Road trip: Graveyard of the Pacific
They call it the Graveyard of the Pacific. The area from northern Oregon to Vancouver Island is known for its unpredictable weather, unforgiving coastline and bad habit of gobbling up ships. Thousands of vessels have been lost, from war ships to barges to countless smaller craft. Dive in to this area with its unique seafaring character and fascinating maritime history.
From Nirvana to nautical history, driving this intriguing strip of American coastline offers something for everyone.
1. Aberdeen
Start your trip in Aberdeen’s Grays Harbor, home port of the tall ship Lady Washington, the Official Ship of the State of Washington. This impressive reproduction of a 1788 tall ship – featured in Pirates of the Caribbean, if that helps give you a visual – is available for dockside tours and adventure sails all along the state’s coast. Check the website to find out where along the way you might catch her.
Fans of Nirvana front man Kurt Cobain might be interested in the self-guided walking tour offered by the Aberdeen Museum of History. It includes the store where Kurt’s uncle bought him his first guitar and several seen-better-days former residences. The Drive: From Aberdeen, take Hwy 101 across the Chehalis River bridge, then follow Grays Harbor southwest on Hwy 105 for 21 miles (33.7km) to reach the coastal town of Westport.
2. Westport
The seaside town of Westport has two worthwhile stops. First, head to Grays Harbor Lighthouse, the tallest lighthouse in Washington. It’s always available for photo ops, and tours up the 135-step circular staircase (pant, wheeze) are available seasonally.
Next, head over to the Westport Maritime Museum, a noteworthy Cape Cod-style building at the northern tip of town. It offers your typical array of nautical knickknacks, but most impressive is the authentic Fresnel lighthouse lens. It’s a first-order lens, which is really impressive if you know about lens rankings; loosely translated, it’s big enough to need its own separate building. The Drive: Continue on Hwy 105, following the coast 30 miles southeast to Raymond.
3. Raymond
Raymond is home to the Willapa Seaport Museum (willapaseaportmuseum.org). It looks more like a cross between a fisherman’s garage sale and Disney’s Pirates of the Caribbean ride than a formal museum, but that’s part of its charm, and it’s a good leg-stretch on your way to your next stop. Let the salty ol’ museum owner lead you around if you’ve got an hour or more.
Before you leave, though, you might want to stop to pay your respect to Willie Keils at Willie Keils Grave State Park, just south of town. Nineteen-year-old Willie died in 1855 right before his family left Missouri, but they couldn’t bear leaving him; instead, they filled his coffin with whiskey and brought him along, turning their wagon train into a very slow funeral procession. The Drive: Pick up Hwy 101 west and head 45 miles south. When you get to Seaview, follow the signs for Cape Disappointment further south.
4. Cape Disappointment & Ilwaco
Although little remains of the original Fort Canby that once stood in Cape Disappointment State Park, 2 miles southwest of Ilwaco, the area does hold the excellent Lewis & Clark Interpretive Center, wild beach, around 8 miles of coastal, forested hiking trails and two dramatic lighthouses. It’s a short walk from the interpretive centre to the small Cape Disappointment Lighthouse, perched on a particularly vertiginous cliff over crashing seas, or take a short trail on the other side of the park to North Head Lighthouse, which offers tours in summer and is the oldest lighthouse in use on the west coast.
Just north, you’ll pass through the cute seaside village of Ilwaco, decorated with driftwood, glass floats and fishermen’s nets. It’s an The Drive: Head back north on Hwy 101, which continues on to become SR-103; Long Beach is just 6 miles north of Cape Disappointment.
5. Long Beach
Need a break from all the nautical history? Wee Long Beach packs in the roadside goodness and is a big hit with road-weary kids. Marsh’s Free Museum dates back to the 1930s and isn’t a museum so much as a place where souvenirs and sea shells intermingle with sideshowworthy attractions and oddities. The real star of the show is Jake the Alligator Man, media darling of the Weekly World News. Half- alligator, half-man, his suspiciously plaster-like remains hold packs of tweens in his thrall. Across the street from Marsh’s is the World’s Largest Frying Pan, over 18ft tall. The Drive: Head north up the peninsula for 15 miles to find the quiet, undeveloped part of Willapa Bay.
6. Oysterville & Nahcotta
Purists might prefer the Willapa Bay side of the peninsula, with its old towns, oyster beds and wildlife viewing. The charm of these old communities – the only ones on the bay side of the Long Beach Peninsula – derives not just from their history but also from the absence of the beachfront towns’ carnival atmosphere. Tiny Oysterville stands largely unchanged since its heyday in the 1870s, when the oyster boom was at its peak.
Oysterville is filled with wellpreserved Victorian homes including the 1863 Red Cottage, near Clay St, which served as the first Pacific County courthouse, and the Big Red House, built in 1871. Other historic buildings include a one-room schoolhouse and the 1892 Oysterville Church; pick up a walking-tour brochure here. The Drive: Head back south down the Long Beach Peninsula, then take Hwy 101 south. After 9 miles you’ll cross the Columbia River and arrive in Astoria.
7. Astoria
Astoria sits at the mouth of the Columbia River, where you’ll find some of the most treacherous waters of the Pacific, thanks to river currents rushing out where ocean tide is trying to get in. The town has a long seafaring history and has seen its old harbor attract fancy hotels and restaurants in recent years, thanks in part to Astoria’s popularity as a film location. Kindergarten Cop, Free Willy and Into the Wild were all filmed here, and fans of the cult hit The Goonies can seek out the house where Brandon and Mikey Walsh lived.