North Head Lighthouse
2012.09.30
My second stop was the North Head Lighthouse, which was the second lighthouse built on the northern headlands at the mouth of the Columbia River. The earlier Cape Disappointment Lighthouse, completed in 1856, lies within the mouth of the Columbia River. The larger McKenzie Head to the west blocked the lighthouse from ships arriving from the north. So a site was chosen about two miles north, facing the Pacific Ocean, on North Head. The new lighthouse went into operation in 1898. It was automated in 1961.
The lighthouse is accessed by a quarter-mile trail from the parking lot. The walk is easy, but once you clear the trees, the wind will nearly knock you over. Although the observatory on Mount Washington, New Hampshire is much celebrated for a record 231 mph wind gust in 1931, the North Head at Cape Disappointment is also one of the windiest places in North America, frequently measuring over 100 mph.
Cape Disappointment is also one of the foggiest places, with over 2500 hours of fog per year. Not today though; clear as a bell.
Unfortunately, the lighthouse was being repaired, and so the top was draped in rather un-photogenic blue tarps.
The former lighthouse keeper’s houses can be rented. Current prices range from $224 to $424 per night, with a two-night minimum. Yeah.
Cape Disappointment