Sacramento to Portland

I am traveling from Sacramento to Portland next week. The obvious route is I-5, but seems like a boring waste! I have heard the Oregon coast is really worth seeing so I am trying to plan a route that takes in loads of sceenery, but doesn%26#39;t take 3 days! I just don%26#39;t have that long. Does anyone know the best route west from I-5? I don%26#39;t know whether to cross over in CA or OR. The roads all look long, windy and indirect. Help!

Sacramento to Portland

Providing you%26#39;ve already driven CA-1 before (or don%26#39;t want to take the time to drive it - very winding, but amazingly scenic), I%26#39;d suggest taking CA-20 to Hwy 101 and north from there. This way you only get a little I-5 drudgery, and 101 kind of goes NW%26#39;ly to the coast, passing through the Sonoma Valley and the Redwoods before hitting the Oregon Coast.

Of course, the further you travel North on I-5 the shorter the overall time will be, but missing that is the whole point!

The drive from about Mt. Shasta to Roseburg up I-5 is actually pretty scenic as well, but then you have to drive the not-scenic parts on either end of that stretch.

Sacramento to Portland

If I were you, I%26#39;d take the I-5 from Sacremento to Redding, head West on Highway 299 to the 101. From there, take the 101 North up through the Redwoods.

You then have two choices, you can take the 199 out of Crescent City back to Grants Pass where you%26#39;ll have a 5 hour drive up the I-5 to Portland (is really out of the way for the short amount of time you%26#39;d be on the 101...but I know from experience this can be done in a day...we stop at a lot of places too).

Your other choice, and the one I%26#39;d go with if time permits (if you don%26#39;t stop too much...which will be hard because there%26#39;s sooooo many nice pull-offs) is to just take the 101 all the way up to Lincoln City...beautiful drive on one of the most scenic highways in the country...on the North end of Lincoln City, take Highway 18 and follow the signs back to Portland. This would probably end up taking a day and a half...though you could probably pull it off in 1 if you get up early and don%26#39;t stop too much.

Probably one of the best routs from I-5 to the coast, in terms of the time it takes (about 70 minutes), road condition and the beauty of the drive is from Sutherlin (exit 154) to Elkton on hwy 138, then Elkton to Reedsport on hwy 38.

Once at Reedsport, you would drive north on hwy 101, paralleling the Oregon Dunes National Recreation Area to Florence. Continuning north from Florence on to Newport is one of the more scenic drives along the coast. At Newport, you could take hwy 20 to Corvallis and on back to 1-5 or continue on through Lincoln City on hwy 101 and take hwy 18 into Salem.

Sutherlin to Newport, then back to 1-5 will take 4 hrs of NON-STOP driving. To Lincoln City and back to I-5 will take an additonal 30-45 minutes. You could easily spend an additional 3-4 (actually a couple of days if you had time) taking in a few of the sights in between.

Den

OOPS! That should have read ';3-4 hours';.

Sorry.

Den

From Red Bluff to Cottage Grove not too bad on I-5, though it views better going south if you plan to return. Get some really great views of Shasta. and Mt McLoughlin and the valleys north of Grants Pass.

I lived in Redding 5 years and never did like the drive south from Red Bluff which i had to do 3 or 4 times per year.

As a minimum you should do as Den suggests and leave i-5 at Sutherlin. You get some good variety on coast Reedsport to Lincoln CIty.

If you were just traveling through i would suggest you get to 101 fairly soon maybe through Napa Valley, but if you live in Sacramento may be better for day trips.

Thanks you guys! What awesome info! The 2 good choices seem like a big decision though...... start the coastal route in McKinleyville, CA or Reedsport, Or....that%26#39;s quite a long stretch between these 2 points. Is that stretch worth seeing? I guess that%26#39;s a dumb question....I%26#39;m sure it%26#39;s all worth seeing....what I mean is, is it more of the same or is it diverse territory that%26#39;s worth an extra day? It will mean one less day in Portland and I%26#39;ve only been there once, briefly, so I%26#39;m sure there%26#39;s more to see in the city than the interesting market I went to!

No one has mentioned the route from Grants Pass to Gold Beach. Is that something to consider?

I really appreciate your input, thank you. It makes traveling so much less stressfull!

Not sure which route between Grants Pass and Gold Beach you%26#39;re thinking about, but the ONLY one to consider is hwy 199 into northern CA, then north. That would obviously add time, but I think you%26#39;d find it well worth it. Hwy 199 will take you along the Smith River, and through a couple redwood groves. And the stretch of coast between Brookings and Port Orford is jaw-dropping spectacular.

If you decide not to take the time, I%26#39;d go with hwy 38 to Reedsport. Another beautiful drive along the Umpqua River, with a wildlife viewing area just before Reedsport where you%26#39;re sure to see herds of elk.

From McKinleyville north it is beautiful. We usually just do I-5 from here to the Bay Area, but took this route last year.

I agree about taking 199 to cut over. Very scenic!

Are you interested in stopping for a night around McKinleyville at all? If you are interested at all, we found a Holiday Inn Express there, near the little airport, and it was great. We thought it was new from the feel to it (sparkling clean), but they said it was 5 yrs old or so. Very well kept!!! Great service as well. There is a restaurant at the airport that was very good, and with the room card we got a discount. Good meal and we got to watch the planes take off and land.

I have taken that road from Grants Pass several times, but then I worked for Forest Service and was accustomed to those kind of roads. Galice to Agnes is difficult drive, steep in places single lane with turnouts for much of it. Last time I went road was paved but FS has had loss of funding for road maint so it could have deteriorated .

I don%26#39;t recommend going alone, plus not very interesting compared to 299 or Sutherlin to Reedsport.

Have you seen the redwoods? That could be difference for you. worth seeing.

Oreg coast Brookings to Port Orford is great, bur so is Reedsport to Depoe Bay.

299 Redding to 101 is not fast.