Driving the Redwood Highway

North of Ukiah, U.S. 101 stops behaving like a highway and starts behaving like several different roads in sequence. Four lanes, then two, then a curving grade through timber, then a straight run across a river bottom. The mistake people make is settling into one style of driving and carrying it into the next section.

The road changes and the speed should change with it

Between Ukiah and Willits, over the grades, through the tight country south of Garberville and out onto the flatter ground toward Eureka and Arcata, the character shifts repeatedly. Some sections are expressway with driveways and farm entrances directly onto them. Some are two lanes with no shoulder and a rock face on one side. Vehicle Code section 22350 — speed that is reasonable and prudent having due regard for weather, visibility, and the surface and width of the highway — is almost a description of this route, because every one of those variables changes within a few miles.

Log trucks and the space they need

Timber traffic is part of the road here. A loaded log truck is heavy, long, and slow to stop, and it needs the whole lane on a curve because the load tracks differently from the tractor. Do not sit alongside one, do not pass into a curve, and give considerably more room than the gap looks like it needs. On a grade, expect them slow uphill and expect them to hold their speed downhill, which is not the same as being able to shed it.

Damp shade is the local surface hazard

Under the redwood canopy the pavement stays wet long after the rain stops, and in some sections it barely dries at all in winter. Add fallen needles, moss and leaf litter and you get a genuinely slick surface that looks merely damp. The old Redwood Highway alignment through Avenue of the Giants, State Route 254, is the extreme version: narrow, shaded, beautiful and full of drivers looking up. Treat it as a scenic road rather than a route, and let the traffic that wants to move use 101.

Wildlife, and not just deer

Deer along the whole corridor, and toward the far north, Roosevelt elk, which are considerably larger and behave differently — they cross in groups, they are often near the road at dawn and dusk in the meadows toward Orick, and an impact with one is a serious matter for the vehicle and its occupants. The advice is the same as for deer and it is more important here: brake in a straight line, do not swerve, and slow down when you see one because there is nearly always another.

Winter takes pieces of the road away

Slides, fallen trees and washouts close sections of 101 and the roads feeding it during heavy winter storms, and repairs on a rural mountain highway are not quick. Detours can be long and can themselves be affected. Check conditions before a winter drive, keep the tank fuller than you would on a familiar road, and accept that a closure may mean waiting rather than routing around it.

What matters on the policy up here

Comprehensive coverage is doing the heavy lifting on this route: it is what responds to an animal strike, a rock or a falling limb, and glass damage from log-truck debris. Collision responds when you leave the road or hit something. Both are optional under California law, which is exactly why so many drivers on this highway do not have one of them. If you drive the north coast regularly and are not sure which you carry, your declarations page will tell you in about thirty seconds.

Ask us to price comprehensive and collision together so you can see both numbers at once.