Hikers in the Mist
2.18.01
 Refreshed from
our day of sloth, Karen and I set out for
a short hike in Muir
Woods National Park, named after the famed conservationist John Muir.
It had been raining on and off all week and it was a fairly gray and drizzly
day, so we wanted to go somewhere with a bit of tree cover.
And really, that's Muir Woods all over. Towering redwoods reaching up
into the
mist.
 We hiked
for about an hour and a half with a twenty minute lunch break. The main
trail in Cathedral Grove is paved and the other trails are well maintained.
We took the long loop out to Camp Eastwood which takes you along a couple
of pleasant streams and waterfalls. The walk was pretty lazy and the elevation
was rambly as opposed to steep. (I said we were refreshed from our day
of sloth, I didn't actually say we were energetic.)
Now I went to school at UC Santa Cruz, so I'm fairly familiar with redwoods
(the
campus is basically a forest with some scattered classrooms), but Muir
Woods is
something special. Circles of old growth redwood trees in the shadow
of Mount
Tamalpais.
For those not familiar with redwood trees, they often reproduce by budding.
Little trees, grow off the edges of the first tree. In time the center
tree dies
and leaves a circle of trees, like living cathedrals in the woods.
Since redwood
trees are so tall and they provide a dense cover, its easy to hike
in a redwood
forest in the middle of a rain storm and only be drip, drip, drip damp.
Actually, due to the way redwoods suck moisture out the air, that's
pretty much
how they are year round, rain storm or not. So, Muir Woods is also
a great place
to go to beat the summer heat.
There are not actually that many easily accessible old growth redwood
groves in
the Bay Area. Redwoods only grow in a narrow area by the coast. Most
of the old
growth trees were cut down following the 1906 earthquake in S.F. to
help rebuild
the city. There is nothing quite like standing under trees that predate
the
1066 Norman invasion of England. Trees that you could live inside fairly
comfortably. Giants.
You can get to Muir woods either along Hwy. 1 at the Marin City Exit
on 101 in
Marin or through downtown Mill Valley. The Mill Valley route has a
bit less
traffic. There is plenty of signage directing travelers to Muir Woods
and it is
a bit of a tourist mecca. If you go, go early, because parking is hard
to come
by in the afternoon.
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