Camping Among the Giants

Camping Among the Giants. . In early November 1805, the Corps of Discovery entered the upper Columbia River estuary. The western Columbia Gorge was a setting of awe-inspiring beauty. Towering cliffs rose above the river. Dense forests of cottonwood, alder, maple, and willow hugged the shore. On the heights above rose majestic stands of fir and cedar. , , "Saw a number of Spring runs flowing for the high clifts and Mountains," noted John Ordway. Some of which falls off about 100 feet perpinticular." , Rooster Rock, a landslide of Crown Point, caught the expedition's attention, as did nearby Phoca Rock (mid-river) and Beacon Rock (on the eastern horizon) which are plugs fro the throes of vanished volcanoes. , Clark estimated Beacon Rock to be 800 feet high, The explorers named Phoca Rock for the harbor seal (Phoca) and gave its size as 100 feet high. , "We came 23 miles, and encamped at a hight peak resembling a tower on the south side." Patrick Gass, November 2, 1805. , (sidebar on right) Ancient Landscape Uncovered The rocky cliffs of Cape Horn (north shore), Crown Point (south shore), and the spires of the Pillars of Hercules (partially destroyed by I-84 and the railroad) are remnants of Miocene lava flows. At the ent of the Wisconsin Ice Age about 12,000 to 15,000 years ago, the 500-foot-high Missoula Floods surged through the gorge. Released from melting glaciers in wester Montana, these floods scoured away topsoil and vegetation - perhaps a hundred times - and created the modern geological landscape of this region. , Rooster Rock State Park opened in 1957. The park includes three miles of sandy beach wetlands fed by Young and Latourelle Creeks, and the basalt spire that gives the park its name.