Coast Redwoods Day Trip: Muir Woods National Monument
We visited Muir Woods National Monument last Sunday. It’s a gorgeous old-growth coast redwood forest that sits on the edge of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area of California. We were hoping for a shady, easy hike for our kiddos in a breathtaking environment and my, did we get it! The price of admission was free, thanks to the National Park Service offering free admission the week of April 17 to April 25 in honor of Earth Day…
… which is today. So Happy Earth Day!
It was a perfect day. Gorgeous, warm. The park was crowded, but not so much that we felt we had made a mistake by coming. While hiking we heard at least six different languages being spoken, and possibly many more. At some point, my Californian ear just gives up and tries to determine a basic geographical origin, not a specific language. People were mostly very friendly.
I took this picture while sitting on a bench and leaning way, way back to shoot the tree behind me.
Twisty roots beside the path.
Sparkling leaves (Bigleaf Maple, I think).
The woods were bathed in shafts of sunlight and great swaths of shadow.
Leaping over a rivulet. Everywhere Lucas went, Asher followed closely behind. I think we all hiked about four miles that day, and Asher kept right up.
Lucas has a great eye for spotting creatures and also a gentle touch.
Goethe would be so proud! Lucas took his sketchbook and colored pencils along so he could draw in the forest. He chose as his subject the Bicentennial Tree, which started its life right around the time of our nation’s birth. There was a plaque and everything.
The creek runs through the park, at times quiet and other times burbling.
Another of Lucas’s trail finds: a very quick beetle.
A pretty lady we met along the way. Ferdinand Iris?
Too many pictures in one post? Probably. Sorry. I have many more on Flickr if you care to visit Muir Woods with us—sort of. Anyway, I hope for Earth Day you get to visit some unique, wild, or beautiful place on this earth, even if it’s only your own backyard.
April 23, 2010 at 3:21 pm
Hello Sara! I love you.
April 23, 2010 at 5:57 pm
Hi Dakini! Thanks for stopping by! xox
December 24, 2010 at 1:07 am
Sure like the twisted redwoods roots photo.
This is what I like about the redwoods or forest more so than garden settings – the more odd, the better.
MDV