Willits sits inland from the Mendocino coast, where Highway 101 meets the road west to Fort Bragg. It calls itself the Heart of Mendocino County, which is partly geography and partly attitude: logging-town roots, old rail equipment, small museums, and a main street that still feels like a road-trip pause rather than a manufactured destination.
The reason to stop is the rail-and-redwoods cluster. The Skunk Train runs excursions from town into redwood country, while Roots of Motive Power preserves the steam and diesel machinery that once worked the North Coast timber industry.
Willits is not as instantly pretty as Mendocino or as dramatic as the coast, but it has a useful inland honesty. The Mendocino County Museum gives the wider county some context, and the town makes a good stop for travelers who want the story behind the redwood landscape rather than only the scenery.