Wahkiakum County Ferry

The Wahkiakum County ferry is the only way to cross the Columbia River by car between Longview (where I-5 bridges the river) and Astoria, Oregon — a gap of about 45 miles. It runs from Puget Island's south end to Westport, Oregon, a 1.4-mile crossing that takes about 10 minutes.

The ferry runs hourly, 365 days a year, from 5 a.m. to 10:15 p.m. Departures are on the hour from the Washington side and 15 minutes past the hour from Oregon. The current vessel is the Oscar B, which entered service in 2015.

For travelers driving between southwest Washington and the Oregon coast, this ferry is both practical and genuinely pleasant — a rare chance to watch the Columbia up close from a working vessel. Even if you're not crossing to Oregon, it's worth driving out to Puget Island's south end to watch a departure.

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The Wahkiakum County ferry has been crossing the Columbia since June 25, 1925 — making it one of the longest-running ferry services on the river. The current vessel, the Oscar B, was named after ferryman Oscar Bergseng, who worked the crossing for 26 years before retiring in 1966. It's the last regularly scheduled car ferry to cross the lower Columbia between Washington and Oregon.