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  5. Road trippin': Leggett to Bodega Bay

Road trippin': Leggett to Bodega Bay via SR-1

Just another perfect day along the North Coast

Although California's Central Coast is what most tourists think of when they are planning to drive (or bicycle -- yikes!) down State Route 1, the fabled highway has plenty to offer above San Francisco, too. The scenery is arguably just as spectacular, and for the most part there is less traffic. CT News takes a spin from where SR-1 begins on down to just past Bodega Bay.

State Route 1

00 (Screen grab courtesy of Google Maps)
01 Ultimately stunning as it is shelved along the California coastline, State Route 1 has humble, interior beginnings in Leggett.
02 Motorists who enter State Route 1 off U.S. Highway 101 in Leggett should brace themselves for a curvy, somewhat dark first hour.
03 Drivers' shoulders can become weary at any point on State Route 1, including just outside Leggett with sharp turn after sharp turn.
04 Roadway-hugging mist appears in the forested, far-north stretches of fabled State Route 1 as it nears the coastline.
05 State Route 1 north of Westport
06 The tiny town of Westport is the first bit of civilization that motorists encounter on southbound SR-1 along the coast.
07 Although the damage near Big Sur gets most of the attention, there are parts of SR-1 above San Francisco that battle erosion, too.
08 Clocking in at just over 650 miles, Highway 1 is the longest state route in California. It extends from Leggett down to Orange County.
09 A few miles north of Fort Bragg, State Route 1 crosses the Ten Mile River on a bridge that contains a protected pedestrian/bike path.
10 Rain water pools at the base of a sign for MacKerricher State Park, a picturesque place tucked between SR-1 and the Pacific Ocean.
11 Caltrans has a maintenance yard in Fort Bragg that's across State Route 1 from the Pacific Ocean.
12 One of the biggest tourist attractions along the North Coast is the Skunk Train, which chugs its way east out of Fort Bragg toward Willits.
13 A few miles south of Fort Bragg, Highway 1 passes Mendocino, a small town known for its artists and bed-and-breakfasts.
14 Highway 1 skirts around Van Damme State Beach, at the base of the Little River not far south of Mendocino.
15 Inlets abound to the west of State Route 1 as it makes its way from Fort Bragg on down to Point Arena.
16 At Navarro Point, Highway 1 jogs inland, hugging the Navarro River before motorists reach the intersection with State Route 128.
17 The Point Arena Lighthouse, closed to visitors during the pandemic, is accessed from SR-1 via a 2-mile-long narrow road.
18 Point Arena is one of the larger communities along Highway 1 north of San Francisco, with several restaurants and shops.
19 South of Point Arena and before they get to Sea Ranch, motorists on southbound SR-1 pass through Gualala.
20 The first portion of State Route 1 was constructed in the 1930s in the Big Sur area, a few hundred miles south of this North Coast stretch.
21 When CT News drove down State Route 1 earlier this year and the sun began to set, more vehicles pulled off so that people could gawk.
22 North of Jenner, a rocky cliff to the east looms over motorists along fabled Highway 1.
23 Caltrans engineers have had many opportunities along State Route 1 to show how hill-side roadways can be built and protected.
24 Movie buffs have since the early 1960s known Bodega Bay to be the primary shooting location of Alfred Hitchcock's "The Birds."
25 CT News discontinued its photographic documentation of SR-1, for the time being, a few miles below Bodega Bay as daylight ended.