Cape Blanco State Park - Oregon

The westernmost point in Oregon, Cape Blanco is 1800 acres of land originally owned by the Hughes family, who maintained their ranch there for 111 years. Today, the park contains the family home and cemetery, but is better known for its eight fantastic miles of hiking trails and beach access where the ocean vistas are simply breathtaking. The park offers trails for horseback riding too, as well as camping with electricity, for overnight stays and even yurts. Nature lovers will enjoy ample opportunity for bird and marine mammal watching, as well as exploring thick forest and the cool rock formations. And due to the temperate marine climate here, the grass literally stays green here all year long so pack up and get ready for this fabulous Oregon park!

Named for the dark evergreen forests of spruce and fir that cover its peaks, the Black Mountain Range is the highest east of the Rockies. Running roughly north to south for 15 miles, these mountains have 18 peaks higher than 6,300'. Mt. Mitchell, the highest peak, is named for Dr. Elisha Mitchell, a professor of sciences at UNC-Chapel Hill who first suggested that the peak that bears his name was the highest in the range. Dr. Mitchell died at a waterfall on the western slope of the mountain while returning from one of many exploratory trips to western North Carolina. The Blacks were logged extensively during the early years of this century. In fact, Mt. Mitchell State Park was created in 1915 to preserve the fir trees around the peak from the loggers' axe. Originally only 525 acres, the park expanded through several subsequent acquisitions until it reached its present size of 1,469 acres in 1969.