Spotted the Pacific Ocean

Today’s target was La Push, WA, the designated jumping off point for the bike trip.

Nando and Helen
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However, rather than pulling into La Push, we pulled into Cape Disappointment State Park near Long Beach, WA.  We set up camp and then took a walk on a long, wide and dark-colored sandy beach with the Pacific Ocean lapping at our feet.  After thirteen days of meandering across this beautiful country we finally arrived at our destination to start Jay’s bike ride back to Savannah, GA.  Well, we almost arrived.

Long Beach, WA
World's Longest Beach

Cape Disappointment became our day’s destination when Jay googled campsites in La Push.  Employing knowledge from his pre-trip planning, he thought La Push and Long Beach were “just a few miles” from each other.  Either city would be just fine for a jumping off place. So he switched his search criteria for campsites near Long Beach, WA.  At day’s end we had a great

campsite in Cape Disappointment State Park.  Also, how can one not be drawn to a state park named Cape Disappointment?

The cape was named by the 1700’s fur trader John Meares, the commander a Portuguese ship.  Meares failed to locate a river as noted on his Spanish charts and named the cape to register his frustration.

Apparently Jay was relying on the same Spanish charts used by Meares when he selected Cape Disappointment for our camp stay.  It turns out La Push and Cape Disappointment are not “just a few miles” apart, but 198 miles apart.  Helen is sure his navigation abilities will improve once he starts his bike ride.

Despite our lapse in Washington state geography, our campsite at Cape Disappointment State Park was great.   We could hear the Pacific Ocean roll in and out as we cozied up in our sleeping bags in our tent.

The next day we broke camp and headed to La Push.  Jay starts his ride tomorrow.

More Photos

Long Beach Fry Pan
Largest in Washington State

Helen and Nando in Car