The Nehalem Highway No. 102 (see Oregon highways and routes) is a state highway

State highway

State highway, state road or state route can refer to one of three related concepts, two of them related to a state or provincial government in a country that is divided into states or provinces :#A...

 in the U.S. state

U.S. state

A U.S. state is any one of the 50 federated states of the United States of America that share sovereignty with the federal government. Because of this shared sovereignty, an American is a citizen both of the federal entity and of his or her state of domicile. Four states use the official title of...

 of Oregon

Oregon

Oregon is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located on the Pacific coast, with Washington to the north, California to the south, Nevada on the southeast and Idaho to the east. The Columbia and Snake rivers delineate much of Oregon's northern and eastern...

 that passes through the Nehalem River

Nehalem River

The Nehalem River is a river on the Pacific coast of northwest Oregon in the United States, approximately long. It drains part of the Northern Oregon Coast Range northwest of Portland, originating on the east side of the mountains and flowing in a loop around the north end of the range near the...

 valley. It runs from U.S. Route 101

U.S. Route 101 in Oregon

In the U.S. state of Oregon, U.S. Route 101, a major north–south U.S. Highway, runs through the state along the coastline near the Pacific Ocean. In Oregon, it runs from the Oregon–California border, south of Brookings, to the Oregon–Washington border on the Columbia River, between Astoria,...

 in Astoria

Astoria, Oregon

Astoria is the county seat of Clatsop County, Oregon, United States. Situated near the mouth of the Columbia River, the city was named after the American investor John Jacob Astor. His American Fur Company founded Fort Astoria at the site in 1811...

 southeast to Oregon Route 8 in Forest Grove

Forest Grove, Oregon

Forest Grove is a city in Washington County, Oregon, United States, west of Portland. Originally a small farm town, it is now primarily a bedroom suburb of Portland. Settled in the 1840s, the town was platted in 1850 and then incorporated in 1872 and was the first city in Washington County...

. Between Astoria and the Mist-Clatskanie Highway in Mist

Mist, Oregon

Mist is an unincorporated community in Columbia County, Oregon, United States. It was named for the atmospheric conditions of the Nehalem Valley.On July 6, 2001, the Mist store, which was built in 1874, caught fire and was destroyed...

, it is signed as Oregon Route 202; the rest is signed as Oregon Route 47. A piece at Astoria, north of the Warrenton-Astoria Highway, is also U.S. Route 101 Business.

After departing Astoria, it meets the Nehalem River

Nehalem River

The Nehalem River is a river on the Pacific coast of northwest Oregon in the United States, approximately long. It drains part of the Northern Oregon Coast Range northwest of Portland, originating on the east side of the mountains and flowing in a loop around the north end of the range near the...

 at Jewell

Jewell, Oregon

Jewell is an unincorporated community in Clatsop County, Oregon, United States. The logging community is located at the junction of Oregon Route 103 and Oregon Route 202, near the Nehalem River.-History:...

 and follows it upstream to a point a few miles south of Vernonia

Vernonia, Oregon

Vernonia is a city in Columbia County, Oregon, United States. The city is located on the Nehalem River, in a valley on the eastern side of the Northern Oregon Coast Range. It is located the heart of the most important timber-producing areas of the state, and logging has played an important role in...

 where it turns south. It is a relatively old inland route to Astoria from the Tualatin Valley

Tualatin Valley

The Tualatin Valley is a farming and suburban region southwest of Portland, Oregon in the United States. The valley is formed by the meandering Tualatin River, a tributary of the Willamette River at the northwest corner of the Willamette Valley, east of the Northern Oregon Coast Range...

. In the early part of the 20th century, it followed the Nehalem River all the way to Timber

Timber, Oregon

Timber is an unincorporated community in Washington County, Oregon, United States. Timber's population is 131, its ZIP code is 97144, it has 59 housing units and its land area is , with a population density of ....

, crossing the divide of the Northern Oregon Coast Range

Northern Oregon Coast Range

The Northern Oregon Coast Range is the northern section of the Oregon Coast Range, in the Pacific Coast Ranges physiographic region, located in the northwest portion of the state of Oregon, United States. This section of the mountain range, part of the Pacific Coast Ranges, contains peaks as high...

 there and then going down Gales Creek to Forest Grove, instead of going down Dairy Creek

Dairy Creek (Oregon)

Dairy Creek is a tributary of the Tualatin River in the U.S. state of Oregon. It begins at the confluence of its east and west forks near the unincorporated community of Schefflin and meanders southeast across the Tualatin Valley to the Tualatin River near Hillsboro, in Washington County...

as it has since about 1940.