U.S. 101: The Wild Rivers Crossing
From Crescent City north across the Oregon line, through the Boardman corridor and over the Rogue at Gold Beach, to Port Orford, Cape Blanco and Bandon.
The Route at a Glance
US-101 leaves Crescent City north across the Smith River flats, the country of the Tolowa Dee-ni', and reaches the Oregon line in about twenty minutes. The Chetco, who lived at the river mouth where Brookings stands now, were close kin to the Tolowa and spoke nearly the same language. In 1853 a settler named A. F. Miller, who wanted the ferry the Chetco ran across their river, led a party that burned both villages at its mouth and shot people as they came out of their houses. The court at Port Orford would not hear Chetco testimony, and he went free.
North of Brookings the road runs for twelve miles through the Samuel H. Boardman State Scenic Corridor, named in 1950 for Oregon's first state parks superintendent. Its turnouts look down on sea stacks, arches and coves, a short trail reaches the Natural Bridges, and the highway crosses Thomas Creek 345 feet above the water on the highest bridge in the state.
At Gold Beach, named for the gold found in its beach sand in the 1850s, the highway crosses the Rogue on the Isaac Lee Patterson Bridge, dedicated in May 1932. It was the first of Conde McCullough's six great coast bridges, built first because the tides made the ferry here the hardest to run. Beyond it the road rounds Humbug Mountain and comes into Port Orford, where Battle Rock stands on the beach beside the highway. A few miles north, a side road runs west to Cape Blanco, the farthest point west in Oregon. The drive ends at Bandon, on the Coquille River.
The whole run is about 110 miles and two and a half hours without stops, with a town every twenty-five miles or so. The highway is two lanes for most of the way, and winter storms bring slides and closures.
The Drive, Stop by Stop
4 stops along the route, in driving order from Crescent City, California to Bandon, Oregon. One of them sits off the road itself — the distance is noted on each.
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
That's the drive. Take your time, pull over often, and let U.S. 101: The Wild Rivers Crossing do what it does best.
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