State Route 162 is a state highway in the U.S. state of California that runs roughly west–east through the Coast Ranges and the Sacramento Valley to the western slopes of the Sierra Nevada. It begins at U.S. Route 101 near Longvale, in Mendocino County, and ends at Brush Creek, in Butte County. For most of its length, it is a two lane, undivided highway. SR 162 is not signed as a contiguous route through Mendocino National Forest in Mendocino and Glenn counties. Instead, the portion inside the national forest is federally maintained by the U.S. Forest Service as Forest Highway 7 (FH 7), and is not included in the state route logs.

U.S. Route 101 (US 101) is a major north–south United States Numbered Highway, stretching from Los Angeles, California, to Tumwater, Washington. The California portion of US 101 is one of the last remaining and longest U.S. Routes still active in the state, and the longest highway of any kind in California. US 101 was also one of the original national routes established in 1926. Significant portions of US 101 between the Los Angeles area and the San Francisco Bay Area follow El Camino Real, the commemorative route connecting the former Alta California's 21 missions.