On Oregon’s spectacular south coast, between Gold Beach and Brookings just north of the California border, U.S. 101 follows one of the most beautiful highway-accessible coastlines in North America, perhaps even the world.

OK, it can’t match the scenery of the hill towns and quaint harbors of Italy’s Amalfi coast or France’s Cote d’Azur. But the raw beauty of the southern Oregon coast ranks it alongside other famous shorelines, among them California’s Big Sur coast, Australia’s Great Ocean Road or South Africa’s Cape of Good Hope.

And in Oregon, the scenery gets even better when you pull off the highway, park the car and go looking for its secrets. The 12-mile section of the Pacific Coast Scenic Byway, as it passes through the Samuel H. Boardman State Scenic Corridor, is breathtaking.

To read the entire story on OregonLive.com, click here.  Story and photo by Terry Richard, courtesy of The Oregonian.