The Drive, Day 13, Wed, 9-9 Astoria-Megler Bridge, Ft Clatsop, End of Trail Marker...

Day 13 we would finish the Lewis & Clark Trail. While we we do some other things associated with their journey, we would actually go to their final winter fort and the monument erected in Seaside, Oregon to commemorate the end of their journey.

We left Aberdeen, Washington about 9am. Our mileage to begin the day was 3485.7 miles. The hotel had no breakfast so we found a McDonald's for a biscuit breakfast. 

Our first point of interest was crossing the Columbia River on the Astoria/Megler Bridge. This is a 4.1 mile long steel cantilever truss bridge. It connects Megler, Washington and Astoria, Oregon. It is part of Route 101. It is also the longest continuous truss bridge in North America. 

First, pictures of the drive to the bridge: 

There is a lot of controlled logging in this part of the country. We past lots of forest that were cut and lots of logging trucks. They replant trees and rotate the areas in which they log. This picture is of the logging truck in front of us, some full grown trees at the top of the hill, young trees below them and cleared land after logging in the bottom right of the picture. When we visited China, one of the places was huge forests with controlled logging. 

Many of the cities seem to favor metal artwork along the streams or main streets of their towns. I love it!

The Pacific Ocean was to our right as we drove south. We drove past lots of inlets and bays along Hwy 101 but these were not the ocean. 

Tide was out. 

We came upon the Astoria/Megler Bridge and had a nice drive over it. Not tons of traffic. Nice clear day. We could see shipping boats in the channel. Our drive began on the Megler, Washington end of the bridge. It has the arched spans making it high enough for some ships to pass under. The bridge flattens out over the Columbia River. Then it rises to pointed spans on the Astoria side of the Columbia River. This allows ships to pass under this side. 

After crossing the Astoria/Megler Bridge, we drove the 12 minutes to Ft. Clatsop in Oregon. Ft. Clatsop was the winter fort for the Lewis & Clark expedition from Dec 1805 - Mar 1806. They would spend the winter making salt and gathering food and supplies for the return journey in March 1806. 

There is a statue of Sacajawea and her baby, Jean Baptiste whom Clark nicknamed Pomp. We had to have our picture with Sacajawea!

We opted to walk to the replica of the fort and the grounds first. 

Fort Clatsop was named after the Clatsop Indians. The Corps of Discovery would spend four rainy months in this location. Nothing remains of the actual fort. In 2006, this replica was made using William Clark's journal and floor plans. The belief is this fort sits within a few feet of where the actual Fort Clatsop would have stood. 

Along the left side of the fort were the enlisted men's quarters. Three sergeants and 24 men squeezed into these three small room and the orderly room on the right side. 

Along the right side were four rooms. 

The front room was for the interpreter, Charbonneau, and his wife and child, Sacajawea and Pomp.  

The second room was for the officers, Captain Lewis and Captain Clark.

The third room was the orderly room. Some of the enlisted men may have slept here.

The final room was the store room. Claude is standing in the door to it. 

At the back of the fort was another doorway that opened to get to the spring. 

There was a short loop outside the back entrance to the fort. We walked that loop. 

We also spent a little time in the visitor's center. They had a display of the three winter forts constructed by Lewis and Clark and the Corps of Engineers. 

Camp Dubois, December 1803 - May 1084. No reconstructed camp is at this location in what is now Hartfield, Illinois. 

Fort Mandan, November 2, 1804 - April 7, 1805. Washburn, North Dakota.

Fort Clatsop, December 1805 - March 1806. Astoria, Oregon. 

This was a cool statue entitled "Arrival" by Stanley Wanlass. The characters in the statue top to bottom are Meriwether Lewis, a Clatsop Indian, and William Clark. To the left is Lewis' Newfoundland dog, Seaman. Around the Clatsop Indian's neck is a medal with Thomas Jefferson's image on it. These were handed out along their journey. There is a Starry Flounder in the hand of the Clatsop Indian. Kind of captures it all.

Along one wall was a map of the journey. I have circled the three winter camps we visited. 

Note this flag has 15 stars and 15 stripes. This was the flag after Vermont was admitted to the Union in 1791 and Kentucky in 1792. After this flag, the stripes were limited to 13 to represent the 13 original colonies with stars increasing as states were added to the Union. This is also the type of flag the was flying for Ft. McHenry in Baltimore that inspired the writing of "The Star Spangled Banner". 

We drove the 22 minutes from Ft. Clatsop to the End of the Trail Marker. It is located in Seaside, Oregon. Claude drove around the monument and then back down the street to a nice parking place not too far away.

I walked around the base of the monument and took pictures of all the scenes depicted on it.

After a careful study of this splendid monument, we found a bench and watched the ocean and people for a while. As we sat there, I asked Claude if he felt we should walk down to the ocean. He assured me he did not. I assured him I was very happy with his response. 

We opted to find somewhere to have seafood for our meal-of-the-day. We found The Crabby Oyster and enjoyed a nice seafood meal. Then we drove on to Portland and found our hotel. Claude made not of the fact that from this point forward we are heading back east. In the evening, Claude fixed us peanut butter and jam on mini-bagels for a light dinner. 

During this evening, I would purchase tickets for us to attend the North American Championship Rodeo in Louisville in November. I set my alarm to be up at 7am to get Trans-Siberian Orchestra tickets. 

Gasoline this day was $5.16.