Fort Clatsop

Seaside, Oregon

    Fort Clatsop, located SSE of Warrenton, Oregon, is one of the newer national parks. It is one of many Lewis & Clark National Historic Parks.
    It's where the 30+ men and Sacagawea, democratically voted to spend the winter of 1805-1806.

 

 

 

 

    This is the second replica of a fort built from a drawing on the elkskin cover of one of William Clark's notebooks. The 1st replica, built in 1955, was destroyed by fire in October 2005.

 

 

 

    The living quarters of one of rooms in the fort. As it turned out, they had trouble with an infestation of fleas and rarely got a full night's sleep.

 

 

 

    The BBQ pits where the expeditionary forces entertained the local Indians? The local Elk's Club? Neither. But since they did kill a lot of elk for fresh meat, this looks like the spot for cooking such a big carcass. [Incidentally, not only did Indians eat dog-meat, but Lewis and Clark and their men also became familiar with the taste.]

 

 

 

    The back entrance to the fort.

 

 

 

 

    As the sun broke through the fog it highlighted the sturdiness of the fort's wall. Only flaming arrows might have flushed out the Corps of Discovery. In fact, the two local tribes, the Clatsops and Nehalems were more interested in trading with those in the fort than I taking their scalps.

 

 

    Yes, Virginia, there are red huckleberries -- and I don't mean the unripe berries of the dark purple huckleberries found along the northern coast of California.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

    Note that the leaves are not as dense as the typical black huckleberries and they are somewhat taller.

 

 

 

 

 

 

    Indeed, the purple huckleberries are known as evergreen huckleberries (vaccinium oratum). [Click 1 or 2 times to zoom in.]

 

 

 

    I walked down to the fort's canoe landing since an early neighbor or ours on Van Ness Avenue in Santa Cruz, Harlan Smith, had grow up on the grounds of what is now Ft Clatsop. And to get to school he had to paddle 2 miles -- probably up Young's Bay, to which the Neutal, now the Lewis and Clark River, is a tributary.
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Links:

• Natl Park Service web pages for Fort Clatsop
• Wikipedia article on Fort Clatsop
• Oregon Encyclopedia history of Fort Clatsop

Th 11 Actual Aug Route: Fort Stevens SP - Astoria - Hammond - Warrenton

F 12 Aug Actual Route: Hammond - Ft Clatsop - Seaside - BayView Jetty County Park

Sa 13 Aug Actual Route: BayView Jetty County Park - Tillamook - Lincoln City - Chinook Bend RV Park

Su 14 Aug Actual Route: Fernville - Newport - Yachats - Florence - Alder Dune USFS CG

M 15 Aug Route: Florence - Reedsport - North Bend - Charleston

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Finding Campgrounds:

• RV Campgrounds from TrailerLifeDirectory.com
• Family Camping Directories from Woodalls.com

N.B. I receive nothing from Trailer Life or Woodalls for including links to their free campground lookups.