Muir Woods National Monument

If you hike, you know about John Muir. And if for some strange reason you don’t, research him now. He was basically the “father” of the National Park System and pushed for Yosemite. He was also involved with creating other parks such as Sequoia, Mt. Ranier, and Grand Canyon. His name is everywhere in northern California.

My daughter and I were excited to stand next to some Redwoods and decided to go to Muir Woods National Monument. This is a small-ish park just outside of San Francisco. If you’re headed to that area of California everyone will tell you to visit. And by everyone, I mean everyone. And everyone visiting WILL visit and the park will be crowded. They have instituted a parking reservation system to limit how many people can be there on any given day. There are ferries you can take as well (they also require a reservation) and then a shuttle bus to the park. Even with these reservations, it still gets crowded but not overwhelmingly so.

It really was a wonderful place. The trees tower over you making you feel very small. The moss and ferns make you feel like you’re in a different world full of fairies and tiny, little, cute things. The main trail is basically a big loop. You can make it shorter by crossing over one of many bridges but don’t do that. Instead, go left (most people will stay straight). You’ll get to a portion of the trail that goes up higher. Go there. It isn’t a hard hike. But not a lot of people were on it. We often had it to ourselves and it was wonderful. We heard an owl hooting but could not spot it. I like to think it was one of the rare Spotted Owls (it was most likely a Barred Owl but one can dream). Unfortunately, there was a tour group made up of teens. They proceeded to yell, scream (yes, scream – who knows why) and were very loud. They pierced our experience. They wouldn’t move on the narrow path and walked two-by-two making us get off the trail and onto vegetation. I don’t know why you’d go to Muir Woods and act that way but then they aren’t my kids.

Standing in a Redwood

So much beauty along the trail

Off of the main trail, there are other trails you can take that lead outside of the official park. I bet these are wonderful but we had other places to go so we didn’t venture down them. One day, maybe. As we turned to go back out of the park, there was a family stomping around an area that said, “Endangered vegetation. Please do not go off path and do not walk on vegetation.” They were having a blast doing it. They were in the water, flipping rocks, and disturbing everything. I couldn’t help it. I yelled at them to stop. I told them they were off trail and it was wrong. They just laughed. It bothered me so much. I probably embarrassed my daughter but she’ll live. It was a deliberate act.

I wish I had taken more like this but from farther back to show just how amazing they look.

I was sad to have to leave. We were there right around noon so my photos aren’t great. The light was bad and I didn’t want to use my tripod to get any longer exposures. If I would ever return, I would go first thing in the morning. Maybe even hike in to get the very first light. I bet it would be beautiful.