Muir Woods National Monument

Feb. 14, 2024

Although I have seen it many times in the past, this was the first time I had been across the Golden Gate Bridge. The park is a few miles north of the bridge and I got into a disagreement regarding right of way in the road with a flock of turkeys. They won and I waited for them to move. I did not realize that this park was primarily redwoods, but it is. They are not as big as the ones farther north but impressive anyway. Most of the larger trees show burn marks even though there has not been a fire in the area in over 150 years. I hiked a loop that turned into a longer loop than planned as a couple sections of trail were closed and caused detours. I went on the main trail that follows a creek (paved and boardwalk) to Ben Johnson, Stapleveldt, TCC, Dipsea trails and then detours onto Deer Park Fire road and the main entrance road. It was raining most of the time and I was up in the whiteness for most of the hike. I only ran into one other hiker although the parking lot was rather full when I returned. I assume most people stay on the main trail. If I followed Dipsea the other direction, it leads out of the national park and into a state park to the beach but today was not a good beach day. On the downward part of Dipsea, there was a break in the clouds and I could see the ocean. The wind picked up and it was cool to see the mists being blown towards the tall trees.