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

Smith River Canyon, California

0.0 ZERO ODOMETER at the Hiouchi Store (Chevron Station)

0.6 Highway 199 enters Smith River NRA at Serpentine Point:

Smith River National Recreation Area (NRA) contains the largest single undammed Wild and Scenic River system in the United States. The Smith River is regarded as a World Class fishing river and holds records for the size of the fish that migrate and spawn in this watershed. The largest steelhead caught in this river weighed 27 pounds and the largest Chinook salmon was 86 pounds!

The Smith River NRA has four botanical areas, all of which can be accessed by some of the suggested side trips in this section of the tour. The first of these is the Myrtle Creek Botanical Area about a half mile from where you enter Smith River National Recreation Area.

Most of the eastern border of the Smith River NRA is adjacent to the Siskiyou Wilderness. Highway 199 passes three roads that can be used to access trails into this wilderness area. Each of these roads has their own road guide.

1.2 Paved Turnout: Use turnouts to allow faster moving traffic to pass.

1.3 Myrtle Creek Botanical Trail and emergency phone: Parking for the Myrtle Creek Botanical Trail is located at the large turnout on the right immediately before crossing the Myrtle Creek 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 pick and shovel 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 before climbing to follow the Myrtle Creek Ditch, a relatively level walk.

1.5 South Fork Road (right).

The Old Redwood Highway Road Guide intersects from the right. This road guide will follow Highway 199 for the next seven miles before turning to follow the old route, a gravel surfaced road over Oregon Mountain to Cave Junction. You can switch to this tour at Gasquet, about seven miles ahead by going to the Old Redwood Highway Road Guide and clicking on the link at the bottom of the page titled Gasquet.

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. Big Flat Campground is located about 13 miles up this road.

2.1 Passing lane - let fast moving traffic pass you.

Smith River Canyon, Smith River National Recreation Area, Highway 199, California 2.5 Vista points into Smith River Canyon. There are three vista points you can stop at to see the Smith River Canyon. The first and largest is at Mile 2.5 but the view is up the canyon is cut off by rocks at the bend in the river. The second turnout at Mile 2.6 has the best view but there is room for only two vehicles. The third turnout at mile 2.7 has a good view of the canyon but there is room for only one vehicle and there is no safety wall between the turnoff and the steep drop into the canyon. There is no safe place to turn around for a mile or more up the canyon and no shoulder to pull off on once you are in the canyon so you will only get one shot at getting into the second turnout, the one with the most spectacular view of the canyon. The best strategy is to stop at the first turnout and enjoy the view. As you continue, if you see the other turnouts are open you can stop and look at the canyon from that perspective.

The rocks of the ocean crust are more durable and resistant to erosion than other rocks in the region. Sections of the river that go through the ocean crust tend to form steep walls, something that you will notice when you go through two other sections of ocean crust later in the tour.

As you look at the river in this canyon you may notice that there is a fairly distinct line about 50 feet above the river between the dense forest and the barren rocks of the river. This void of vegetation was created by the scouring of the canyon walls during the flood of 1955 and 1964. The high water mark of this flooding is marked by the line of trees.

3.4 Lower Ocean Crust:
At the passing lane, get into the right lane and turn into the second, large turnout. This is somewhat hidden behind redwood trees but the River Access sign will tell you that you are in the right spot. Park and follow the dirt road to the left. The road takes you to the river about a quarter of a mile upstream from the parking area.

The large rocks below the end of the dirt road are from the lower part of the ocean crust. The ocean crust is created by volcanic events resulting in lava pouring out on the ocean floor along long cracks, maybe 1-2 miles long. For this reason they are called rift volcanoes. Each new volcanic event pushes aside the old rocks and the whole ocean crust moves to make room. This is what is driving the present ocean crust under northern California and Oregon. After each of these volcanic events, the molten material of the lower ocean crust cools slowly and this allows many of the minerals to form crystals. These individual crystals are what give these rocks a salt-and-pepper appearance. The next volcanic event along the rift shatters the older rocks and some of the molten material from the new volcanic activity fills in the cracks between the older rocks. An example of these older rocks “floating” in younger volcanic material is seen in the left picture above. Each new eruption shatters the older rocks creating a jigsaw of fragments inside of fragments that are each “floating” in what was once the molten material of the most recent volcanic activity. The picture to the right shows the result of several eruptions.

4.1 Sharp curve in road

4.4 Cooper Flat (right). Some fair stands of redwood trees can be found on the flats but there is no formal trail to follow if you want to see them.

4.8 Large turnout. Pull over to let faster traffic pass.

5.0 To see the geologic features at this point you will need to hike down to the river. The trail is fairly obscure but can be found next to the rock outcrop at about the middle of this turnout. There are some make-shift stairs installed by local miners to get down one steep spot. The water is swift and deep at this site and the rocks are slippery. Stay back from the river. Do not go to this site during flooding when these features will be under water.

Sheeted dikes, Smith River National Recreation Area, Highway 199, California. The features seen here are from the middle of the ocean crust and represent the cracks, or rifts, that molten material flowed through to get from the lower crust to the surface. After the eruptions, the molten material in the cracks cooled quickly into a type of black, smooth rock called diabase. In geologic terms, these lava-filled cracks are called “dikes” and if you could peel back the rock from around each of these cracks, they might appear like a giant sheet perhaps a mile long and a mile deep. This is why they are called “sheeted dikes”. Most ocean crusts are created by volcanic activity and each of them has three components that include a lower, crystallized region (as was seen at mile 3.4), sheeted dikes, and a lava flow on the top. The best place to see the lava flows along Highway 199 is on the Patrick Creek Loop Road Guide about 12 miles ahead or the Shan Creek Road Guide near Grants Pass, Oregon. Both are pointed out later in the Highway 199 Road Guide.

5.4 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.

6.1 Gasquet Mountain Road (left)

6.2 Large turnout on right - River Access

6.3 Mary Adams-Peacock Bridge:
This bridge marks where the redwood forest ends. From this point, you will entering a region dominated by the Douglas fir.

6.5 Adams Station:
Immediately after the Mary Adams Peacock Bridge and on the left is the site of Adams Station, 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 here to work for Horace Gasquet at his resort. She learned how to cook from Mrs. Gasquet, an accomplished chef and 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.

6.6 French Hill Road (right) 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 that was passed at mile 1.6 in this section of the Highway 199 tour.

Maps show the old Redwood Highway (Gasquet Toll Road) coming down French Hill Road from where it intersects about a mile above Highway 199. The old 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.

7.4 Gasquet Flat Road. The North Fork of the Smith River enters from the canyon to the left. Most of this watershed is within the North Fork Botanical Area, a region almost entirely made up of mantle rock. In the picture of the botanical area, the North Fork of the Smith River cuts across from the lower right corner toward the upper left corner. Diamond Creek Canyon is in the middle right. McGrew Mountain is the red-colored dome in the upper left. The 1857 Turnpike and Puncheon Road climbs across the lower part of the peak then follows the distant ridge. California is in the foreground; Oregon is in the background.

8.7 ZERO YOUR ODOMETER at the Gasquet Store and Post Office. Continue straight ahead to follow the Highway 199 Road Tour.

Gasquet Toll Road, Smith River National Recreation Area, Highway 199, California. The Old Redwood Highway Road Tour goes to the left at this point and follows the historic Gasquet Toll Road, a gravel surfaced road that takes you into Oregon near O’Brien and Cave Junction. As an alternative, you can drive the first section of this road and return to Highway 199 at Patrick Creek. You can get more information about this back country tour by going to the Old Redwood Highway Road Guide and at the bottom of the page click on the link titled Gasquet. The picture shows what the road looks like over most of this route.

During the past few miles, you have been following the Middle Fork of the Smith River. At Gasquet, the north fork comes in from the mountains on the left and merges with the middle fork.

Historic Gasquet Resort with vineyard in foreground. Smith River National Recreation Area, Highway 199, California. The community of Gasquet was established in 1856 by Horace Gasquet and his wife, both from France. His original store and station was located between the north and middle forks of the Smith River, probably because this is where the 1852 Cold Springs Mountain Pack Trail crossed the North Fork of the Smith River. This site was located near the present-day Gasquet cemetery. In the following year, 1857, the Turnpike and Puncheon Road was completed, which allowed for much less expensive shipping into Oregon by freight wagon. No doubt, the completion of this road caused a dramatic drop in the number of pack trains going over the Cold Springs Mountain Pack Trail. However, around the same time, in 1856, gold was discovered on French Hill (to the right). A store on this side of the river would be more convenient for his new customers. The photo was taken from the vicinity of the Gasquet Cemetery and shows the vineyard where Gasquet grew grapes to make wine for his customers.

By 1877, the Turnpike and Puncheon Road had gone defunct and Gasquet was forced to use pack animals to ship supplies to stores he had set up at Happy Camp, California and Waldo, Oregon. He decided to build his own road to Waldo to make it possible to ship more supplies at lower cost. The road was completed in 1887 and became known as the Gasquet Toll Road. This is the route followed by the Old Redwood Highway Road Guide into Oregon.

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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...