Will it surprise you, dear Reader, to hear that I sometimes have a vivid imagination? Most of the time, to be honest? It happened again last Sunday when I wandered, by myself, along the coastline of Ft. Stevens.

The Fort, and its adjacent hundreds of acres of National park, guards the spot where the mighty Columbia river enters the Pacific. It was constructed in the 1860s to provide a defense for the Oregon Territories. After the Civil War, the Army Corps of Engineers took over to improve the Columbia River Channel; around 1900 the building of a true defense installation began; luckily the soldiers at the Fort never engaged in active combat even when shelled by a Japanese submarine gun in June 1942 – since they incurred no damage they decided not to fire back. Wise men. (Won’t point out the contrast to you know who.)

History

So here I stood on land that was the sea when Lewis&Clark arrived in 1805 or so. The building of a long jetty had helped to wrestle almost a mile of land from the ocean. Behind that dike now lie salty marshes, ideal breeding ground for shore birds.

On the jetty itself sea gulls, crows, and, astonishingly, swallows jostle for the best space.

There are so many old, decaying wooden structures left from the heyday of the Fort that the swallows have an ideal breeding ground.

Numerous species of ducks, cormorants and other sea birds swim in the ocean, sand pipers roam the beach and sanderlings flit about.

 

My imagination? I saw the birds as merry carriers of the many souls lost at that very spot: the dangerous waters where ocean meets river provided one of the largest grave yards of the Pacific – more than 200 ships went down there with few lives rescued. The birds, however, soar and float and careen above the watery graves, looping through shimmering rain and eventual some rays of sun.

 

My heart shed some weight.

 

PS: On a practical note: The park is only an hour and 40 minutes from Portland. It has a museum, lakes to swim in, various beaches, an old shipwreck and perfect hiking paths for day trips. One MUST, however, bring sturdy boots because climbing around the jetty is extremely slippery. In the summer, insect repellant is also essential or you get eaten alive in the woods there.