Cathlamet, WA

We are heading to Cape Disappointment State Park for a few days and our site there is not available until tomorrow, so we stopped for one night at the Port of Cathlamet, WA, also known as Elochoman Marina.

Our RV site isn’t great, just a parking place with electric and water (no sewer), and a fairly high price of $25.  But fast, free wifi is included in the price, we have a good Verizon cell signal, 50 amp service, and the site is a pull-through.  The views of the Columbia River are priceless.

     

The town of Cathlamet is an easy walk from the Port via a waterfront trail.Cathlamet (Cath-la’met) derives from the Chinook work “calamet”, meaning stone, and was given to the tribe because they lived along a rocky river bed.  Cathlamet was sighted in 1792 by Lt. WR Broughton, an officer in Captain Vancouver’s fleet.

In 1805, Lewis and Clark led their Corps of Discovery into the Cathlamet area and the Wahkiakum County shores.  The explorers wrote about trading with the two Native American tribes, Cathlamet and Wahkiakum. 

 

When James Birnie retired from the Hudson’s Bay Company, he founded a trading post “Birnie’s Retreat” in 1846.  His establishment launched Cathlamet on the Washington shore.  Today you can take a self-guided walk or drive and see twenty historical sites in Cathlamet.