Cape Blanco State Park Campground

While the entire Oregon Coast is one long necklace of windswept headlands and craggy contours linked by a glistening thread of lowland sand dunes and tidal waterways, Capes Blanco, Lookout, and Perpetua are particularly stunning for their natural visual appeal, recreational opportunity, and geologic wonder. Cape Blanco State Park is the farthest south. The cape, park, reef, lighthouse, airport, and road from US 101 all bear the name Blanco, first given to the dramatic ivory cliffs that rise 200 feet above a black sand beach. In 1603, a relatively unknown Spanish explorer named Martin d’Aguilar spotted the sheer white (“blanco,” to him) cliffs and aptly dubbed them for posterity. This state park covers 1,895 acres of forested headlands and wildflower fields, which flood the area with color in late spring and early summer. Yellow coneflowers, coral bells, yellow sand verbena, and northern dune tansy are the most prevalent varieties. Sitka spruce dominates in the tree department. Farther east in the coastal mountain ranges, one can find old-growth Douglas fir and the commercially prized Port Orford cedar. The lush vegetation that stays green all year at Cape Blanco (thanks to the temperate marine climate) has been thoughtfully preserved in the campground, lending a certain air of mystery to many of the campsites. If you are lucky enough to snag one that backs up to the ocean, you’ll have a thick forest as your buffer for the ultimate in tent-camping privacy.