Pacific Coast Highway

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many times.
be careful of the oregon coast... you might find you love it so much you don't want to leave :)
 
pdq said:
many times.
be careful of the oregon coast... you might find you love it so much you don't want to leave :)
X1 still love traveling 101. Can't wait to get back to the coast.
 
Will you be driving through San Francisco itself? 

If so, you need to look at Google maps and look at your route through the downtown area.
 
I've driven 101 from as far south as Los Angeles to as far north as I could go. I don't think it goes all the way to Canada. It goes north along the coast to La Push, WA and then cuts across the Olympic Peninsula to Port Angeles, WA. Then it runs west to Port Townsend and turns south to Shelton. From there it goes southwest toward Olympia, where as far as I know, it ends. The US/Canada border runs down the middle of the Strait of Juan de Fuca, and Port Angeles is on the south shore of the Strait, but I think that is as close to the Canadian border as 101 gets. You can take the ferry from Port Angeles to Victoria, B.C. and cross the border that way.

In any  event, it is well worth driving. My suggestion would be to drive it north to south for the best views of the Strait of Juan de Fuca and the Pacific Ocean. I hate driving any route through the San Francisco bay area, but I think 101 through SF is a bit dicey with an RV. Hope you enjoy your trip. You've chosen a beautiful area to explore.
 
RoyM,
I was just wanting to know if there were any areas that were harder than others to travel through in a 37 foot RV?
 
RE:  I was just wanting to know if there were any areas that were harder than others to travel through in a 37 foot RV?

YES...for any vehicle!!!  The impossible area is just south of Big Sur where the mountain has let loose leaving a large section of highway buried and unstable. It will take a year to let the mountainside stabilize and then to decide how to repair or rebuild the highway.....it's not good!
 
Pfraser57 said:
RoyM,
I was just wanting to know if there were any areas that were harder than others to travel through in a 37 foot RV?
We have not driven California, but Oregon we have. 

The road is good all the way from the CA border to the WA border.  Mostly 2 lane.  No narrow roads.  However there are sections you will be driving through small towns with lots of traffic at 20-30mph.  Sections where you will go up/down 5-6% grades for a 1/2 mile with curves and little to no shoulder. 

If you are try to drive 200-300 miles in a day, this is not the route to take.  If you are taking your time and stopping as scenic places for a few days every 100 miles or so, it is a very enjoyable drive.
 
Have driven my 36 ft Diesel pusher sever times. Some nice RV camps to say at. Howerver, some places, Don't look down.
 
US 101 isn't the Pacific Coast Highway in California.  It goes inland south of Eureka and doesn't touch the coast again until just west of Santa Barbara.

State Route 1 is the road that hugs the ocean in California and it's not recommended for RVs.  North of San Francisco it's extremely twisty and narrow, essentially unchanged since they carved the original road out of the coastal cliffs in the 1930s.  Further south. the entire stretch along Big Sur between Monterey and San Luis Obispo is closed for the foreseeable future due to massive mudlsides from last February's massive storms.

More specifically, you should avoid the stretch of Hwy 1 from where it takes off from US 101 just north of the Golden Gate Bridge to Stinson Beach.  It's very narrow and has numerous sharp switchbacks as it goes over the southern flank of Mt. Tamalpais to the coastal cliffs.  If you want to explore Pt. Reyes, leave the motorhome at Marin RV Park and make it a day trip, or use Sir Francis Drake Blvd. to get the RV out to Olema Campground.

Or take Bodega Rd. / Valley Ford Blvd. from Petaluma to one of the Sonoma County Park campgrounds at Bodega Bay.  You can either go back to US 101 the same way or take a longer route using Hwy 116 along the Russian River to Santa Rosa.

The section you really don't want to take the RV on is from Jenner north to Point Arena.  It's the most scenic part of the coast drive but again, the road is essentially the same as when they carved it out of the cliffs in the 1930s, very narrow with numerous hairpin switchbacks.  Not suitable at all for RVs or any larger vehicles.  In the middle of this stretch is Fort Ross State Historic Park, the southernmost Russian settlement in the early 1800s..  Either take a day trip in the toad north from Bodega Bay or south from the KOA in Manchester.  The KOA is accessible via CA 128 in Cloverdale.

The last stretch you want to avoid with the motorhome is north of Fort Bragg until CA 1 rejoins US 101 in Leggett.

You shouldn't have any problem taking US 101 north from San Francisco and one of the areas you'll go through is the Redwood Forest north of Garberville.  The Avenue of the Giants is the old road that follows the river through the heart of the forest and it's a nice drive, though a lack of parking for a larger vehicles means it's best done in the toad if you want to stop and walk through any of the redwood groves.
 
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