STEPPING UP TO A DAY OF REST; DOWNTOWN MARKET; FORT CLATSOP
After yesterday’s activities, Karen suggested we take a day off from hiking. So, we drove up to the top of Coxcomb Hill this morning. The sky was blue and the sun was warm when we arrived. This is the site of the Astoria Column, built in 1926 to commemorate some of the local history.
From this location you get a 360 view of the Columbia River, downtown Astoria, and several mountains, including Mt. St. Helens.
To get to the top of the column, you climb a spiral staircase up 164 steps to a viewing platform 125 feet above the ground. I think this was, technically, NOT a hike right? Karen didn’t hesitate at all and did a great job getting to the top.
Among the rewards for climbing up there (aside from the obvious joy of invigorating exercise), was the opportunity to launch a small balsa wood glider from the top. It was amazing to watch how long and how far they floated in the air currents. Along with us tourists, a pair of bald eagles watched from their perch in a nearby pine tree. Due to my acute fear of heights, I was glued to the column itself and stayed well back from the railing. Meanwhile, children down in the park were scrambling to retrieve any gliders that landed near them, so they could run back to the top and re-launch them.
Admission to the column is free, but the Friends of Astoria Column, Inc. must bring in lots of cash by charging $1 for each glider. Most people we saw had handfuls of them as they huffed and puffed their way up the staircase.
Later, while Karen rested in a comfortable chair down in the park, I took a short stroll to visit the Cathedral Tree. It’s down in a glen in the rainforest adjacent to the park at the base of the column. Once you’re in there, it’s green and shady and quiet - except for the faint barking sounds of sea lions way down the hill on the river. I also ran into a creature who seemed a long way from the University of California Santa Cruz.
On Sundays, there is a large farmer’s market in downtown Astoria and that’s where we went next. It seemed like the whole town was there enjoying the holiday weekend.
We checked out all the local products, and then drove through the very vertical neighborhoods of Astoria toward Fort Clatsop.
Just a few minutes outside town is the place where the Corps of Discovery spent the cold and miserable winter of 1805-06. The National Park Service manages a carefully reconstructed replica of Fort Clatsop. It’s hard to imagine 33 people living together for five months in a wooden stockade with a 50’ x 50’ footprint. The rooms are cramped and dark and even on a ‘warm’ day in May, the surrounding forest floor is damp and muddy. After a short visit, we decided to take the rest of the afternoon off.
After a little nap, we got a ride downtown for dinner in the hotel’s vintage 1960’s Rambler Classic.
NEXT: Hood River and the ‘Waterfall Corridor’
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