Cape Blanco (2)

This is not only our last stop before re-entering California, but also our last stop with hookups for the duration of the summer trip. We fully appreciated our little portable space heater and lived it up with lights and fans and charging of all the things. We also really loved this campground, more so than last time for some reason. It is a windy place for sure. Like I think it’s officially a windy place. It definitely helps to be towing from north to south so that the wind is most likely going to be a tail wind. And it helps to keep mileage distances short from stop to stop, so you can play with travel timing if you’re trying to get under windy weather. A lot of the time though, you can’t avoid gusty days, so I like to just drive slow and stop along the way. For this travel day, Richard got out and biked from campground to campground and it worked out perfectly.

He is nothing if not exceptionally gifted at finding well rated food along the route. This is why I gain weight after a summer trip spent biking and hiking miles and miles. His food finds are just too fun not to do. This one was located in the Langlois Market, about half way between Bandon and Cape Blanco. They advertise “legendary” and “world famous” hot dogs, so I’m curious how many of my international friends have heard of them. They’re damn good, I’ll give them that for sure. They make their own sweet mustard daily and the hot dogs are thick and juicy and flavorful. You can smell them from the parking lot, which is where I parked and eagerly awaited Richard on his bike. I also found an intriguing bottle of Grandpa Jack’s Cranberry Syrup, so we got that.

This campground is nice in that it is five miles off of the highway. Keep that in mind if you are biking to it, but of all of the Oregon State Parks we have stayed at, this one feels more quiet. You are a short walk from a beautiful ocean view, and an easy hike out to the lighthouse. The lighthouse is not open to visitors as it is under very expensive and difficult repairs. Finding people to fix Fresnel lenses and restore historical buildings responsibly is neither cheap, nor fast. They accept donations if you are interested in helping with the restoration project. The information center is very nice and has all kinds of information panels explaining the history of the place.

Our main item on the itinerary for this stop was a do over of a ride that went sideways last time we were here. The ride up Elk Creek Road is one of Jay’s Essential Bike Rides, and it’s a beauty. What we did wrong last time was start biking from the campground. Remember I mentioned the campground is five miles off Highway 101? Well, there is also a short stint on 101 before you ever turn onto Elk Creek Road. Also, the first five or six miles is meh. The spectacular part happens on the last ten miles, after you pass the fish hatchery and the road bends right and into a canyon. There, the river is right by your lefthand side, and little waterfalls surprise you on your right, as they cascade down the lush cliffside and down to the river. The water is crystal clear and alternates between tumbling over rocks, and collecting in wide blue-green swimming pools. When we did this ride the first time, we basically wasted our legs, and my battery, on at least ten miles of not so great riding each way. We miscommunicated when Richard rode way ahead of me, I misjudged my battery capacity, and we hit headwinds on the way back. All of those factors made the ride seriously disappointing and, after we sorted it all out, we vowed to do it again someday.

This time, we communicated all the things the night before, drove to a pull out down Elk Creek Road a bit, and I took my backup battery. What a difference! While in the canyon, the road becomes narrower, but there are very few cars, so we get to ride next to each other and chat. We found a big fat slug in the middle of the road on the way up. I decided to move it because it looked like it was in danger of getting squished. I saw it on the log where I relocated it, which is much happier than seeing a big ol squish mark. We both really loved this ride and I would say you could even start it at the fish hatchery if you wanted to keep it shorter. We did hit headwinds on the way back, but it was so much better just making it back to the car instead of having to slog all the way back up 101 and then five miles to the campground. We could have parked farther along the road and would not have felt like we were missing anything. Having that backup battery means I can stop and take pictures if I want to, and then Turbo power back to Richard. He was doing the ride clipped in, so it’s easier for him to just keep pedaling. There are two primitive campgrounds out there, which I could see being nice if you want to feel away from it all and just spend time in a beautiful river.

For dinner that night, we celebrated with pancakes and sausages, eggs, and Grandpa Jack’s Cranberry Syrup. Yikes that was good! That is seriously some of the best syrup I’ve ever had. It’s perfectly sweet and tastes like fresh cranberries, has the perfect consistency, and really kicks pancakes up a notch. We were so excited, we got a stovetop cast iron griddle to try in Dory so we can facilitate making this dinner again. Richard notes that it is super easy to make pancakes and we don’t need to carry a mix around with us. Holiday gifts this year may very well be themed on cranberry syrup. Our other dinner was a Blue Apron turkey stir fry with Bok Choy, fresh ginger, scallion rice and a Gochujang-mayo sauce. We do eat well out here. Next stop is back in California!

Total miles from Bullard’s Beach: 32.2, 16.0 mpg, 2 hours 45 min with stop for hot dog. Site 30 hookups. Minimal cell from site, but excellent cell from day use. No dump. We dumped at Humbug Mountain for free. Good dump there. Cell service is weird in the campground, but you can get an excellent signal from the bluffs, and just enough in the site to text.