Baker Bay

The Chinook River is a short stream located near the mouth of the Columbia River in the U.S. state of Washington.

SS Great Republic was a sidewheel steamship and the largest passenger liner on the US west coast when it ran aground near the mouth of the Columbia River, on Sand Island, south of Ilwaco, Washington, in 1879, in a region of frequent wrecks known as the Graveyard of the Pacific.

Sand Island is an island in Baker Bay in the mouth of the Columbia River, located in Clatsop County, Oregon. It is situated north of Fort Stevens State Park and the Clatsop Spit, east of Cape Disappointment, and just south of Ilwaco, Washington. Sand Island is also the northernmost point in the state of Oregon. Sand Island is physically situated closer to the Washington mainland than to the Oregon mainland, although the border between the two states traverses the Columbia River north of the island. It often changes position in the river, and was described by Captain George Vancouver during his expedition but not by Lewis and Clark. The island was formerly subject to a border dispute between Oregon and Washington; Oregon won possession in a 1908 Supreme Court case, Washington v. Oregon.According to an 1889 description in the Coast Pilot of California, Oregon, and Washington: This low, sandy island is the visible danger in the middle of the entrance to the river. It lies inside the line joining Point Adams and Cape Disappointment. In 1841 it was almost abreast of Point Adams and less than one-third the width of the river from the point. In 1850 it had moved a little seaward, and was farther from Point Adams. In 1868 it was more than half-way across to Cape Disappointment but inside the line. In 1886 it had taken a shape like a boomerang with one point a mile and a quarter east of the Cape and on the same parallel, and the other point bent up the river and three miles northwest from Fort Stevens. It is about two miles long and has an average width of nearly four hundred yards. It consists of loose sand raised a few feet above the river and covered with stranded trees, drift logs, etc., brought down by the freshets. Formerly the North Channel ran around the northeast side of this island, but the shoal from its northeast side has spread towards the Chinook Shoal, which also has developed towards Sand Island, and now there is passage-way for only nine or ten feet of water in place of four fathoms. The main channel of the river passes close under the south side of Sand Island and, striking the great Middle Sands, is divided, one part moving to the south and the other to the northwest. There is a beacon built upon this island to afford ranges for vessels. During the fishing season there are sometimes net-racks and other temporary buildings on Sand Island for the accommodation of fishermen. The island is covered in grass with a few small trees towards the center. East Sand Island, located nearby, is smaller and is home to thousands of nesting birds, who mostly avoid the larger Sand Island.

Ilwaco ( il-WAH-koh) is a city in Pacific County, Washington, United States. The population was 936 at the 2010 census. Founded in 1890, the city was home to the Ilwaco Railway and Navigation Company along the Long Beach Peninsula, with its core economy based on logging and timber rafting. The city is located on the southern edge of the Long Beach Peninsula, on Baker Bay on the north side of the Columbia River where it meets the Pacific Ocean. It is near the city of Astoria, Oregon, which lies to the southeast on the southern bank of the Columbia.

The Colbert House is a historic house museum owned by Washington State Parks and located in Ilwaco, Washington, at the corner of Quaker and Lake streets. The house was originally built in 1872 and was moved to its current site in 1883. The house was owned by a fishery and cannery family, Frederick and Catherine (Petit) Colbert and descendants, and was restored in 1994 to a late 19th-century appearance with Colbert family furnishings and decorative items. Following its restoration, the house was operated by Cape Disappointment State Park as a historic house museum that was open by appointment only. In 2009, the Long Beach Area Parks Management Plan deemed the operation of the building as a house museum to be "not feasible at this time" and that "State Parks will preserve the building until such time as a feasible and sustainable use becomes apparent."Colbert House is a Washington State Parks Heritage Site and on the National Register of Historic Places.

United States Coast Guard Station Cape Disappointment, situated near Cape Disappointment, Washington, at the mouth of the Columbia River, is the largest United States Coast Guard search and rescue station on the Northwest Coast, with 50 crewmembers assigned. Cape Disappointment Station is also the site of the oldest search and rescue station within the Thirteenth Coast Guard District. The station's Area of Responsibility reaches from Ocean Park on the Washington Coast south to Tillamook Head on the Oregon Coast.

KLMY (99.7 FM) is a radio station licensed to Long Beach, Washington, United States. The station is owned by Ohana Media Group and features programming from Westwood One.

The Cape Disappointment Light is a lighthouse on Cape Disappointment near the mouth of the Columbia River in the U.S. state of Washington.

Pacific City is an extinct town in Pacific County, in the U.S. state of Washington.Pacific City was laid out ca. 1848. A post office called Pacific City was established in 1850, and remained in operation until 1865.

The Columbia Bar is a system of bars and shoals at the mouth of the Columbia River spanning the U.S. states of Oregon and Washington. It is one of the most dangerous bar crossings in the world, earning the nickname Graveyard of the Pacific. The bar is about 3 miles (5 km) wide and 6 miles (10 km) long.

Cape Disappointment is a headland of the Pacific Northwest, located at the extreme southwestern corner of Washington, United States, on the north side of the Columbia River bar and just west of Baker Bay. The point of the cape is located on the Pacific Ocean in Washington's Pacific County, approximately two miles (3.2 km) southwest of the town of Ilwaco. Cape Disappointment sees about 2,552 hours of fog a year—the equivalent of 106 days—making it one of the foggiest places in the U.S.The cape was named on July 6, 1788, by British fur trader John Meares, who was sailing south from Nootka Island, Canada, in search of trade. He mistook the mouth of the Columbia River for a bay, which the ship could not enter due to a shallow shoal. Just missing the discovery of the river mentioned by Francisco Antonio Mourelle, he named them Cape Disappointment and Deception Bay. George Vancouver credits John Meares in his account when he saw Cape Disappointment on April 27, 1792.Cape Disappointment State Park is located on the cape, as is the Cape Disappointment Lighthouse. United States Coast Guard Station Cape Disappointment is situated on the river near the state park. The station's crewmembers respond to 300–400 calls for assistance every year.

Waikiki Beach is a beach at Cape Disappointment, Washington. According to a Moon Travel Guide of the Long Beach, Washington area, "tiny Waikiki Beach is a favorite local spot for picnics. The beach received its name when a Hawaiian sailor's body washed ashore here after his ship was wrecked in a failed attempt to cross the Columbia River bar in 1811. You can follow a trail uphill from Waikiki to the Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center, and then on to Cape Disappointment Lighthouse." Visitors will often use the large piles of driftwood to build forts, so the beach is covered in them (as of 2020). Swimming is not encouraged as the tides are unpredictable and there is no lifeguard present.