Cape Disappointment was originally named Fort Canby as it was one of the 3 forts protecting the entrance to the Columbia River up to WW2, along with Fort Stevens and Fort Columbia.
Cape Disappointment has the Lewis and Clark Museum which has been built in front of one of the old Ft. Canby batteries. Fort Columbia is worth a visit, has all the various buildings restored and it is above the tunnel you drive through from the Astoria-Megler bridge to get to Cape Disappointment.
Astoria has the Astoria Column that you can climb the steps up to the top for an excellent view.
We like the Ft. George brewpub in Astoria. A couple of blocks away is the historic site of Fort Astoria (called Fort George by the British) built in 1811. There is a recreated block house there.
If you are interested in geology Cape Disappointment has exposures of the 50 million year old Siletzia basalt. These are pillow basalts of the Siletzia Large Igneous Province which is the western basement rock from Southern Oregon to Vancouver Island.
There are pillow basalts behind site 166 and other places in the park.
2006 Jayco 28', E450 6.8L V10, Bilstein HDs,
Roadmaster Anti-Sway Bars, Blue Ox TigerTrak