Every quarter-hour on summer afternoons, groups of four or six climb the spiral stairs of a 65-foot tower to reach the lantern room of North Head Lighthouse.

There, they listen to stories of 20th-century lighthouse keepers’ work days, learn of a weather station that once operated nearby and are pointed to a map of many shipwrecks from the unforgiving waters below.

On the Sunday that I joined one of these tours, we were fortunate enough to have good visibility. For much of the year, this is a headland shrouded in thick fog, all the more reason to have a bright beacon visible for many miles at sea.

At one time, that light took up most of the room we stood in. A first-order Fresnel lens, in use through 1935, is now displayed nearby at the Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center. A later-used fourth-order lens is housed in Astoria at the Columbia River Maritime Museum.

To my surprise, the lens in use today shines brighter from dune grasses along the Discovery Trail than it does from a few inches’ distance, easing the comfort of a close look.

Tours of the lighthouse are offered between May and September. Do remember to wear close-toed shoes (beach hikers in sandals without ankle straps are turned away), and if you haven’t, also stop by Cape Disappointment Lighthouse a few miles away.