The high headland marking the place where the Columbia River finally merges into the Pacific Ocean, Cape Disappointment was named by the early explorer Capt. John Meares, who in 1788 incorrectly interpreted the treacherous sandbars offshore to mean that, despite reports to the contrary, there was neither a major river nor any mythical Northwest Passage here.
Besides the grand view of the raging ocean, the best reason to visit the cape is to tour the small but worthwhile Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center (daily; free; 360/642-3029), incongruously built atop a WW II–era artillery emplacement a short walk from the end of the road. On November 7, 1805, after five months and more than 4,000 miles, the explorers finally laid eyes on the Pacific from this point; they sat through nine days of continuous rain before fleeing south to Oregon. Displays inside the museum give the overall context for their journey of discovery, walking you through the different stages of their two-year round-trip. The small “Cape D” lighthouse stands atop the 60-foot-high cliff, a half-mile walk from the museum.
The entire area around the cape is protected from development within Cape Disappointment State Park, and the nearest services—gas stations and a couple of cafés—are in nearby Ilwaco, a small rough-and-tumble fishing port two miles west of US-101.
Southeast of Cape Disappointment, toward the Oregon border, US-101 winds along the north bank of the Columbia River. Along with good views of the river’s five-mile-wide mouth, the road passes through the quaint town of Chinook, home of “Washington’s First Salmon Hatchery,” which started here way back in 1893.
