8/1 Fort Stevens Bike Ride #2 & Fort Ruins

I headed out today for another bike ride to the historic area of the park. Fort Stevens was started in 1865, but its main function in the 20th Century was to protect the mouth of the Columbia River during WWI and WWII.  

Fort Stevens is also a very large state park, with over 400 campsites, but the bike lanes tie everything together.  

I had already taken a tour several years ago, so I skipped it this time, but there is a WWII truck fitted out with seats that takes you on a guided tour.  These structures contained guns and face the Pacific Ocean, by the way.   

The sign below describes this gun, but there were much bigger ones here originally. 

This is the small, but very nice military museum for the Fort.  

I headed back on the bike trail and took a short detour to the ocean beach about a mile away. 

The remains of an old shipwreck.  

Back towards the campground is another set of gun enplacements.  This is called "Battery Russell."

I would have thought gun batteries would be closer to the shore, but apparently these big guns could shoot a long way down the shore and out to sea. 

 Only a few more days here, so tomorrow I go into nearby Astoria to do some shopping and visit the maritime museum.