Jan

We are planning a trip up the north coast of California for middle of May. We will be spending a few days in San Francisco first and plan on spending 6 nights going up the coast on Hwy 1 to Crescent City. We then plan to go over to Interstate 5 and need to end up in Marysville where my brother lives. Is this a reasonable itinerary? We don't want to be in a big hurry and want to have time to see the sites along the way, especially the coast and the redwoods. Does anyone have any suggestions for planning our overnight stops along the way so we don't drive too far in one day?

Native

Jan,

Be sure to arrive in Marysville at the last possible moment. There is nothing to do or see in the Marysville-Yuba City area.

Native

kam

I'm understanding that you have 6 days to drive from SF to Crescent City?? If so, that's super. I would spend the first night in Inverness or Bodega Bay--not far from SF, but I would spend the day in Pt. Reyes Seashore. Then you can take a leisurely drive up the coast to the Mendocino area--staying 2 nights in Elk, Albion, Mendocino. Then continue up hwy. 1 until you have to merge inland with 101. Garberville, where the Redwoods State Park is, has a historic old hotel called the Benbow Inn. Farther north I don't know. It will be a beautiful trip and May is ideal.

Jan

We only have the 6 nights, 7days to spend getting from San Francisco up the coast and back to Marysville. Any suggestions on what route to take back to Marysville from Crescent City? We were thinking of heading north into Oregon through Ashland and back down Interstate 5. Would this be a quicker way to Marysville since it is Interstate?

kam

Half an answer here. I 5 will be very quick compared to driving along the coast. It will go past Mt. Shasta so might be a bit interesting. Don't know Oregon so I don't know how far out of your way that will take you. You can take rt. 36 across from Scotia to Red Bluff and get to I5 that way if you don't have to go all the way to Crescent City. You would still see the best of the redwoods. Post again to ask people how Rt. 36 is as a road. I've never driven it.

janis

six days will be plenty. You'd be surprised how many folks on this board try to drive the whole Calif coast and include Yosemite in 4 or 5 days. they are nuts.

But think of your trip at five days going north and a day or less going south to Marysville.

Good places places to stay - all less than 100 miles apart include Bodega Bay, Mendocino, Trinidad, Smith River (CA) or Brookings (OR). Then cut inland to Grants Pass > Medford and south on I-5 to Williams where you cut over to Marysville.

If you wanted to go farther N into Oregon continue as far a Coos Bay - then catch I-5 Near Roseburg and head south. You can easily drive from Roseburg to Marysville in less than a day.

the main place to stop on I-5 would be Mt Shasta/Dunsmuir.

Or if you wanted to get off of I-5, take 99 at Red Bluff - through Chico and Gridley to marysville.

Jan

Thanks so much for your help. I am still trying to figure out if we would be better off back tracking down 101 from Crescent City and taking 20 over to Marysville. How is that road if we decide on that? If we do backtrack we will probably spend the last night somewhere near Garberville. Would that make for too long a trip back to Marysville in 1 day?

janis

Maybe it is just a psychological thing with me - but I always try to avoid back-tracking. I just like to be seeing new things - if I enjoy a place I'll linger longer before I leave instead of backtracking. But that is just me.

As for you question - You have plenty of time and I would recommend taking 199 from Crescent City to Grant Pass and then I-5. You would actually even probably have enough time for a side trip to Crater Lake since it is only about 50 miles from Medford.

Hwy 20 around clear Lake is OK - but Crescent City to Ukiah to Marysville would probably take longer that Cr. City to Medford (w/o a detour to Crater lake) to Marysville because I-5 is such a fast road

GP

Jan
Here is my take (I have been to all these places and done the drive)
Day 1 into SFO Over the golden gate, Muir Woods thru Pt. Reyes hwy 1 north over night Bodega Bay / Jenner.

Day 2 Bodega bay / Jenner north 0n 1 to Ft Bragg/Mendocino stops at Salt point, Ft. Ross, Mendocino . overnight Ft Bragg/Mendocino

Day 3 Ft Bragg/Mendocino hwy1 to hwy 101 north to Fortuna /Eureka do the Ave. of Giants, Founders grove, bull creek big tree area over night Fortuna /Eureka

Day 4 Fortuna /Eureka to Crescent City Redwoods and Beaches, lagoons, costal drive overnight Crescent city

Day 5 Crescent City hwy 101 to 199 Jed Smith State. Park, Smith River to I5 to Ashland overnight Ashland.

Day 6 add this day to one of the above stops take your pick my choice of extra time would be day 2 or 3 (but I live in Humboldt County)

Day 7 Ashland on I5 to 20 to Marysville

Should expect rain, may get sun may get fog This is a very pretty route.

Jan

I certainly appreciate all the help I have gotten so far. We will probably follow the suggestions by Gp for our itinerary.
One follow up question. Any suggestions on accomodations around Bodega Bay or Jenner? I know there are a couple of B&B's there, but they are pretty expensive.

kal

Jan,
Nice trip!
One of the prettiest drives I've been on in my 44yrs in Calif, was Hwy 299 from Redding to Eureka during a Novemeber anniv. trip.
The Trinity Alps were beautiful.

If you find yourself stuck, errr.. having to stay in Redding, pick a place up on Hilltop Drive and then go into town and get a steak at Jack's. Probably one of the best steaks I've ever had.
Kal

twb

One of the nicest places to stay in Bodega Bay is the Bodega Bay Lodge & Spa. Room start at a little over $200/nite. A Duck Club restaurant is attached to the lodge. The view is over the bay and really lovely. You can walk out along a spit of land called Doren Park. A very nice (& inexpensive) place to stay in Fort Bragg is the Harbor Lite Lodge overlooking Noyo Harbor. Rooms are large and very clean. You can hear the seals barking during the night. Room 310 has a particularly good view. The Rendezvous Restaurant in Fort Bragg is very good. Crescent City doesn't have much in the way of charming places to stay. You might consider going on north to Trinidad--some great B&B's there plus a cafe on the old pier that is frequented by locals. Have a wonderful time!

GP

Jan
TWB is somewhat right about Crescent City, however Trinidad is 70 miles south of Crescent City So he/she may be talking about Eureka and they would be right too. In Crescent City there are some new Motels on the South end of town that do not look too bad. I never stayed there however. 20 miles north in Brookings there is a Best Western that I have stayed at that was ok. At this point in your trip just a quick overnite is about right before moving on to Ashland. Trinidad does have its charm. But the B&B are expensive. Pretty funny the wife and I were just in the Seacape (on the pier)on monday after collecting agates on the beaches up here. OH! wait the wife say's there is nothing up here and it rains all the time. Best to stick to Southern California... that is everything south of Fortuna! Gotta go
GP

John

I-5 back to Marysville is fast and, except for Mt. Shasta looming off to your left, kinda boring once you're past the Siskyous on the Oregon/California line. From Medford (for example) to the Sacramento area is around 5-6 hours. Pedal/metal time.

That being the case, I'd suggest that you extend your trip a little further into Oregon, either to Reedsport, where the road back toward Drain/Roseburg along the Umpqua River is flat out gorgeous, or else farther north on the coast, say to Newport, where you can cut across to Corvallis (pleasant college town), then back south through Eugene and ultimately to Ashland. Look for lovely covered bridges in this part of the Willamette Valley. In May in Ashland the Oregon Shakespeare Festival is just getting going for the summer season; no performances outdoors in the Elizabethan Theater yet, but plenty of excellent (really excellent) shows at the indoor Bowmer Theater, and tickets ought to be fairly easy to get - www.orshakes.org/

Savor your time in the Redwoods, and plan on a meal (good for a full day's fueling) at the Samoa Cookhouse in Samoa, across the bay from central Eureka. http://humboldtdining.com/cookhouse/

In May you probably won't have much of a problem finding accommodation anywhere on your route - stop when you're tired.

For what it's worth, I find Calif. SR20 to be gawdawful boring, but maybe that's just me. All I've ever seen on this road (numerous trips) is the back of the next truck.

Diana

About 25 miles south of Eureka is Ferndale--it is a charming, tiny town that is a historic monument (or whatever--I believe the whole town is so designated). Quite a lovely place to spend a morning or an afternoon.

Jan

Wow! Lots of good ideas here. I will have to look into going a little farther into Oregon or spending more time going up the coast. Sounds like 1 easy day back down I-5 should do it for our return to Marysville.
Thanks again to everyone who helped.

kam

We really like Ten Inverness Way in Inverness (near Pt. Reyes). Inn at the Tides in Bodega Bay is also nice and we like their restaurant very much. So many places up near Mendocino. Use a search engine to look at Agate Cove, Blackberry Inn, Joshua Grindle House. Some of the B&Bs in this area require a minimum 2 nights on weekends so ask about that. Maybe it only applies during the summer. Sounds like a lovely trip.

Jan

Would it be feasible to go without reservations and just stop for the night whenever we felt like it. This will be midweek in the middle of May.
We would be looking for Holiday Inn type accomodations. What do you think?

GP

Jan
You should be fine if your flexable. The only problem would be if you were in the Humboldt Bay area the week of Humboldt State Univ. Graduation. Which is May 18 Then most of the rooms book up But you could find something in Fortuna