Access to the highway can only be obtained by taking ferries from Horseshoe Bay to the south end in Gibsons or Comox to Powell River.

After leaving Gibsons the highway travels a busy 2 lane route for 20 kilometres (12 mi) though Roberts Creek, until arriving in the Sechelt, the only other major municipality in the area.

For the next 60 kilometres (37 mi) to the Earls Cove Ferry Terminal the highway curves though granite outcrops, past lakes and patches of rainforest mixed with small farms.

The ferry link across the Jervis Inlet lasts 9.5 nautical miles (17.6 km) between Earls Cove to the south and Saltery Bay to the north.

[4] The 59-kilometre-long (37 mi) northern land section of Highway 101 curves its way along the Malaspina Strait through the hamlets of Stillwater and Lang Bay.

The provincial government has conducted several feasibility studies on connecting Highway 101 to the Lower Mainland, as well as replacing the Earls Cove–Saltery Bay ferry.