Grants Pass to Crescent City Highway 199 Road Guide - Oregon & California Redwood Highway

Smith River Canyon, California

ZERO YOUR ODOMETER at the Gasquet Store

0.0 Gasquet Store

__ Site of the old Gasquet Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) Camp (left)

1.2 Gasquet Flat Road

1.3 A River Access trail is located on the right immediately after Gasquet Flat Road.

2.0 French Hill Road (left) takes you on a backcountry, gravel road to Big Flat on the South Fork of the Smith River. The total distance is about 28 miles, most of which is on gravel roads that sometimes become very steep and rough. A high clearance vehicle is recommended. Four wheel drive is helpful but not necessary if you are familiar with driving on back country roads. The same area can be reached by the paved South Fork Road about seven miles ahead.

Maps show the old Redwood Highway (Gasquet Toll Road) going up French Hill for about a mile before following the Smith River toward the coast. The road crosses over private property and is not accessible from this side, but it is possible to follow the old route for some distance near where it merges with South Fork Road.

The site of Adams Station is located on the right immediately after French Hill Road. This was a popular stage stop established by Mary Adams in 1898. Mary was born in Waldo, Oregon and learned the trade of dress making. She had a dress shop in Grants Pass and later moved to work for Horace Gasquet at his resort where she learned how to cook from Mrs. Gasquet, an accomplished chef. She worked for the Gasquet family until Mr. Gasquet died in 1896. Adams Station became known for its good food and cabins were later added to make it a vacation spot. At one time, she received a Duncan Heinz recommendation for good food. In 1908, she married Pete Peacock, the son of the operator of Peacock Ferry, the location where the 1857 Turnpike and Puncheon Road crossed the Smith River. Auto stages began replacing horse drawn stagecoaches around 1912 and Adams Station was a regular stop for travelers in these vehicles. In the 1930s there was a golf course where the Gasquet airport is now located and people from Crescent City would come for a day of golf and always stop at Adam’s Station for a meal. Mary Adams was born when Abraham Lincoln was president and Franklin D. Roosevelt was president when she died. The bridge next to Adams Station was dedicated to her in 1932.

2.2 Mary Adams-Peacock Bridge:
The redwood forest begins in this vicinity. Most of the redwood trees that are seen along the road are small but a couple of fair sized ones can be seen on the left shoulder of the road after Hardscrabble Creek. Your best opportunity to get a close look at these trees will be in Redwood National Park. Six Rivers National Forest is the only national forest in the nation with coast redwood trees.

You are now entering another section of ocean crust, the last of the three you will drive through on this tour.

2.5 Gasquet Mountain Road (right)

3.3 Hardscrabble Creek was named by pack train owners bringing supplies from Crescent City to Oregon gold rush camps over the 1852 Cold Springs Mountain Pack Trail. The trail crossed the creek in this vicinity and, because of the steep, rocky sides of the creek bed, the mules had a “hard scrabble” to get up the bank.

3.4 Redwood trees on the left. Most of the trees on this side of the river are small, second-growth trees. The legendary old growth trees most people travel to see are at Redwood National Park although there are tall stands of trees on the other side of the Smith River along this part of Highway 199.

4.7 Turnout: Please use turnouts to allow fast moving traffic to pass.

5.0 Turnout

6.3 Passing lane: If you are planning to turn and follow the Old Redwood Highway, an alternate route to Crescent City that starts at South Fork Road a half mile from here, it would be a good idea to let traffic pass you at this point so you won’t have traffic behind you when you slow down to make the left hand turn.

Highway 199 sign for South Fork Road and Howland Hill Scenic Drive through the Redwood Forest, Crescent City, California. 6.9 SAFETY TIP: The sign for the turnoff to South Fork Road (left) comes up suddenly around a corner. Start reducing your speed to slow down vehicles behind you to lower the risk of getting hit from behind. A picture of the sign you are looking for is shown to the right.

7.1 South Fork Road (left). The Highway 199 tour continues straight ahead.

The Old Redwood Highway (Howland Hill Road), a scenic gravel surfaced road to Crescent City, goes to the left on South Fork Road. You can pick up the tour by going to the Old Redwood Highway Road Guide and follow the link titled Redwood Forest at the bottom of the page. There are several hikes along this route, all of which are pointed out on the Old Redwood Highway tour.

South Fork Road follows the South Fork of the Smith River to the Siskiyou Wilderness and the 1852 South Kelsey Pack Trail, the historic supply route between the port of Crescent City and the gold mining camps in Yreka, California.

7.2 Myrtle Creek Bridge:
Start slowing down as you cross the bridge if you want to hike the Myrtle Creek Botanical Trail. There is no turning lane and the parking are is in a turnout on the left immediately after crossing the bridge. To get to the trail, you will need to cross Highway 199 to the other side. Traffic moves fast through this section of the highway so be very cautious crossing the road.

Myrtle Creek Botanical Trail follow an old mining ditch. Smith River National Recreation Area, Highway 199, California. Gold was discovered on Myrtle Creek in 1853 and for 40 years, gold mining consisted of individuals with picks and shovels excavating through gravel in the bed of the river and on perched gravel beds along the sides of the canyon. In 1893, the Myrtle Creek Ditch was completed by the Myrtle Creek Mining Company of Crescent City. From that time, the much faster method of hydraulic mining was used. The entrance to the Myrtle Creek Trail appears to go through one of the excavations created by hydraulic mining. It then climbs and follows the Myrtle Creek Ditch to its intersection with Myrtle Creek.

8.0 Highway 199 exits Smith River National Recreation Area, leaving the rugged outcrops of mantle rock and ocean crust behind and entering into the fertile terrain of the Franciscan Formation, an accumulation of sedimentary rocks that have been scraped off the top of the ocean crust as it is pushed under the edge of the continent. These sediments are mostly sand and silt and erosion has weathered them into deep, nutrient rich soils that are the home of the world’s tallest trees, the coast redwood.

8.7 ZERO ODOMETER at the Hiouchi Store (Chevron Station)

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Disclaimer: All information in Highway199.org is accurate to the best knowledge of the author. However, conditions in outdoor settings can change dramatically after storms or fires. For this reason, travelers are advised to check current road conditions before traveling through the area, drive responsibly and take measures to understand safety issues in the region. When participating in outdoor activities, always plan and prepare for safe hiking, swimming or any other activities mentioned in the Highway 199 website. More on disclaimer and copyright...