Cape Blanco State Park Campground

This was a real treat on our Coastal trip of Oregon. Nestled back along Cape Blanco near the lighthouse we were tucked away in the trees and a hike away to the ocean. Take a short drive down the road and you’re at the light house with some beautiful spots to hike and see the rock formations in the ocean.

This site reminded us of home camping. Spacious and private. Lots of trees and beautiful trails to walk. The views of the ocean and the trail down to the beach were incredible. Would stay here longer next time though it was a bit chilly.

Enjoying our stay. When we booked it, I had no idea this is the windiest place on the Oregon Coast lol.

Our 2nd night, we couldn't sit outside & enjoy a campfire, way too windy. Other than that, it's been great.

A few nice trails here, like others mentioned it's a steep climb out of the beach area. The trail to the lighthouse is easy & enjoyable.

Groceries, gas, and a few eateries in town, 5-6 miles away

This might be one of our favorite state parks along the coast of Oregon. Just a short detour off the Coastal Highway, this park offers some spectacular views, tons of nautical navigation history as well as a lovely campground tucked into the trees. 

Like many state parks the campsites are extremely orderly, sparkling clean, reservable and offer electrical service.  We typically run exclusively on solar, but it was hard to do with a completely tree covered campground.  We appreciated the electrical hook-ups here.  Fresh water spigots are scattered throughout the campground, and a dump station will help you empty before getting back on the road.  The bath houses are clean, large, and lovely with flush toilets and hot showers.

We rarely make reservations, but we found a couple open sites in the middle of the week. Registration with the very helpful camp hosts was easy. We had to move sites a couple of times to make our desired stay work out, but that’s the price you pay for not reserving. 

There are plenty of recreational options nearby, including hiking, beach combing, horse trails and paddling. This part of the Oregon Pacific coast is unprotected so the ocean can be pretty rough for kayaking, but the nearby river might offer a more protected space to explore by kayak, canoe or paddleboard.   And, a hike out to the lighthouse at sunset is epic!

Nearby towns along the coastal highway will offer a quick resupply for groceries and gas but the nearest town is Port Orford about 20 minutes away. It doesn’t offer much more than a convenience store and Dollar General. So, plan ahead.

Lighthouse is a bike ride away. The beach is 8 minute walk a kind of steep hill and 3 min car ride. Definitely been a windy 8 day here's. But honestly would come back. It's clean and quiet. Hosts are really nice. Bonfires are allowed. Helped a lot. Honestly my husband & I loved it. We also invited my sister and her family with us. We slept in 5th wheel camper and they slept in tent. Plenty of space. The trees hold back a lot of the wind.

Great campground. Lots of tall trees and the ocean off in the distance below. Very quiet place with easy back in spots. Not much privacy, but plenty of space between sites. A walk down the coast trail affords beautiful views of the ocean. We’ll definitely be back.

Awesome setting! A few sites are filtered ocean view. All stores are large and pretty private. Lots of shade. Road down to the beach from campground. Walking distance to tour lighthouse. Trails for hiking. Very popular, so check on line before diving out there. There are longer pads for larger rvs.

Nice well spaced level sites in beautiful pine forest. Clean, up to date bathrooms. Hiking and great ocean views.

Well-spaced, peaceful campsites in a beautiful coastal location. This was a pleasant upgrade following a less than awesome experience at William Tugman State Park. We very much enjoyed our visit here. It’s a bit of a hike to the beach (a steep descent down and so also a climb back out), but worth it. Sunset was beautiful and we enjoyed a tour of the Hughes Historic House.

Beautiful campground. Quiet, neat, and well maintained, with plenty of trees and screening bushes for shaded, private campsites. Bathrooms were clean and heated. They provided paper towels and soap, as well as a convenient bench for putting down your dopp kit. Faucets are low flow and provide about 15 seconds of water after being activated. I was not able to get hot water.

Beach trail and nearby lighthouse are good sightseeing opportunities. I was pleased to see many small rabbits around the campground on the morning of my visit. Stellar jays also visit the campsites and are very persistent food thieves.

[Internet. Verizon via iPhone 12: 1.18 mbps down and 0.18 mbps up with 55 ms ping. With the weBoost booster: 3.28 mbps down and 0.12 mbps up with 51 ms ping. T-Mobile: no signal at all.]

We stayed here as part of our trip up the coast. The lighthouse was a bonus.

PROS

→ The campground is gorgeous! It’s nestled among Sitka spruce trees. They provide a lot of privacy between you and your neighbors and are just so pretty. → You can walk to the lighthouse and the beach from the campground.

CONS

→ The dump station is closed because it’s broken and they’ve been trying to secure funding to replace it. See the photo I attached with the posted explanation sign. You will need to plan on using the dump station at the state park north or south of this park. → A pro is they have free showers but the con is it’s a cold experience. If more than one shower is in use at a time the water is barely warm. The shower nozzle sprays the water out in all directions which makes it hard to take a quick shower and also creates its own air current which chills you to the bone. The shower room is also chilly. Everything was clean though.

4.5-stars - A near perfect campground except for the cold shower.

—————————— [Rig. Mercedes Sprinter. 22 feet]

Dump station? - No, it’s a long story. Water fill? - No but they have water spigots Clean site? - Yes Clean bathroom? - Yes Flush toilet? - Yes Showers? - Yes Laundry? - No Dish washing sink? - No

Such a wild, windy and beautiful place.  We will definitely return to do more exploring!

We were only here for a night, but we loved this place. 60+ sites, most were very private with trees and other natural cover separating you from other sites. Very quiet and peaceful.

We had a site with hookups that was literally 50 feet from a private trail that led directly to the beach! You can drive all the way down to the beach (or walk) -- or if you've got an offroad vehicle you can drive directly onto the beach. We though that was super cool.

One or two min drive to the lighthouse was super convenient. We got there really early before it was open, but we were greeted by a really impressive marine layer (aka fog!) as we pulled our rig up to the edge of the coastal cliffs and drank our morning coffee (see pics)!

LOVED it, and wish we could have stayed longer and kept exploring.

Nice campground with good privacy in most spots. Came here without reservations and there was only one spot available which we didn’t fit in in our 26ft Class C. Most sites level and all had fire pits and picnic tables. 

Dump station was closed when we were there.

There are dumpsters and mixed recycling bin (no glass), bathrooms with flush toilets and hot showers. The camp host on site was helpful and directed us to other campgrounds in the area.

$29/night for partial hookup. Cabins are $51/ night, $61 with pet

Hiker/ biker camp, group camping, and horse camping here also. 

Lighthouse is up the road which was extremely windy but campground wasn’t as windy as the trees block a bulk of it. 

Cell service was sketchy, some service but in and out and not strong with ATT and Verizon but no TMobile.

Water and power, dumpstation was closed. Very quiet campground, close to nice hikes.

Really excellent campground - amenities, space, privacy, trail to the lighthouse and coast! Was only here for one night but would stay multiple nights here

Almost all of the sites have privacy. You are not stacked in there like you are at mini state parks and RV campgrounds. There are nice trails going right from the campground out to the lighthouse along the shore and down to the beach. Great clean bathrooms, with nice hot showers.

I've camped at several state parks in Oregon and Cape Blanco is my favorite!  It is situated above a beautiful beach with an access road straight from the campground.  The sites are spacious and trees provide a good amount of privacy between the sites.  There is a wooded trail that leads to the nearby historic lighthouse where you can enjoy amazing views up and down the coast.  There are bathrooms with hot showers onsite, which is a plus after enjoying time at the beach. The campground offers RV hookups, but note the dump station was not in service during our visit in June 2021. This campground also has a horse camp with newer corrals, bathroom and miles of equestrian trails.  We stayed in one of the cute rustic cabins for half of our stay and in our camper van for the remainder.  Looking forward to future stays at Cape Blanco State Park!

Lovely cool respite in summer. Thick, dark, beautiful forest. Almost always windy but the vegetation blocks a lot of it at the sites. Reservation only now, bummer.

Also there’s no sanitary dump or sewer hookups, FYI.

During a beautiful sunny April weekend along the Oregon Coast, campsites are difficult to find. We had to break our no reservations rule to snag the last campsite within the state park system along the Oregon Coast.

It was nice, though, to have a nice site reserved for us but we just don’t like having to pay $8 to reserve a site. Online reservation system does make it easy, though.

This is a beautiful campground with lighted wooded paths to the restrooms with free showers. Our site number A45 was very private next to the accommodating camp host. There is beach access via a narrow road but it is a spectacular one. We even saw a Jeep drive down to make its way along the beach which in Oregon is a highway. They were free range sheep near the beach so be careful when you drive down. It isn’t too far to walk from the campground and is very scenic.

This is a lovely campground and we would stay again. We talked to a couple from Bandon just north who said they camp here once a month.

Open for business (no Covid closure at this time). 50 sites with electric hookups. Some sites are In tall pine forest with bits of views to the ocean. Very clean bathrooms with showers available. Beach access nearby, and this time of year - almost nobody on the beach.

A campground the has access for everyone. Vehicles, hikers, bikers, equestrians all have a place here. 50 sites have electric hook ups. They are kinda close together but there is some privacy in between too. Only the group site can be reserved. Great hiking, beach access down a road, and a light house will keep you busy here.

Managed to find this great campground despite the location being incorrect on the map. We first headed down Airport Road which was a dead end... the actual turnoff to the state park is a couple of miles south of that, which the map doesn’t show.

The campground is about 50 spots - road and sites are paved with power and water. We paid $24 for a site tho we didn’t need either power or water. Well treed, and short walk to beautiful views. Highly recommend it!

Great campsite with amazing views and service at a great price to what it has to offer. Paid $24 for campground with tent and one vehicle.

I visited Cape Blanco twice this summer. Once in early June, and again in late July. Early June was definitely greener, lusher, more beautiful with wildflowers, but this place won't disappoint late in the summer either.

One of my favorite campgrounds of the summer (and that is saying a lot as I camped in about 25 different places). Cape Blanco is on top of a cliff and very wooded. It is small-ish with less than 20 sites for cars/rvs/tents, several ocean view yurts/cabins, a completely separate Hiker/Biker area off in the woods and an equestrian camp nearby. They don't accept reservations so this is a great place to luck into or make a destination if you're winging it (as always no res needed for hiker/biker).

Hiker/Biker was really off on it's own and very private. There was an REI sponsored storage box station complete with USB charging ports, bike stand, tools, shared fire pit and picnic table. Each "site" which are just unnumbered clearings had its own bike rack near by, and despite being completely separate it was only a short walk to a flush toilet and bathroom. Though at night that walk was very, very dark as you had to walk through the trees. This is a very shaded campground.

The Coastal Trail runs through camp and you can follow it North for a half mile through the trees while listening to the ocean waves. You'll pop out into a meadow of wild flowers and tall grasses (early in the summer) overlooking the ocean and out towards the Cape Blanco lighthouse. There is a bench there. I strongly recommend picking up a cheap bottle of red wine, and spending the better part of an afternoon on this bench looking out at the rocks waiting for the occasional thought to float by.

The ride into Cape Blanco is also beautiful with a river winding it's way out to the sea, a tourist stop at the Hughes House and a stop at the Cape Blanco Lighthouse. As a hiker/biker you'll be traveling up a large hill to get up to the top. Don't let the elevation scare you off. It isn't as hard as you think with plenty of pull-offs and views to distract you.

Amenities include: 

• Storage boxes with USB Chargers
• Flush Toilets and Hot Showers
• Fire Pits and Picnic Tables
• Bike Tools, Bike Stand and racks
• Nature/Coastal Trail
• Yurt/Cabin camps

I have been camping at Cape Blanco State Park for years. This campground is located on the Southern Oregon coast outside of Port Orford, OR.

The campground does not take reservations and can have low availability during peak summer season. Cabins are available to reserve. The campground has free showers, flush toilets, sinks, firewood for sale, and beach access. The sites have full hookups, fire pits, tables, and very long paved drives. A bikers' camp, group camp, and horse camp are also available.

It is very windy here, but the plants surrounding the sites keep out most of the coastal wind and also provide plenty of privacy from other sites. Be prepared for cold weather and misty air. Dump station is under construction and not open for use right now.

A great place to camp along the gorgeous Oregon coast and everything there is to do in Port Orford. If you are hiking the Oregon Coast Trail, this is a great spot to take a break, or to spend a weekend camping and also enjoying nearby activities. I appreciate the campground has recylxing, and a dog-friendly cabin if you want to stay with your pet. Dogs love the beaches nearby! You are just 17 minutes to fun Port Orford stops like the One Lump Or Two coffee shop (which sells model airplane gear in the front of the shop-- small town quirks!) and Redfish Grill.

One of the hilights of our visit was when we went kayaking with South Coast Tours in the waters off Samuel H. Boardman State Park and you can see some amazing things at low tide, like starfish, sea urchins, harbor seals, and lots of mussels. At higher tides they'll take you through sea caves and some of the arches near Nelly's cove. We also did some really nice hikes. My favorite in the area was down to Secret Beach!

GREGIRY JUNO 3D HYDRO PACK REVIEW

As a Dyrt Ranger, sometimes I get to review camping gear. On this trip, I brought along my new Gregory Juno 3D Hydro Pack. It was really roomy, and in addition to three liters of water also held all the clothes I needed for four days, including warmer, bulkier layers. My sneakers fit nicely in the stretchy front mesh pocket and the generous side mesh compartments were plenty big enough for snacks.

I love how comfortable this pack is, with padded breathable straps and the "vapor span" design to the back that keeps you from getting too sweaty while alao providing cushioning. As a 5'6 size 8-10 gal, I was really pleased with the fit. The bag sits nicely on my hips and stops short of my neck.

The hydro pack is sturdy and easy to use. I do wish this bag had a clearer place to put my laptop for when I'm traveling, but thats really my only complaint. I was pleasantly surprised by how many pockets there are, including an interior zipper pocket with key ring. The pockets are all a bright color that contrasts with the exterior, making it extra easy to look for you things. No dark cavernous interior swallowing your stuff!

Very pleased with my first Gregory pack. Its comfortable and thoughtdully designed in a way that far surpasses my big North Face backpacking pack. I definitely want to get more Gregory products in the future as I replace my older camping gear and invest in new pieces.

This is a beautiful place to enjoy the scenery. It's beautiful and quiet. Clean facilities with running water and hot showers. Make sure to bring weather appropriate clothing. It's always on the cooler/ chilly and windy side here.

Cape Blanco State Park is the hidden treasure of the Oregon Coast - maybe of all of Oregon. Each site is secluded with lovely hedges. The hikes through the forests are like taking a walk through a Tolkien novel with hanging moss, giant trees, ferns, mushrooms and meandering trails.

While this is a lovely place to visit during the day, at night the winds coming in off of the Pacific can be pretty harsh even in the middle of summer. Sleeping here in July was the coldest camping I have ever done that's not in winter.