Muir Woods and San Francisco

After such a lovely sunset the night before ...

A pretty time to see the coast; a rough time to drive the winding road

... Caty and I continued down the coast  ...

A pretty drive

... to Muir Woods. Along the way, we saw some California Quail ...

Just popped out on the side of the road

... and a couple of Deer ...

A Mule Deer buck with small antlers

Caty enjoying the trees

Muir Woods National Monument

We arrived at 9:00 a.m. and the parking lot was already full. Admission is free from 8:00 to 9:00 a.m. and it was a Saturday. So!

Named after naturalist John Muir and part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, Muir Woods is on Mount Tamalpais near the Pacific coast, in southwestern Marin County. It protects 554 acres, of which 240 are old growth coast redwood  forests, one of a few such stands remaining in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Green, green, green

Different than their cousins the giant sequoias (AKA redwoods), coast redwoods are known for their height and not their circumference. While they can grow to nearly 380 feet, the tallest in the Muir Woods is 258 feet. Most of the redwoods in the monument are between 500 and 800 years old. The oldest is at least 1,200 years old. many other very green plants grow in the understory of the redwood grove.

Muir Woods is hard to photograph because it is always dark

Before the logging industry came to California, there were an estimated 2 million acres of old growth forest containing redwoods growing in a narrow strip along the coast. By the early 20th century, most had been cut down. However, Redwood Canyon remained uncut because of its relative inaccessibility.  

One of the nation's many wonderful Parks

William Kent, a rising California politician and his wife, Elizabeth Thacher Kent, much of the grove from the Tamalpais Land and Water Company for $45,000. Later, when a plan to dam Redwood Creek and flood Kent's property emerged, Kent sidestepped the threat by donating 295 acres of the redwood forest to the federal government, bypassing the local courts.

We are lucky Kent saved this beautiful land

In 1908, President Theodore Roosevelt declared the land a National Monument, the first to be created from land donated by a private individual. Kent insisted the monument be named after naturalist John Muir, whose environmental campaigns helped to establish the National Park system. 

The woods were peaceful and calm, the trees beautiful. It's not as dramatic as Sequoia. Many of the trees are taller, but not as big around and they are definitely more tightly packed. 

They are still big trees

San Francisco
We then drove on to San Francisco. 

The City on the Bay

The weather was sunny and the crowds were insane (it was, after all, the weekend). 

How did we end up at Fisherman's Wharf on a Saturday?

We had lunch on Fisherman's Wharf and then decided to do a hop on/hop off bus tour. It sure beat trying to walk through the crowds!

Transamerica Building

We didn't hop off until the base of the Golden Gate Bridge. 

Caty capturing the iconic bridge

By the time we got there, fog had rolled in, wind had picked up and it was cold. Still, we got some fantastic views, including sun shining on the city ...

A nice view

... and Alcatraz (which, by the way we couldn't tour because tours were booked up until Aug. 22!).

I don't think I'll ever get there; it is always booked

We had to wait forever for the next bus because of the traffic and it was so packed, photos were difficult.

San Francisco Bay

The ride across the bridge in the open bus top was cold, but very exciting. The ride back was even colder!

Mark Twain: "The coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco."

After we got off the bus, we ate dinner at a Russian restaurant called Stroganoff. Caty had stroganoff and I had vareniki - delicious. By then, I was exhausted from all the driving and the cold, so we just crashed. Perhaps wasted time in the city, but it just confirmed that we're not really city girls.

Oh, well

Trip date: July 26-August 8, 2013