Day 5: Florence, OR to Crescent City, CA
Postcard from Crescent City, California.
Today’s ride gave me little opportunities to leave the, mostly sunny, highway 101. When that happened, a thick and stubborn fog covering the coast made reaching most of the viewpoints a pointless exercise.
The one stop for lunch, to rest my already painful neck and take the PNW oysters final score to an honest 24 units, was definitely more meaningful.
229 pretty uneventful straight-as-it-gets miles, but the last 16: entering cloudy northern California meant my first encounter with the redwoods and a 45 or so minutes spectacular drive on an unpaved narrow road, zigzagging between incredible trees to reach the Stout Grove trail. The 2-mile-long, Converse-friendly hike spent with my open-mouthed face constantly looking up might have further compromised my neck stability, but boy: it was totally worth the pain.
Nothing 6 more oysters and a West Coast beer flight or two can’t fix.
Driving from Florence to Crescent City Cheat Sheet
Accommodation in Crescent City:
- Front Street Inn, 102 L St, Crescent City, CA 95531
Where to eat and what to see between Florence OR and Crescent City CA
- Cape Arago Pack Trail The viewpoints in the very last part of Oregon must be amazing. I was particularly unlucky that day and all viewpoints were covered by a tick fog. But again: from what I could see in posters and pictures around the viewpoints, if you get a sunny day the view must be superb
- Cape Blanco Lighthouse, 91100 Cape Blanco Rd, Port Orford, OR 97465 Same as above but with even ticker fog…
- Battle Rock Wayside Park, 520 Jefferson St, Port Orford, OR 97465 The first sunny viewpoint I managed to get that day. Nice and if you have time you can do a little walk in the park next to the ocean
- Redfish, 517 Jefferson St, Port Orford, OR 97465 Amazing. Amazing little restaurant with a fantastic view over the bay and some of the best fish and seafood I’ve ever tried in my life. The oyster shooter with house made spicy pickle brine is out of this world. Word.
- Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park, Crescent City. My first encounter with the redwoods and probably my favorite too. The drive on a mostly unpaved dusty road, zigzagging between incredible trees will stay in my best memories for long time.
- Crescent Seafood, 170 Marine Way, Crescent City, CA 95531 Casual seafood spot inside a fish market. I got there just minutes before closing time: it was delicious.
- SeaQuake Brewing, 400 Front St, Crescent City, CA 95531. Not much to do in Crescent City. This place has good beers and nice friendly people behind the bar.
Driving from Florence to Crescent City FAQ
There are 180 miles from Florence to Crescent City. I took some diversions hence I’ve ended up driving for 229 miles.
Driving on a straight line should take about 3 and half hours. It took me much longer, 8 hours or so, because of a number of stops and mostly ’cause of the hike at Stout Grove trail.
If you drive on a sunny day you get amazing views, but probably the best part about driving from Florence to Crescent City is that short 16 miles leg, right outside Crescent City, to get to Stout Grove trail: one of the most electrifying drive you can ever do.
Between Florence and Crescent City there are plenty of viewpoints where, if you are lucky with the weather, you can enjoy a magnificent view. The redwoods forest right outside Crescent City is beautiful and unmissable.
If you are planning to reach the Stout Grove trail, a not too big midsize car is probably the best option: the road is unpaved, it is very narrow and parking might be complicated. If the weather is particularly bad, probably going up there is not the best idea.
West Coast road trip pictures: photos taken between Florence and Crescent City
My itinerary on a West Coast road trip
- Seattle to San Diego road trip – main article
- Day 1: Sea-Tac to Seattle
- Day 2: Seattle to Port Angeles
- Day 3: Port Angeles to Astoria
- Day 4: Astoria to Florence
- Day 5: Florence to Crescent City
- Day 6: Crescent City to Fortuna
- Day 7, 8 and 9: Fortuna to Napa
- Day 10 and 11: Napa to San Francisco
- Day 12: San Francisco to Monterey
- Day 13: Monterey to King City
- Day 14: King City to San Luis Obispo
- Day 15: San Luis Obispo to Carpinteria
- Day 16-17-18: Carpinteria to Los Angeles
- Day 19-20: Los Angeles to San Diego
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