Despite fires in eastern Washington sending all their smoke west, we decided to take a little spin south to the nearby Cowlitz River. We found some great viewpoints that are alongside the river so we could see it.
Our drive initially took us from our RV spot in Silver Creek west to a place called Mary’s Corner to buy fuel. Turning south, the first interesting thing we saw was the Jackson Cabin, a historical landmark where the extraordinarily tough pioneers to this area used to stop on their way from the Columbia River, up the Cowlitz until paddling became fruitless and then on foot to the Puget Sound area. The Jackson Cabin apparently served as a rest stop, a court room, a store, a dining opportunity and a general meeting place for all the folks stealing the land from those pesky Indians.
We continued south through Lewis and Clark State Park until we hit the north bank of the Cowlitz where we turned east up the river road. The state of Washington has installed fish hatcheries on the north shore. At the first hatchery we came across, we went down to the boat ramp to scope out the river and were delighted to find a pair of mature bald eagles within range of our cameras.
At the state salmon hatchery a bit further west we found a barrier dam (actually just a big smooth spillway) where the entire volume of the Cowlitz becomes a 100-yard wide perfect waterfall. The water below the barrier dam was quite low so we could wander right down to the edge of the river. It is quite beautiful here. It would probably even look better if we could just see a bit further through the smoke.
We got pix. Click here