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katoomer's avatar
katoomer
Explorer
Jun 28, 2016

Easiest route to the redwoods from the north with trailer

We are heading to Redwoods in July. What the easiest route to Eureka from I5? We are towing an enclosed trailer and are 64' overall. Don't want to get stuck on a real twisty road crossing over from the interstate. Should we head over to the coast in Oregon and go south from there?
Heard some of these roads are motorcycle heaven. I can drive our rig in just about anything but I'll save the twisty roads for when we get there as we are bringing our VW Golf R.
  • US199 is ok, but somewhat twisty as it follows the Smith River on the California side. OR38 Roseburg to Coos Bay is easier in a big rig. You don't find anything that easy in California until CA20 past ClearLake.
  • It's pretty easy to view the road with Google maps and the 'little man' view. I do that often for the tight turns and such. You don't have to take our word for anything.
  • katoomer wrote:
    and are 64' overall. Don't want to get stuck on a real twisty road crossing over from the interstate.
    That should eliminate 199 and 299. Which leaves part of the OR coast. Starting from the north we've taken 30, 26, 6, 18, 126, 38 and 42.

    101 is decent, scenic and slow but almost all view stop are on the ocean side. ie South bound is best.
  • katoomer wrote:
    2oldman wrote:
    299 is fine.
    Are you sure? My bro says it's rated one of the top 5 motorcycle roads in the U.S.
    Ya. In fact I stayed the night here: 40.734511, -122.932487

    I'm about 56' truck and tow. You won't break any speed records, but you won't fall off the road either.
  • They are all twisty and windy. But they all have semi's traveling them every day so you will be fine on any of them. You can certainly go over from Portland or Salem and have the least windy roads but you will be a long time going down 101 that far as it will be very slow. You will also see the most beautiful scenery in the world--OR on 101 going south is spectacular.
  • 2oldman wrote:
    299 is fine.

    Are you sure? My bro says it's rated one of the top 5 motorcycle roads in the U.S.
  • I like to plan routes using the Motor Carriers Atlas. Usually, if it's a good road for the truckers it's good for me. Routes can then be verified for road type using Google Maps. I've used the Street View to get down on the road to see what it really looks like.