Cape Blanco -- southern Oregon Coast

[MarkBC]

I took a 4-day/night trip to Cape Blanco State Park on the southern Oregon coast, though the first night was camping on the North Umpqua River in the southern Cascades.
I haven't been to the ocean since late-winter of 2010, and that last visit was to the same spot...maybe I'm in a rut.

But I went back to this area because it gets less visitation pressure from Oregon cities, since it's farther away.

Here's my overall route:


I left Bend mid-afternoon on Monday and figured that it would take 5-6 hours to get to Cape Blanco, but I was OK with getting there after dark and didn't think there'd be any problem snagging a campsite since it was a weeknight after Labor Day (Cape Blanco doesn't accept reservations, unlike many/most Oregon coast State Parks). I headed south on US 97 then west on Oregon Highway 138, north of Crater Lake.

Along OR 138 there were construction-related delays...kinda tedious. After I was finally past those, I started noticing USFS campgrounds along the North Umpqua River and stopped to check out Eagle Rock Campground of the Umpqua National Forest (see the map). The River is magnificent-beautiful, the campground was mostly-empty, and I realized there was no reason to keep driving if I didn't want to. I picked a nice campsite next to the River.

I've been on this highway before, but I'm not really familiar with the North Umpqua. It flows over/through lava in spots (it is the volcanic Cascades, after all) -- deep green in places...not the green of ickyness, the green of great deep pools. If it had been hot I would have jumped in (which probably would have been a bad idea, but still...).

I didn't fish (unlike the guy in the photo above) or go swimming, but I did walk into the river up to my sandal-shod ankles -- very cold.
I didn't bring my new Solar-Powered Motion-Sensing Security Light on this trip, so I don't know if any critters passed by during the night.

This river is really something -- beautiful deep pools and several USFS campgrounds and other day-use areas along the way. RECOMMENDED!

I guess it's been a while since I've been to the West-side (as we call west-of-the-Cascades, the wet-side) 'cause I was surprised that this beautiful deep, dark, forest was only 1500 feet elevation.

 

[MarkBC]

Tuesday morning I continued west along OR 138 and reached I5 at Roseburg, where I bought some road snacks. From there I headed south a bit on I5 then turned off to the west on OR 42 which is windy-scenic and then 42S at Coquille, which met US 101 at Bandon, where I bought some groceries before continuing south on 101. I went past the turn-off to Cape Blanco State Park to fuel the truck at Port Orford, then went back and drove about 5 miles west off 101 to the State Park, arriving a little after noon.

I was surprised to find the campground already half-full -- surprised because it was a Tuesday and after Labor Day...but I got a good campsite (I think it was the same one as I had on my last trip

) on the outside of the loop and on the ocean side. I'm glad I hadn't tried to push on through to here the night before 'cause the c.g. was full by 4pm!

My beautiful campsite -- A46 -- with a "partial view" of the ocean through the trees. Notice the AC power connection!

After a nap...I wandered/walked/hiked along the cliff top trail a few hundred yards until out of the trees and watched the view. I saw whales spouting! That is, I didn't see the whales directly, but I saw what appeared to be spouting and it wasn't waves-against-rocks. Later, one of the C.G. hosts said that whales are passing by and others had seen spouting.
I took a few photos that evening, but nothing worth sharing at this point.

 

[MarkBC]

I planned to get up early -- sunrise-ish -- the next morning for photo-ops, but it was foggy (no surprise there

) so I went back to sleep. Sleep is important to us older folks...

I wandered around some more...listened to a Dune audiobook...napped...ate...read...relaxed...looked at the view some more...ate some more -- that's how I spent much of the day.

Near sunset I went out with my camera and tripod to the tree-free zone along the cliff. There's a trail cut through the vegetation that goes along the top of the cliff for a mile or so, then breaks out of the trees/shrubs as it heads towards Cape Blanco Lighthouse -- an actual working lighthouse, just northwest of the State Park boundary.

I should mention here that Cape Blanco is the westernmost point in Oregon, even just a wee-bit further west than California's westernmost point, Cape Mendocino (though not quite as western as Washington's westernmost, Cape Alava). Wikipedia lists Port Orford -- where I gassed up, a few miles south of Cape Blanco -- as the westernmost incorporated place of the "contiguous 48".
So, this trip is really western wandering...short of crossing the ocean or foreign soil.

Here's looking south along the beach; the campground is located within/behind those trees on the left:

That little "lake" within the beach is fed by springs in the cliffs as well as wash-over from the surf at high tide (I tasted it

)

At this point I shot a 360° panorama -- here's a link to it:
Cape Blanco Pano-1
(it's 4MB and requires QuickTime to view it). This one has some visible photo-merging artifacts -- more than normal. It's tough to include the sun and sun-blazing-water with the same exposure value as the rest, even when HDR is used.

Cape Blanco proper is to the right of the sun in the pano, and the lighthouse is also visible there.

Fog was rolling through at sunset, which made for some interesting lighting. I shot lots of photos -- both HDR and "regular" and couldn't decide which I liked best, but narrowed it down to 3 views

:

Then this shot looking south again, just after sunset, along the beach:

 

[MarkBC]

On Thursday I drove over to the viewpoint parking area just before the entrance to the lighthouse zone (which is outside State Park...not sure what agency administers that area, or the lighthouse

???).
I should say -- if it hasn't been apparent in my past 16 months of posts on WTW -- in addition to the wide open spaces of the West, I like tech-stuff...like, being connected to the Internet.

. So, because my campsite was only giving me about 1 bar of cellular connectivity -- not enough to tether my laptop for uploading photos, etc. -- I drove to that viewpoint parking lot where (from my 2010 visit) I knew that I'd get full-power connectivity. I drove because I didn't want to sit in the dirt with my laptop while tethering/uploading -- too glare-y anyway outside to see the screen. Not sure how the signal could vary so much in less than a mile -- there were no intervening mountains...

While at that well-connected viewpoint, I took some photos, including another 360° pano, visited the lighthouse, ate lunch, etc.

Looking south along the beach, looking at the other side of that triangular/arrow-shaped rock featured in those sunset photos:

Looking north -- doesn't look like a good place to bring a ship in:

Here's a link to the 360° panorama I shot at this point:
Cape Blanco Lighthouse Pano
Light is nothing special...and the spot itself isn't special, but the view is nice.

Back at my campsite, that evening I enjoyed the view again...but didn't take any more photos since it wasn't better/different than previous days. After dark I enjoyed processing the afternoons photos, putting together the pano, etc., in my laptop.

 

[MarkBC]

Friday morning -- the day of my departure for home -- I was faced with the fact that I had spent 3 nights at the coast but had yet to walk on the beach or touch the ocean, which seemed a kinda lame state of affairs...

So I decided to do a loop hike, going down to the beach via the access road (on foot).

Sure looks dark in thar...we ain't got nothin' like this in the High Desert!

Down to the beach:

Careful guys, it's a big ocean!
I thought these guys were surfers...but that's because I can't tell a paddle-board from a surfboard.

Stand-up paddle-boarders...

At first I thought they might be making for those big rocks out there...but they didn't venture more than a few-hundred yards from shore.

Pelicans:

I walked north along the beach, heading for where it ends at the Cape headland.
At one point I walked over to the incoming surf, put my hand into it, and tasted the water. Why? Well, I don't get to the ocean very often, and salty water is a novelty for me! Maybe some kind of ritual. Nope, I haven't gotten sick.

The "beach lake", previously seen from above:

I stumbled upon this ancient dwelling...there's only about 3 feet of headroom inside, so it must have been built by/for a race of pygmies...or maybe they weren't human.

Some ancient outbuildings:

That pointy rock, up close:

So, I hiked along the beach...maybe 2 miles...until I reached the end at the Cape headland. Looking back south, from whence I came:

Surf-water sure does change a lot...

From beach-north I climbed up the slope to the Viewpoint parking area where I enjoyed the cellular connection the day before and walked back to my camp, south along the cliff-top trail.

I took a shower in the park shower-room -- a luxury I rarely have when camping, packed up and headed north along US 101, heading home.

 

[MarkBC]

I decided to make my trip a loop -- not returning home the way I came. See my map on the first post of this thread.
I continued north on US 101 to Reedsport. Unfortunately, there are few/no views of the ocean along this part of 101, but I pretty-much already knew that. At Reesdsport I turned east on OR 38, and in a few miles came to Dean Creek Elk Viewing Area (at the little yellow flag on my map). I was glad to see this large, developed viewing area next to the highway -- because there were restrooms!

Then I noticed the elk, and these Roosevelt elk are pretty big, so after doing my business I got my camera out.

A herd of bachelor bulls:

A separate herd of almost-all cow elk...except for one bull -- the bull having a date with one of his harem:

OK...this was the last major event of my trip.
As the map shows, I reached I5, headed north to Eugene and there turned off, east, on OR 126. I had planned to fuel the truck in the Eugene area, but I forgot.

I realized my error quite a ways out in the boondocks, but fortunately the little town of Blue River (along the McKenzie River) had an open gas station and so I didn't have to try to coast into Sisters on fumes -- it would have been extremely close.

There's a place where 126 passes through an area of bare chunky lava, and I noticed that the maples (some kind of maple, I think) there were starting to turn color. This is a well-known spot by photographers for capturing great contrast between dark brutal lava and the delicate red leaves, in season.

It was a good trip -- one that took me to a climate/environment that's close to being the opposite of my usual haunts. Variety is the spice of life!

The End.

 

[Overland Hadley]

Thanks for the trip report!

I have always wished I had spent the day on Cape Blanco when I had the chance.

 

[highz]

Enjoyed your report, as always. Living in Bend puts you close to so many great areas. I've never been to that part of the Left Coast, so have to add it to my list.

 

[Lighthawk]

Another great TR, Mark. I've enjoyed digging clams at Coos Bay and always wanted to return.
You do have a great variety to choose from with the Great Basin beckoning one way and the lush OR coast calling you the other. Either way, you've got some great country. Thanks for sharing your photos and story.

 

[Alley-Kat]

As always, a great write up on another one of your frequent trips.
Thanks.

Oh, BTW, on Hwy 138, a little closer to Roseburg is Susan Creek campground on the Umpqua river and they have... on demand, hot water in their 8-10 showers, However, get the instructions on how they operate from the campground hosts, they know the secrets of state maintained equipment. Really nice to have a hot shower and the hot water never runs out.

 

[generubin]

Great report and pictures Mark. Thanks for sharing.
Gene

 

[MarkBC]

Thanks, all.

I enjoyed putting together my illustrated story.

BTW: While camped at C.B. State Park two other FWC owners were camped there -- a couple from Nevada and one from Oregon; I didn't talk to them, though.
Earlier, while stopped in the Rays Food Place parking lot in Bandon, a guy came up and knocked on my truck window. I lowered the window, and he said: "I always like to say 'Hi' to fellow Four Wheel owners. How do you like yours?" This guy was pulling a camp trailer behind his truck which carried a FWC, too.

 

[Tuna]

Thanks for the report,Cape Blanco is one of our favorite campgrounds on the Oregon coast. I have a friend who stopped there last wk and they told me it was full. Hard to belive as we like it there as it's never full as people don't want to drive a few miles off 101(some) Great place for a hot shower. I understand why you taste the ocean,I think you have to live in the desert to understand,nothing like it.Great whale watching too as you saw.Thanks

 

[MarkBC]

I have a friend who stopped there last wk and they told me it was full. Hard to belive as we like it there as it's never full as people don't want to drive a few miles off 101(some)

Yes, I was very surprised about it filling up, too.

...being after Labor Day and midweek. I got a campsite I liked when I showed up noon Tuesday, but if I had shown up after dark Monday night (instead of stopping early and camping on the North Umpqua) I'd have been SOL. Did your friend arrive after the C.G. was full, or did they get a spot?

 

[Tuna]

Yes, I was very surprised about it filling up, too.

...being after Labor Day and midweek. I got a campsite I liked when I showed up noon Tuesday, but if I had shown up after dark Monday night (instead of stopping early and camping on the North Umpqua) I'd have been SOL. Did your friend arrive after the C.G. was full, or did they get a spot?

They got there mid morning so they got one. They were driving from Alaska to the bay area for a daughters wedding. They were surprised with the gas prices here in Ca.,fuel was more than in Haines,Ak. where they live.

 

[ski3pin]

Very nice Mark! Thanks for the report. It makes us yearn for the sound of crashing surf and the smell of salt.

 

[SunMan]

I just love the raw beauty of the Oregon Coast. Never been North of Crescent City, CA. myself... some day we'll make it.

 

[Dughlas Stiubhart]

Hey, Mr MarkBC, is your lighthouse the same as my lighthouse?

Not quite, I think.

 

[MarkBC]

Hey, Mr MarkBC, is your lighthouse the same as my lighthouse?

Not quite, I think.

Hmmm....damn close, though. Looks like they're the same model.
Where is yours? Or is yours just a much-older view of Cape Blanco l.h.?

 

[Dughlas Stiubhart]

Hmmm....damn close, though. Looks like they're the same model.
Where is yours? Or is yours just a much-older view of Cape Blanco l.h.?


Well, I thought it was a much older view (circa 1974) of the CBLH, but now I'm not sure. The paint job is a little different but yours has a door where mine does not; and mine has a window where yours does not.

Very interesting.