After a good night's sleep, we headed out bright and early to see the cape and its lighthouse at sunrise (well, not long after).

Above is a small lake that borders the campground just inland from Waikiki beach where I spent the rest of the time photographing the lighthouse and the beach.

This place hardly seems to be a disappointment, so how did it get this name? According to Wikipedia, that eternal font of knowledge we have,

The cape was named on July 6, 1788, by British fur trader John Meares, who was sailing south from Nootka Island, Canada, in search of trade. He mistook the mouth of the Columbia River to be a bay, which the ship could not enter due to a shallow shoal. Just missing the discovery of the river mentioned by Francisco Antonio Mourelle, he named them Cape Disappointment and Deception Bay.^[2] George Vancouver credits John Meares in his account when he saw Cape Disappointment on April 27, 1792.^[3]

This is what happens when the river is so big you can easily tell it is simply a river by looking. It seems that we were fortunate that it was a clear day because

Cape Disappointment sees about 2,552 hours of fog a year—the equivalent of 106 days—making it one of the foggiest places in the U.S.

Toward the end of the visit, when the sun was higher in the sky and I had taken all my photos of the lighthouse (which you will see tomorrow), I turned my attention to the small beach where I stood. I don't know if this beach is named for the one on Oahu or not but I suspect it was. According to (a different page in ) Wikipedia, there is unattested statement that

The beach received its name when a Hawaiian sailor's body washed ashore here after his ship was wrecked in a failed attempt to cross the Columbia River bar in 1811.

However, I find the name apt. On Oahu the beach is small and surrounded by higher land, just as it is here. 

A stream runs to the sea across the edge of the beach and leaves its makes in the sand.

With stone, sand, water and reflection of the sunlit trees in the background, I found a succinct summary of the place.