Things to see and do Ilwaco

The park's name comes from the failure of navigator and fur trader John Meares to turn back north of this cape on a stormy night and miss the discovery of the mouth of the Columbia River in 1788. Located at the southern tip of the Long Beach Peninsula, at the mouth of the river, this extreme point was reached a few years later, again by the sea, by American Captain Robert Gray in 1792, and finally by the Lewis and Clark ground expedition (exactly near Chinook) in the winter of 1805-1806. In the park, you can visit the Lewis & Clark Interpretive Center. The park also has many trails to enjoy the entire site, including two lighthouses: North Head in the north and Cape Disappointment Lighthouse in the south. From the latter, we can see what the locals call the Pacific Cemetery, the particularly dangerous exit from the Columbia River, between Washington and Oregon Jetties.