Northern California's Highway 101
Road Trip Guide

Redwood, unlike many national parks, has been put together grove by grove over the course of 57 years. Throughout the late 1800s and into the 1900s, the lumber industry had unrestricted access to over 2,000,000 acres of old-growth redwoods. While there was an attempt to begin saving the remaining groves in 1911, nothing began to happen until 1921.

The Save-The-Redwoods League, founded in 1918, began the conservation process with the purchase of the Raynal Bolling Memorial Grove (now in Humboldt Redwoods State Park). The founding of the California State Park system in 1927 created Prairie Creek Redwoods, Del Norte Coast Redwoods, and Jedediah Smith Redwoods (12a).

World War II caused further delays in forming an official national park due to the high demands of lumber. Finally, on October 2nd 1968, the bill for Redwood National Park was signed protecting an additional 100,000 acres of forest. Another 48,000 acres were added in 1978, but most of it had been previously logged.

Throughout coastal California you’ll find small patches of protected old-growth redwoods. These groves are a testament to the hard work and dedication groups of conservationists had over a hundred years ago. Without them, it is likely none of these redwood giants would remain.

Avenue of the Giants is a scenic highway extending from Fortuna to Garberville in Humboldt County. This stretch of road used to be part of Highway 101 until a realignment in 1960 created the existing bypass. Now you can appreciate the 50,000+ acres of redwood groves located along this route without the worry of traffic speeding by! It’s also the home of the Avenue of the Giants Marathon in early May.

Make sure you don’t miss this scenic route -- this is roadside tourism at its best.

Highway 1 was put together piece by piece over the course of 40 years. It begins in Leggett, CA to the north and runs all the way down the California coast to Dana Point, CA in the south. Due to so much time elapsing throughout its construction, and also because it is a collection of many smaller roads, it is referred to by many different names.

The California Highway 1 designation was assigned to the complete route, all the way up to Rockport, in 1964. Various stretches of the highway have additional names such as Pacific Coast Highway from Dana Point to Santa Barbara, Cabrillo Highway from Santa Barbara to San Francisco, and Shoreline Highway from San Francisco to Leggett. To muddle the matter further, sections of Highway 1 and Highway 101 are combined for long stretches, most notable from Ventura through Gaviota.

Initially, there were plans to extend Highway 1 north from Rockport to Ferndale. However, in 1984 those plans were dismissed due to the challenges and costs associated with building through the coastal mountains of the Lost Coast. Instead, Highway 208 from Rockport to Leggett was redesignated as the final piece to Highway 1, which now extends to its terminus along Highway 101 (14a).

So the iconic scenery along Big Sur is actually NOT found along the Pacific Coast Highway, but is found along the Cabrillo Highway. Fun facts to know and share!