Muir Woods

This morning we woke up at 6:30am and quickly had breakfast and got ready. We had noticed the night before our fridge wasn’t working so we packed up our fridge items and handed them to reception. The receptionist said that night shift had a note down that they would fix the fridge that day.

It was a 1 hour trip to Muir Woods, so we left around 7:30am. Scott was driving and I found a Starbucks about halfway we thought we would stop at to buy a coffee. We decided to try the Pumpkin Latte which is commonly made around Halloween. Scott really liked it but I found it a bit sweet and couldn’t finish it.

We arrived at Muir Woods and decided we would complete the longer walk which took you along the Canopy View Trail to Panorama View Point and would take 2 - 3 hours. We stopped at the first information stop and learnt that the majority of the trees are 600 - 800 years old and up to 80 metres tall with the oldest trees in this forest over 1,200 years old.

The woods were beautiful, and as we walked off the main trail there weren’t as many people. There were redwood trees everywhere and we kept stopping to take photos, although the photos don’t show the true size of the trees. We walked to Panorama Lookout and unfortunately due to the fog there wasn’t much to see. We were told on a clear day you could see the bay.

We walked back to the main trail and walked past the different bridges before entering a section of the trail called Cathedral Grove. In this section of the trail it said we had to be silent, which most people respected. There was information about how the woods become a national monument in this grove.

In 1905, the land now know as Muir Woods was purchased by politician William Kent to protect it from logging and later donated it to the federal government. On January 9, 1908, President Theodore Roosevelt designated Muir Woods as a national monument, honoring naturalist John Muir's legacy.

We continued walking along the main trail and stopped by a tree right near the entrance that no one seemed to be walking over to. A park ranger walked over and said it was his favourite tree in the park and usually a quiet spot as most visitors miss the tree.

We headed back to the car and into Mill’s Valley where we stopped at Safeway to grab a few items for lunch before driving to Napa Valley.Read more