5-18: Coast Guard Station

May 19, 2013 by Tangly Cottage

We took part of the day off to go to the open house at the U.S. Coast Guard Station at Cape Disappointment. I had not planned to take as long a time touring as we did, but the event offered much that was of interest.

USCG at Cape D

One reason I particularly wanted to go was to see a view that I’d marveled at in other people’s local photos. I had once had a hard time figuring out exactly what angle a photo could be taken that shows Ilwaco in the background of a small island. It is from the Coast Guard main parking lot and from the building above; I had not realized that the land curves enough so that the station has a view of the town.

looking toward Ilwaco

a bird for Mr. Tootlepedal

Allan noticed this very cool hose reel:

nautical hose reel

We went inside the building to watch this video, ably explained by a Coast Guard member:

If you watch the video, you’ll see where the boat flipped over, resulting in injuries to the crew and damage to the boat.

After that, we walked up a steep hill to the viewpoint over Dead Man’s Cove. Years ago, before Sept. 11, 2001, when the station was more accessible to the public, Robert and I had walked to the cove but I was too scared to go down the steep cliff (holding a rope, as I recall!) to get to the beach. Now access appeared to be blocked due to the hazardous nature of the descent, but it is still just lovely to view from above.

path to Dead Man’s Cove overlook

beside the path: waterleaf

cow parsnip? maybe

above the cove

Dead Man’s Cove

the old stairs going down

pretty wonky stairs ascending above the cove

above the cove

low tide

This beach is so hidden a lot of people around here don’t seem to know it exists.

We then walked up the steep paved road to the Cape Disappointment lighthouse and caught more views of the cove from the side.

lighthouse road

Dead Man’s Cove from the side

deceptively gentle

In 1995, when Robert took our strong black lab (Bertie Woofter) swimming here, the dog almost got swept out to sea. Robert almost went in after him, which would have spelled further disaster, but Bertie managed to get to shore between swells.

Further up the road, we found an old bunker…or something…with a green roof.

A swag of wild cucumber vine draped the front. It could not have been arranged more artfully.

by nature’s design

A steep slippery short path led to the side of the pavement and revealed this overlook.

looking south toward Oregon

precipice

our goal: Cape Disappointment lighthouse

Looking toward the Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center

On the cliffs these birds nest.

on a rock

And the white all down the cliff is their droppings.

bird cliffs (below is the rock they were sitting on)

view to the south toward Oregon (mouth of Columbia River)

The mouth of the Columbia and the Columbia Bar are known as the Graveyard of the Pacific, thus the locals love the rescuing bravery of our Coast Guard.

Back down the long rather steep road we walked, passed by a man with a brown dog who was pulling quite hard.

Down on the flatland, the cute Long Beach trolley was in service as a shuttle from a larger parking lot.

base of the lighthouse road

We explored the back of the main building at the base and found that in their garden is also plagued by horsetail.

Horsetail in the garden…If only it were well behaved!

calla lilies against a higher building

Callas

I walked behind the main building by this mossy rock wall…

mossy wall

and came upon the Coast Guard Auxiliary lunch tent!

Coast Guard Auxiliary

The Coast Guard Auxiliary are made of tough stuff; by now it had begun raining quite hard, but this auxiliary member and his dog just sat calmly in the rain, leaving the small picnic tent for the event guests.

After tasty sandwiches, Allan and I walked out to the motor life boat school docks where an interesting array of equipment was on display:

members of The Ilwaco Volunteer Fire Department

a Damage Control Trainer for boaters!

in which boaters practice fixing assorted catastrophes

Assorted rescue equipment was on display.

rescue boat

helicopter rescue basket

South Pacific County Technical Rescue

One of the technical rescue folk told us that last year the event had been much better, with “more vcndors”. I was enjoying myself immensely and now I really wish we had gone last year, as well!

We walked out to the end of the display area where I noticed, at the most extreme southwest point of Washington State, in full salt wind, pruned but probably not irrigated, a strongly growing escallonia hedge!

Escallonia prevails! (and a little salmonberry)

Beyond it, nothing but the A Jetty and the mouth of the Columbia.

to the sea

shapely

Back at the Motor Lifeboat School dock, hardy folk could get a ride on a boat.

boat ride

I’m vertiginously daunted by plank walkways and steep ramps:

Some of the children had a hard time with the steep ramp. (Steep due to low tide.) He was braver than me.

Anyway, I wanted to make sure to get back to Ilwaco Saturday Market to get my weekly photos taken there, and I feared it would shut down early due to bad weather. Right? So Allan went out to take these boat photos….

surf rescue dummy

…I walked back along the road to the main building, reading signs along the way that explained boating danger.

And admiring the beautiful setting. Coast Guard housing can be seen behind the little island. What an amazing place to live. One of the Auxiliary members told me that after training here and then moving elsewhere, it is common for retired Coasties to return here to retire.

geese

Imagine living here and watching the tides and storms. And being responsible for maritime rescues. It must be a heightened state of being.

It was true that, as I thought might happen, some of the Saturday Market vendors were closing early. When we got there a bit after two, a number of the tents were already down. The weather at the port was strangely much worse and windier than it had been down at the Coast Guard station!

Pink Poppy Bakery‘s Madeline said she was staying till the end of market (4 PM) and so we got our lemon glazed butter cookies. On the green cake stand would have been my favourite lime bundt cakes, but one must get to the market early to snag those.