Maps at the trailheads provide visitors with "you are here" info and attractions ahead.

You don’t have to explain to most Oregonians and Washingtonians who Lewis and Clark were, what they did or where they trekked. You can’t turn around without running into something about them in this neck of the woods, and for good reason.

On Nov. 15, 1805, one year, six months and a day after leaving St. Louis, Mo., Lewis and Clark and the Corps of Discovery reached the Pacific Ocean at the mouth of the Columbia River.

One of the excursions they made before settling in to build Fort Clatsop on the Oregon side, where they spent the winter, was to explore a bit of the south Washington coast, from present-day Ilwaco to present-day Long Beach.

At the furthest northern point of this excursion, Clark carved his name in a tree along with the notation, “by land from the U. States.” The tree is, of course, long gone, but the trail they blazed, dubbed The Discovery Trail, is not.

Walking the trail today, you will not have to endure the more rugged terrain that Lewis and Clark faced, for the 8.2 miles trial is either paved or surfaced with compacted gravel on its entire run. And along the way, walkers, bicyclists and runners will find numerous monuments and interpretive displays that provide information about, and commemorate, this historic trek.

An impressive basalt monument celebrates the Lewis and Clark Expedition. The southernmost starting point of The Discovery Trail is at the Port of Ilwaco, at Bart Kenworthy’s condor sculpture. Surface streets and sidewalks will take you to Fourth Avenue and Main Street and to the trailhead. This is the most challenging part of the trail, with both easy and steep changes in elevation. You’ll immediately be greeted by one of the three elegant wooden bridges on the trail – a side slope bridge at the west end of Main Street in Ilwaco. The other two are a 250-foot wetland crossing bridge at Beard’s Hollow and a 40-foot stringer bridge at the Beard’s Hollow Outfall. This section of the trail will take you through forested groves of spruce and alder, past Ford’s Dry Lake.

From Beard’s Hollow, the path connects with the hiking trails of Cape Disappointment State Park. For the hardy, you can take side trips to the Cape Disappointment Lighthouse, the Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center and the North Head Lighthouse. In fact, the newest section of the trail is an impressive spur connecting Beard’s Hollow with the North Head Lighthouse road. Throughout the state park, you will discover additional history and more startling vistas of where the Columbia meets the ocean.

Learning a little history is inevitable as you walk the Discovery Trail. Continuing back at the Discovery Trail, you’ll pass through rich riparian habitat, waves of ocean beach grass and more ocean vistas, and find several paths that lead to the beach … if you get an uncontrollable urge to play in the sand.

The northernmost end of the trail is in Long Beach at 26th Street North, just in front of The Breakers and marked by “Clark’s Tree,” a 19-foot bronze sculpture commemorating Capt. Clark’s carving of his initials in a pine tree at this point of the Corps of Discovery’s journey. He noted that carving, and his next discovery, in his journal: “I proceeded on the sandy coast 4 miles, and marked my name on a small pine, the day of the month & year, and returned to the foot of the hill, from which place I intended to strike across to the bay, I saw a Sturgeon which had been thrown on shore and left by the tide 10 feet in length … ” Keep your eye out for the amazing life-sized bronze sculpture depicting that fish-meets-man encounter. It was created by sculptor Jim Demetro from Battle Ground, Wash.

Graceful bridges greet visitors at the head of the Ilwaco entrance to the Discovery Trail. Clark noted another event in his journal: “I saw … Several joints of the backbone of a whale which must have foundered on this part of the coast.” Commemorating this sighting is a 38-foot beached gray whale that was found in 2003 about one mile north of where the marker is placed. It was cleaned, preserved and reassembled beside the trail near the Sid Snyder Avenue entrance to the trail.

Another handsome monument is the nine-foot etched basalt monolith north of Bolstad Avenue commemorating the excursion.

The waters churn below the North Head Lighthouse viewpoint, just another in a plethora of vistas from the point. All along the various street breaks on the trail, you’ll find maps that let you know where you are and what lies ahead. In addition, all along the path, you’ll find interpretive displays that fill you in on what the members of the expedition did and saw. If you get weary and need a rest, there are benches located along the trail at convenient intervals. For those not on foot, there are some very clever bicycle racks designed like fish emerging from the sand (a little fun with your exercise and history lesson is always a plus). Very, very, important note – restrooms and drinking water can be found at the Port of Ilwaco and at the south end of the Boardwalk in Long Beach. For your canine companion, dancing dog sculptures replete with litter bags abound.

Discovery Trail walkers will come across a recreation in bronze of Clark’s discovery of a sturgeon on the beach. All in all, whether you attempt the trail in its entirety (you animal) or in segments, like the rest of the population, I’m sure you’ll find, as I did, exercise to stimulate the body and peaceful solitude for the soul, intertwined with a bit of history for the mind … and of course, in Long Beach or llwaco you’re never very far from an ice cream cone or some taffy … for the kid inside you.

A real stranded whale skeleton is resurrected from the beach to mark a similar sighting by Capt. William Clark. For the weary, there are benches installed along the path in several locations. North Head Lighthouse is one of many landmarks along the Discovery Trail.