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  5. Road trippin': Williams to Leggett

Road trippin': Williams to Leggett via. SR-20 and U.S. 101

Looping around a lovely lake

Have you been to Lucerne, or Nice? And did you know you could drive to those places via the California state highway system? Yes indeed, you don't have to travel to Europe to visit those two towns. They're placed atop Clear Lake in Northern California. CT News drove through them on its way to U.S. Highway 101 and more points north.

State Route 20

00 (Courtesy of Google Maps)
01 The coastal range that contains Mendocino National Forest is on the western horizon as motorists enter SR-20 from I-5 in Williams.
02 State Route 20 traverses much of Northern California's width, from the east where it veers off from I-80 to its endpoint in Fort Bragg.
03 As Highway 20 enters the coastal range, signs remind motorists to keep their eyes out for wildlife crossing the road.
04 The views aren't actually all that much, nor is the condition of the marker, at the Bear Creek Vista Overlook east of Clear Lake.
05 As it approaches Clear Lake, State Route 20 meets up with State Route 53, which passes through the town of Clearlake to the south.
06 Having pulled over and looking back toward the east, westbound CT News is treated to a late-morning sun reflecting off Clear Lake.
07 The Clear Lake-adjacent town of Lucerne evidently reminded the person who named it of the more-famous city in Switzerland.
08 Lucerne Harbor Park offers SR-20 travelers a chance to pull over and picnic by the side of Clear Lake. (The site also has restrooms.)
09 On a sunny, relatively warm February morning, a few dozen ducks congregated between the Lucerne park's lot and the roadway.
10 As State Route 20 skirts the northwest portion of Clear Lake, it passes through two recently Caltrans-constructed roundabouts.
11 The second roundabout northwest of Clear Lake gives motorists the option to veer down toward Lakeport and Kelseyville on SR-29.
12 The second of the two roundabouts gives motorists the option to swing on down toward Lakeport and Kelseyville via State Route 29.
13 From this Ky-en Recreation Area viewpoint just off SR-20, motorists can see the East Fork of the Russian River flowing into Lake Mendocino.
14 A few miles south of Willits, CT News opts to exit State Route 20 and proceed northward on U.S. Highway 101/
15 A Caltrans-owned and -operated changeable message sign (CMS) keeps motorists on northbound U.S. 101 apprised of conditions.
17 A maintenance crew clears wind-felled trees along a forest-surrounded portion of U.S. Highway 101 north of Willits.
18 A few miles southeast of Leggett, U.S. Highway 101 gives travelers a chance to exit in Cummings, a rural community not readily seen.