Mt. Adams to Washington

After several days in the relative wilds of Gifford Pinchot National Forest we returned to Hood River for provisions.  And laundry facilities.  Back again in the land where cell phones work, we were saddened to learn that travel plans had fallen through for our friend whom we had hoped to meet in Portland, and so we decided to return directly to the coast and continue north.  

We could have taken a shortcut across Washington, but not wanting to miss any of the coast, and in particular the 4+ mile long bridge across the Columbia in Astoria, we returned there once again.  We tried for a camp site in the Cape Disappointment area, but as the weekend was now upon us and it’s still high vacation season, everything was booked solid.  Cape Disappointment.  Get it?

*Excellent* oysters!  South Bend, WA

We continued on up the coast, checking campgrounds as we went, and finally found a run down county campground a bit off the beaten path, Bush Pioneer County Park and Campground, no reservations accepted, dirty, primitive, surrounded by forest, but otherwise empty.  We set up camp and met some people visiting for the day who were familiar with the area, who told us the interesting history of the Chinook Indian Nation and how the very spot we were camping at was the last place they had lived in their ancestral fashion, hiding and surviving there up until 1953.  Pirates had supposedly used a cove around the corner to hide back in the day as well.  Bald eagles live there now.  We watched them hunt over the trees and small, wild beach.