US-101 North of Santa Rosa

[michravera]

My wife and I are planning a driving trip to Brookings, OR from our home in Fremont. I haven't ever driven US-101 north of Bodega Bay. Can someone with local knowledge tell me about the road north of Santa Rosa? I haven't been on US-101 that far north since a family trip back in 1965 (when I was 5).

What part of the road is freeway, expressway, multilane, divided, undivided, etc? What are the shoulders and medians like? What is fuel availability like?

Nothing beats local and recent knowledge

[Max Rockatansky]

The whole thing is pretty nice, especially north of Willits.  I tend to prefer diving off onto older alignments like CA 254, Newton B Drury Scenic Parkway and CA 283 given they have some hugely historic segments.  Last Chance Grade is becoming an increasing problem getting through to Crescent City. 

For the most part north to the Oregon State Line is four lane expressway or freeway.  Layton like, the gap in the two CA 271 segments, Richardson Grove State Park and the Klamath River-Last Chance Grade are two lane segments. 

[nexus73]

Max, of the 27 miles for 101 between Brookings and Crescent City, there are 3 miles of freeway north of Crescent City and 4 miles of expressway south of Brookings.  In between it is all 2-lane or 2-lane with middle turn lanes.  Given the traffic, 101 should be all 4-lane between these two cities.

To Mich: Get your gas at the Fred Meyer in Brookings.  It is always well under California prices.  There is no sales tax in Oregon so enjoy that benefit.  If you go up to Bandon, take 42S to 42 to I-5 for the return home.  Should you backtrack to 199, watch out for the Safety Corridor south of Grants Pass.  The Oregon State Police watch it like a hawk.  There is an In-N-Out in Grants Pass and Medford.

Brookings to Port Orford is classic Oregon Coast viewing.  Hope you can drive it!

Rick

[heynow415]

My wife and I are planning a driving trip to Brookings, OR from our home in Fremont. I haven't ever driven US-101 north of Bodega Bay. Can someone with local knowledge tell me about the road north of Santa Rosa? I haven't been on US-101 that far north since a family trip back in 1965 (when I was 5).

What part of the road is freeway, expressway, multilane, divided, undivided, etc? What are the shoulders and medians like? What is fuel availability like?

Nothing beats local and recent knowledge

Would definitely recommend taking SR254, aka Avenue of the Giants.  It's parallel to the freeway portion of 101 going through Humboldt Redwoods SP (it was 101 pre-freeway) and is fantastically scenic.  It also passes through several small villages along the way with places to eat or caffeine-up.

[Bickendan]

Note that the freeway sections in Medocino County tend to be true Super 4s, not dual carriageways.

[michravera]

Max, of the 27 miles for 101 between Brookings and Crescent City, there are 3 miles of freeway north of Crescent City and 4 miles of expressway south of Brookings.  In between it is all 2-lane or 2-lane with middle turn lanes.  Given the traffic, 101 should be all 4-lane between these two cities.

To Mich: Get your gas at the Fred Meyer in Brookings.  It is always well under California prices.  There is no sales tax in Oregon so enjoy that benefit.  If you go up to Bandon, take 42S to 42 to I-5 for the return home.  Should you backtrack to 199, watch out for the Safety Corridor south of Grants Pass.  The Oregon State Police watch it like a hawk.  There is an In-N-Out in Grants Pass and Medford.

Brookings to Port Orford is classic Oregon Coast viewing.  Hope you can drive it!

Rick

My wife reminded be that we are taking our little 4 kg dog. Any dog-friendly restaurants along US-101 or CASR-254 (or at least some places with outdoor patios). We can bring car snacks on the way up, but, absent such locations, we may need to take I-5 and go for drive thrus on the way home.

[nexus73]

Max, of the 27 miles for 101 between Brookings and Crescent City, there are 3 miles of freeway north of Crescent City and 4 miles of expressway south of Brookings.  In between it is all 2-lane or 2-lane with middle turn lanes.  Given the traffic, 101 should be all 4-lane between these two cities.

To Mich: Get your gas at the Fred Meyer in Brookings.  It is always well under California prices.  There is no sales tax in Oregon so enjoy that benefit.  If you go up to Bandon, take 42S to 42 to I-5 for the return home.  Should you backtrack to 199, watch out for the Safety Corridor south of Grants Pass.  The Oregon State Police watch it like a hawk.  There is an In-N-Out in Grants Pass and Medford.

Brookings to Port Orford is classic Oregon Coast viewing.  Hope you can drive it!

Rick

My wife reminded be that we are taking our little 4 kg dog. Any dog-friendly restaurants along US-101 or CASR-254 (or at least some places with outdoor patios). We can bring car snacks on the way up, but, absent such locations, we may need to take I-5 and go for drive thrus on the way home.

No idea about dogs.  I never owned one.  I never traveled with one.

Rick

[Max Rockatansky]

There is plenty of outdoor access at restaurants.  Between Willits and Eureka I doubt anyone would even care if you had a dog with you inside. 

[skluth]

Max, of the 27 miles for 101 between Brookings and Crescent City, there are 3 miles of freeway north of Crescent City and 4 miles of expressway south of Brookings.  In between it is all 2-lane or 2-lane with middle turn lanes.  Given the traffic, 101 should be all 4-lane between these two cities.

To Mich: Get your gas at the Fred Meyer in Brookings.  It is always well under California prices.  There is no sales tax in Oregon so enjoy that benefit.  If you go up to Bandon, take 42S to 42 to I-5 for the return home.  Should you backtrack to 199, watch out for the Safety Corridor south of Grants Pass.  The Oregon State Police watch it like a hawk.  There is an In-N-Out in Grants Pass and Medford.

Brookings to Port Orford is classic Oregon Coast viewing.  Hope you can drive it!

Rick

My wife reminded be that we are taking our little 4 kg dog. Any dog-friendly restaurants along US-101 or CASR-254 (or at least some places with outdoor patios). We can bring car snacks on the way up, but, absent such locations, we may need to take I-5 and go for drive thrus on the way home.

No idea how accurate BringFido is. But this is their listing of dog-friendly restaurants in Eureka.

[kkt]

Enjoy the trip!  This is a wonderful drive.  Definitely second taking Avenue of the Giants over staying on 101, unless you are in a huge hurry.

[michravera]

Enjoy the trip!  This is a wonderful drive.  Definitely second taking Avenue of the Giants over staying on 101, unless you are in a huge hurry.

We did drive part of Avenue of the Giants. It turned out to be a big mistake. The Avenue was great! What happened is that we failed to notice the 15:00-19:00 closure of US-101 south of Crescent City and narrowly missed making it through before the closure. We were stuck in Klamath CA without WiFi and with marginal phone service and had to arrange someone to work for me that night. We left at 6:30 in an effort to get out of the Bay Area before traffic paralysis set in. This turned an otherwise great 8 hour drive with a lunch stop into a 14-hour odyssey. Fortunately and unfortunately, we need to take I-5 home and, smoke permitting, we won't get trapped/

[kkt]

Oh, sorry you were caught by that!

[Max Rockatansky]

Presumably this will be a trip that takes you east on US 199?  If so that's a damn scenic drive unto itself.  I would also recommend detouring onto Old US 99 on CA 263 through the Shasta River Canyon.  CA 273 through is sufficiently odd enough to make for a detour through Redding. 

[Bickendan]

Presumably this will be a trip that takes you east on US 199?  If so that's a damn scenic drive unto itself.  I would also recommend detouring onto Old US 99 on CA 263 through the Shasta River Canyon.  CA 273 through is sufficiently odd enough to make for a detour through Redding. 

And OR 273 might be a viable detour depending on the current lane configuration over Siskiyou Summit. It's unsigned from I-5; take Exit 1 and follow it all the way down to OR 66.

[Max Rockatansky]

Presumably this will be a trip that takes you east on US 199?  If so that's a damn scenic drive unto itself.  I would also recommend detouring onto Old US 99 on CA 263 through the Shasta River Canyon.  CA 273 through is sufficiently odd enough to make for a detour through Redding. 

And OR 273 might be a viable detour depending on the current lane configuration over Siskiyou Summit. It's unsigned from I-5; take Exit 1 and follow it all the way down to OR 66.

Plus that's an another old US 99 segment which also happen to have a rail overpass built in 1914.