Day 11--FORT STEVENS

September 15, 2000
Fort Stevens SP Rest Day

Dear readers, have patience with me. This morning when I tried to send the last couple of days, the battery door slipped open and I lost EVERYTHING (wail!)—including all of your phone numbers and addresses. Now I must recreate again! If you sent us a message in the last couple of days, that has been lost, too! Resendez sil vous plait!  We love reading your messages, but must apologize because we can find no time to respond to them.

After a leisurely breakfast, and my attempts to send the Pocketmail updates, Jess and I took to the 32 miles of paved bike trails in this beautiful OR state park to explore a bit. Such fun to ride our unencumbered bikes! At first I oversteered, compensating for panniers that I didn't have. The bike feels like a feather without its gear.

Our bicycles are so quiet that we often surprise wildlife. First bend we rounded, we encountered a small axis deer. The deer seemed nearly tame. It just stood and stared at us and was in no hurry to leave the trail.

Clockwise from top left: Jess enjoying one of the many trails at Fort Stevens; a small axis deer; Susan trying out one of the Clatsop sleeping bunks; our first glimpse of yurts. None were available but we would spend two nights in yurts farther south

First we pedaled to the beach to beachcomb, bird, and see the wreck of the Peter Iredale, a British wheat ship that wrecked at the mouth of the Columbia in 1904. Its rusted ribs still lie in the beach sand.

Dauta and Mutha pose on the beach before the wreck of the Peter Iredale

Next we pedaled to the military installation—gun emplacements, bunkers, and living quarters from WWII and before when Fort Stevens guarded the southern side of the mouth of the Columbia, and Fort Canby (where we had originally scheduled to camp) guarded the northern side. According to the guide booklet, “Fort Stevens was the primary military defense installation in the three fort Harbor Defense System at the mouth of the Columbia River (Forts Canby and Columbia in Washington were the other two). The fort served for 84 years, beginning with the Civil War and closing at the end of World War II. Today, Fort Stevens has grown into a 3,700 acre park offering exploration of history, nature and recreational opportunities.” We learned also that the Japanese apparently sent balloon bombs across the ocean, but none did damage on this side, and, of course, the coast was not directly attacked.

There was a replica of a Clatsop Indian longhouse behind the military museum and Jess and I enjoyed exploring it, too. The Clatsop were the "flathead" tribe described so vividly in the Journals of Lewis and Clark, which, by the by, if you have never read in the original, you must. The journals make wonderful, colorful reading.

Top: Exterior and interior of Clatsop Longhouse; gun emplacement at Fort Stevens;
Fort Clatsop--all Internet photos

After lunch at the campsite, Jess and the others took naps and I sat at the picnic table and tried to rewrite my reports and catch up on my e-mail. 

After naps, Will and Jess and I rode out to the wildlife observation platform and watched a small flock of brown pelicans combing the waves. Though ungainly on land, brown pelicans are beautiful fliers, gliding within a hair’s breadth of the ocean waves. The beaches here are broad and sandy, unlittered with the giant logs and rocks of those in WA.

Internet photo of brown pelicans "surfing" the waves

After dinner (a huge pot of spaghetti for all of us), the skies cleared. We stuck a couple of candles to the picnic table and the kids played Yahtzee until 9:30.

Tomorrow a short day to Nehalem SP.

Miles: 28

Route: Map of Fort Stevens area. 28 miles around the park and to the grocery.
Weather: Overcast with a couple of sprinkles and probably in the low 60s. 
General: This park is so cycle friendly that they even have an air pump near the Info Booth!