Cape Blanco and More of Port Orford

Today, around noon, we decided to go to Cape Blanco to see the lighthouse there.  Last year we saw many of the Oregon Coast Lighthouses, but not this one. 

Cape Blanco is the most western point of the State of Oregon, and is the bottom left lighthouse on the map.  Land was purchased in 1867 for the lighthouse, which was constructed over the next three years, being lit for the first time on December 20, 1870.  The Lighthouse is on federal land, controlled by the BLM, while the land leading up to it is a State Park, including a camping area where RVers often serve as docents at the lighthouse and in exchange receive a free campsite and hook-up at Cape Blanco State Park.  Two of the RVers we follow, Chris and Cherie, have a blog called Technomadia, and they start their volunteer shift at the park in September.  It would have been nice to meet them, but they are up in the Portland area headed down this way over the next few days.

It is a real pretty lighthouse, as are most lighthouses.  The west coast lighthouses are not as tall as some of the ones I have seen on the east coast because most are located on higher ground already when they are along the west coast.  As you can see from above, this lighthouse is working, but it is one of the few lighthouses which allows visitors to ascend the spiral staircase to the lantern room, for a view of the surrounding coastline.

       

In the picture to the right you can see two or three people up in the lantern room.



This is the view of the coastline to the north of the lighthouse.  I tried to take a picture to the south, but the wind was blowing so hard to the north at the viewpoint, that I could barely get out of the car when I took the picture at the beginning of this posting.  I did not even dare turn the camera into that wind, because I know it would turn out real fuzzy because the wind was really that strong.

After Cape Blanco, we went back to Port Orford and ate lunch near where I took the pictures yesterday.  We stayed in the car, of course, because even here in the port the wind was blowing, and it was a blistering 62 degrees outside.  (can you feel the sweat dripping off my forehead?)  After lunch we traveled just a few miles south on highway 101 to a turn out to get these two pictures of Port Orford from the other side of the bay than yesterday’s pictures were taken.  Below is a close up showing the port on the left, and some of the homes and buildings which line the coast line.

Tomorrow we plan to drive to Bullards Beach State Park which is the southern most part of our trip last year when we stayed in Coos Bay and did a day trip down to Bullard.  We plan to stay for a night, then head inland on Wednesday.