Oregon Horse Rescue

Port Orford, Oregon

The mighty headland named Cape Blanco on the southern Oregon Coast is regarded by many Oregonians as the western-most land protrusion in the Lower-48. It certainly feels that way as one stands overwhelmed by the scenery on the very edge of the continent. The natural drama is palpable, sensual, ... potentially erotic.

It’s a place where you can lean into the wind as it blows ashore under a broad canopy of clear blue sky whose seasonal colors shift from summer’s deep blues to winter’s dark-grays when sagging clouds verging on black roll overhead with the grace of titanic spaceships invading this water-logged state in rapid slow motion.

Wrapped around the mighty cape, the flat expanse of the Pacific reflects the sky, churning deep blue as the case may be or frothing among the darker shades of silver during relentless winter storms that are quintessentially Oregon and march in succession across the heavens well into May.

Predictable foul weather pounds the land in to inevitable submission, eroding soil and stone with frigid gale winds and a wet, horizontal lashing never to be trifled with, stinging rains and brutish blows that routinely catch T-shirt-clad summer visitors off guard and send them scurrying back to the car. Cold and sloppy on dismal days, Cape Blanco would be a great place for a wet T-shirt contest.

Dominating the coast two-hundred feet above the tumultuous sea that appears deceptively placid at times, and crowned on its farthest point with the oldest working lighthouse on the Oregon Coast, this massive block of land blanketed in lush grass and low shrubbery endemic to the coastal environs anchors two isolated crescent beaches; long strands of sand, gold and tan, bending north and south, each littered with bleached logs in repose and driftwood tangled in varied configurations.

Offshore, sea-stack rookeries are home to the feathered. And behind unpopulated beaches, crumbling bluffs are fringed green with stunted spruce and pine and salmon berries and bracken fern. These are without a doubt some of the finest beaches Oregon offers, and they’re open to all.

I’m not the only one who has an ongoing affair with Cape Blanco and tiny Port Orford 5 miles south of here, just 55 miles north of the California border. Five miles off the beaten path known as Highway 101 and far enough away from the maddening crowds of Portland and the greater Willamette Valley, this little slice of Eden is another one of those places you don’t want to skip over as you race elsewhere.

About Me - The Animals Voice

Laura Moretti has been involved in animal protection for more than 40 years — first as an undercover anti-cruelty investigator for state humane societies, and then as an editor and designer of numerous animal defense newsletters and magazines, most notably the award-winning, international animal protection publication published by The Animals Voice (which she founded). She is also an author and editor of several animal defense books.

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