Olympic Peninsula & Washington Coast - Washington, Oregon and the Pacific Northwest - page 290

modern strip on Hwy 103 (aka Pacific Way) is lined with T-shirt shops, middlebrow
boutiques and bumper-car arenas. To the west, the beach is separated from the town by a
wide swath of dunes and dwarf pines and remains pretty wild, especially along the
8.2-mile Discovery Trail.
Thousands of people descend on Long Beach during the third week of August for the
Washington State International Kite Festival , billed as the largest such event in the
western hemisphere. Festival-goers seek to gain new world records: the greatest number
of kites in flight at one time, the largest kite flown, the longest time aloft and so on.
WORTH A TRIP
THE HISTORIC LONG BEACH DISCOVERY TRAIL
For American history buffs, Long Beach and the adjacent hulk of Cape Disappoint-
ment are hallowed ground. In November 1805, William Clark of the Discovery
Corps arrived here looking for his first close-up glimpse of the Pacific Ocean. One
year after leaving St Louis, MO, on a journey to map and explore the barely known
continent, Clark, along with fellow explorer Meriwether Lewis and three dozen oth-
ers, had finally staggered into a sheltered cove on the Columbia River 2 miles west
of the present-day Astoria Bridge and christened it 'Station Camp.' Adamant to
find a better winter bivouac, Clark and several companions continued the hike west
to Long Beach Peninsula, coming to a halt near present-day 26th St, where Clark
dipped his toe in the Pacific and carved his name on a cedar tree for posterity. The
route of this historic three-day trudge has been re-created in the Long Beach Dis-
covery Trail , which runs from the small town of Ilwaco near the mouth of the
Columbia River to Clark's 26th St turnaround. Officially inaugurated in September
2009, the trail has incorporated some dramatic life-size sculptures along its
8.2-mile length. One depicts a giant gray-whale skeleton, another recalls Clark's re-
corded sighting of a washed-up sea sturgeon, while a third re-creates in bronze the
original cedar tree (long since uprooted by a Pacific storm).
Sights & Activities
Several Long Beach outfitters offer horseback-riding tours (solo riding is discouraged);
try Back Country Wilderness Outfitters ( 360-642-2576; 409 SW Sid Snyder Dr; beach
rides per hour from $25) . Biking along the boardwalk is another fun activity, with rentals
around town from around $5 per hour.
Marsh's Free Museum MUSEUM