page_title: Beacon Rock State Park
section_title: Beacon Rock
hierarchical_section_title: Beacon Rock State Park / Beacon Rock
caption_attribution_description: English: Castle Rock from Eleven Years in the Rocky Mountains
context_page_description: Beacon Rock State Park is a geologic preserve and public recreation area on Route 14 in the Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area in Skamania County, Washington, United States. The park takes its name from Beacon Rock, an 848-foot basalt volcanic plug on the north shore of the Columbia River 32 miles east of Vancouver. On October 31, 1805, the Lewis and Clark Expedition arrived here and first measured tides on the river, indicating that they were nearing the ocean.
context_section_description: Beacon Rock is an 848-foot-tall (258 m) monolith composed of basalt on the north bank of the Columbia River. It was named by Lewis and Clark in 1805; they originally referred to it as Beaten Rock, later as Beacon Rock. They noted that the rock marked the eastern extent of the tidal influence in the Columbia. The rock was later known as Castle Rock, until 1915 when its name was changed back to Beacon Rock.
  Henry J. Biddle purchased the rock in 1915 for $1 and during the next three years constructed a trail with 51 switchbacks, handrails and bridges. The three-quarter mile trail to the top, completed in April 1918, leads to views in all directions.
  The United States Army Corps of Engineers planned to destroy the rock to supply material for the jetty at the mouth of the Columbia (see Columbia River Bar), and dug three caves on the rock's south side. During this time, Biddle's family tried to make it a state park. At first Washington refused the gift, but changed its position when Oregon offered to accept. The park was established in 1935. Workers with the Civilian Conservation Corps made improvements which remain in use.
caption: "Castle Rock" in a lithograph from Frances Fuller Victor's Eleven years in the Rocky Mountains and a life on the frontier (1877).
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