Cape Disappointment, Pacific headland in Long Beach Peninsula, United States

Cape Disappointment is a headland at the extreme southwestern corner of Washington, on the north side of the Columbia River bar across from Oregon and just west of Baker Bay, about two miles southwest of Ilwaco. Its point faces the Pacific in Pacific County. A short white cylindrical lighthouse with a black lantern room and gallery railing stands on a grassy crest above the water, attached to a low white flat-roofed building, with dark conifers behind it. Below, a sandy beach curves beneath a forested slope, and a long dark rock jetty runs seaward from a low grassy point.

On July 6, 1788, British fur trader John Meares, sailing south from Nootka Island, mistook the mouth of the Columbia River for a bay his ship could not enter because of a shallow shoal. He named the headland Cape Disappointment and the inlet Deception Bay. George Vancouver credited Meares when he sighted the cape on April 27, 1792.

The Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center displays exhibits about the expedition that reached this location while exploring westward. Visitors can learn how this site marked an important moment in early American exploration.

Cape Disappointment State Park lies about two miles southwest of Ilwaco, at the end of the road past Baker Bay. Fog covers the cape for roughly 2,552 hours a year, about 106 days, so check conditions before walking the headland trails. The Coast Guard station on the river answers 300 to 400 calls for assistance annually.

This location is known for extremely rough conditions with thick fog and large waves that make it one of the most dangerous waters along the coast. Sailors have long feared and respected this place.