United States Highway 101
US Highway 101 runs along the West Coast of the United States, just as its counterpart US Highway 1 runs along the East Coast. The southern terminus of Route 101 is in Los Angeles where it is known as the Hollywood Freeway. It then runs north through North Hollywood and Encino, where it becomes the Ventura Freeway. North of Ventura, it remains a freeway, traveling north to Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo, Salinas, Gilroy, San Jose, Palo Alto, and San Francisco. See also California State Route 1 (Pacific Coast Highway), a state highway that runs along the Pacific coastline, usually a few miles to the west of Highway 101, between Santa Monica and Big Sur.From San Francisco to the Oregon border, Highway 101 is sometimes a freeway and sometimes a two-lane road. The most scenic portion of Highway 101 within California is in Humboldt County, where it travels through Humboldt Redwoods State Park and a portion of the highway is known as the Avenue of the Giants for the huge, centuries-old redwood trees that can be found there.
Highway 101 enters Oregon 4 miles south of Brookings, and is seldom out of site of the Pacific Ocean until it reaches Astoria. The stretch between Florence and Yachats is considered one of the more attractive segments of this highway, although there are an abundance of Oregon State Parks along the Pacific coast. Because Highway 101 forms the main street of almost all of the coastal towns in Oregon (with the exception of Cannon Beach), it is frequently congested and slow. The highway crosses the mouth of the Columbia River at the bridge at Astoria into Washington, and follows the Columbia downstream to Ilwaco.
From Ilwaco, Highway 101 follows the Pacific coastline as far as Raymond, Washington from where it proceeds directly north to Aberdeen, Washington, offering access from this city into the Olympic National Park. While AAA has designated this segment north to Port Angeles, Washington as a scenic byway, clear-cut logging in the early 1990s has ruined the scenic value of the highway where it crosses the Quinault Indian Reservation. From Port Angeles Highway 101 turns southward, leading to its northern terminus in Olympia, Washington.
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