Blacklock Point

Blacklock Point is a scenic knife edge of rock slicing into the Pacific Ocean in the Floras Lake State Natural Area north of Cape Blanco State Park in Oregon.  I heard about this scenic wonder from my friend, Erik Muiderman.  I'll describe the shortest trip, a ~4-mile out-and-back hike.

Take Airport Road west near milepost 293 on US 101 between Bandon and Port Orford.  Follow the road three miles to the parking lot near the airport.  A graded cat-track trail leads northwest into the coastal rain forest of shore pines and salal.  The ground is moist and boggy in places, with ponds on the trail well into the summer, so wear boots or shoes you don't mind getting muddy.

The trail opens out onto a windswept bluff above the ocean; waves crash below on a beach of sand and fallen boulders.  You can follow the trail along the bluff to the rocky spine of the point.  How far you go depends on your comfort with windy heights and your willingness to cause erosion, which is something I try to avoid.

This is a remote place, and a fantastic vantage point to watch the interface of waves on the continental margin.  A great place for sunsets, too!  The view northward is of impressive Mendocino-like rocky bluffs above crashing surf, with Floras Lake and Bandon in the middle distance, and on a clear day Cape Arago beyond.  The view southward is toward Cape Blanco, the westernmost point on the Oregon mainland.

William L. Sullivan writes in 100 Hikes/Travel Guide: Oregon Coast & Coast Range that there is a longer hike to Blacklock Point from Floras Lake.  I want to do that this summer.

More at AllTrails, AmericanSouthwest.net, Hiking Project, MyBuzzAbout.com, OregonHikers.org, OregonLive 2011 and OregonLive 2015, Outdoor Project, WorldFamousLanglois.com.  More pictures at Google Image Search.


Begun 2016; updated 2020.