Decided to spend the day today touring the park on my bicycle as they have about 12 miles of biking trails, plus the roads throughout the park. Went through the process of pulling the bike down off of the RV, so I could jump on, ride up to the Ranger Station to see if I could extend my stay, then head out to the beach to see the ocean, a shipwreck, the levee, the Columbia River, and Washington state on just the other side of the river.
Not to be. Front tire was flat, so inflated it. Would not hold air. No problem, I fish out my spare tube from the basement of the rig. Changed the tire, inflated and put the tire back on. Checked the pressure on the back tire and of course it needed some air. Topped it off at 90 lbs, and then put the pump away. Locked the cargo door and POP, the back tire blew. Since I had no more tubes, bike riding was no longer an option. Back onto the bike rack she goes.
So, I buttoned up the RV, and headed out on a day tour. There is a visible shipwreck of the Peter Iredale right on the beach. Walked about there for a while, then headed further out onto the point. Walked around by the shores of the Columbia River which is quite scenic with the mountains of Washington state to the north. Circled back and rode out to the North Jetty for a view of the ocean to the west, Oregon to the east, and to the north the Columbia River and Washington.
Moved further inland and stopped for a short walking tour around Battery Russell, then moved over to the Fort itself for the full tour of the Museum and the main part of the army base including several batteries, barracks locations and some of the support facilities. It’s important to know that for the most part, only the concrete portions of the fort are all that is left. When the army pulled out, the tore down the majority of the structures and took most of the steel work out.
I also got to briefly walk about the original earthworks that were constructed for the original fort during the civil war.
I pretty much walked the entire fort and took in the vast majority of the highlights. Probably walked about 7 or 8 miles total today. Drove a short way into town and found a Mexican restaurant for dinner, then circled back to the state park for another night.
Wreck of the Peter Iredale
Beachfront Driftwood, View of the Columbia and a Lone Sentry at Fort Stewart