Cape Disappointment lies at the mouth of the Columbia, with the river on one side and the open Pacific on the other. It lies opposite Fort Stevens State Park on the Oregon side, home of the annual Recumbent Retreat. It adjoins the 20-mile unbroken sand of Long Beach at the North Head rocky outcrop.

You can reach Cape Disappointment by going south on the Discovery Trail to the Beard's Hollow parking lot by the wetlands. This trail continues inside the park across the bridge and up the half-mile dirt incline to the overlook, and then on down the final paved section to the fishing village of Ilwaco.
On the right of the Beard's Hollow parking lot is the Westwind Trail, a steep climb to the North Head Lighthouse and the Bell's Viewpoint Trail.
Continuing through the parking lot, you come to the North Head Lighthouse multi-use path, a paved 10% ascent to the lighthouse. The final section was paved and opened in November, 2014.
Staying in Long Beach and triking down the Discovery Trail is one option for these ride hikes, but another is staying at the campground right in Cape Disappointment State Park. The large facility has 137 campsites, 60 full RV hookups, 18 RV sides with water and electricity only, five primitive hiker/biker campsites, 14 yurts, three cabins, one dump station, eight restrooms, and 14 showers. Camping is available year-round.
Much of the park is high and steep, but the campground and rides to several surrounding areas are level. Camping is in a shaded shore pine forest adjacent to Benson Beach.
Benson Beach is a smooth two-mile stretch of sand, bounded by the North Jetty on one end and the cliffs of North Head on the other. One of two functioning lighthouses within Cape Disappointment State Park. Each winter storms deposit a fresh supply of driftwood and other flotsam on the beach.
At the edge of the campground is a short, steep hike to MacKenzie Head, with views out into the Pacific and across the Cape. You can explore underground bunkers from World War and climb into the huge gun turrets.
A short ride further takes you to North Jetty, a rock barrier reaching out into the Pacific. You can walk (and maybe ride) to the end. We met a couple from Kamloops on TerraTrikes who have brought their motorhome to the campground for the past fifteen years.
The Confluence Project, with artwork created by Maya Lin, designer of the Viet Nam Memorial in the other Washington, draws attention to the mixing of the Columbia River and Pacific Ocean, and the meeting of the native and European cultures through the Lewis and Clark Expedition of 1803-4. You can wander down a crushed oyster shell path inscribed with native teachings to a sculpture garden and see a circle of ancient driftwood cedar sentinels around a pre-Columbian stump. Then take a cement walkway to the beach that chronicles the stops of Lewis and Clark epic journey. The end of the path opens onto Waikiki Beach and rock cliffs of Cape Disappointment.
Much of the park is high and steep, but the campground and rides to several surrounding areas are level. Camping is in a shaded shore pine forest adjacent to Benson Beach.
Some of the roads from the campground lead you to the Discovery Trail or in to Ilwaco. Others take you to Cape Disappointment and Waikiki Beach. Roads on this side are steep, winding, and narrow. Most are low speed but with no shoulders. Traffic is high in summer, and the campground is often full, but the facilities are nearly deserted in the off season.
The Cape Disappointment Trail climbs up the bluff to the Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center and on to the Cape Disappointment Lighthouse (Yes, there are two active lighthouses in this park.) You can also ride the road to a parking lot between the two. It is a shorter hike from there, but still quite steep.
Waikiki Beach is a small, driftwood trap and the end of the campground road. It is named in honor of a Sandwich Islands (Hawaii today) sailor who drowned in a shipwreck here with his shipmates in early 1800s.