Day Trip to Fort Stevens State Park, OR

The summer heat has finally arrived in the Pacific Northwest.  We headed to the coast in order to enjoy some cooler temperatures today.  We didn't have time to get away in the motorhome, so this was a day trip in the car.  Fort Stevens State Park near Astoria, Oregon is about two hours away from where we live.  After loading our bicycles into and onto the car, we left home at 9:30.  We drove west on Highway 26, which is always a nice drive once we get past Portland. 

Our lunch-time view at Seaside

We ate our picnic lunch at the south part of the beach in Seaside.  The weather was cool, windy, and still overcast, so we ate the car, but we enjoyed the beach scenery while we ate.  This part of the beach is rocky, but the beach to the north is sandy.

Another view of the Seaside coast.

From Hammond Basin, looking across Young's Bay north to Washington

As we drove a few miles north on Highway 101 to Fort Stevens, the sun began to peek out and by the time we began our bike ride, the sky was entirely sunny.  We first stopped at the Hammond Basin which is a very big marina with a good view of the Columbia River and all the ships heading in and out of Astoria as well as many seasonal fishing boats.  We discovered that there's a 5-mile paved bike path along the river from Hammond to Warrenton.

The Warrenton bike path along the Columbia River

While the sky was still clearing, we drove to the south jetty at Fort Stevens and climbed up the viewing tower.  It's always cold and windy there, but the good view of the ocean is worth putting on a jacket.

South Jetty viewing tower

View from South Jetty looking north

View from South Jetty looking south

Finally we drove on to our destination, Battery Russell, where we parked the car (for free) and went on a ten mile bike ride on the paths at Fort Stevens and through the campground.  It's a wonderful place to camp and some of the sites even have full hookups. 

Battery Russell

After the bike ride we stopped in Astoria to have an early dinner at one of our favorite restaurants, Stephanie's Cabin.  It's located along the Columbia River.  We didn't see any big ships, but we saw a couple of pilot boats coming back to town. 

The wreck of the Peter Iredale ship at Fort Stevens

We arrived back home around 6:30, tired from our long drive and long bike ride, but happy that we had experienced an exhilarating day of sights and activities!