4 min
Overview
Muir Woods National Monument, a 30-minute drive north of San Francisco, is a quiet, peaceful getaway to old growth coast redwoods, burbling creeks, and lush greenery on the southern slopes of Mount Tamalpais. The Redwood Creek-Bootjack-Ben Johnson Loop takes you on a tour through this magnificent scenery then up a moderate climb to the upper slopes of Redwood Canyon. Muir Woods is a popular spot, but it can be quieter when the park opens at 8:00 a.m. and in the evening before sunset. If you plan to drive, parking reservations are required for private vehicles as of January 2018. You’ll choose a 30-minute window to arrive, such as 9:30-10:00 a.m., and then show up anytime within that window. Once there, you can stay as long as you like. You can also get to Muir Woods via shuttle, which runs from bus stops in Sausalito and requires reservations. Learn more and make reservations at www.gomuirwoods.com or by calling 1-800-410-2419. The story of how this land became a national monument is as compelling as its surroundings. In 1907, just two years after purchasing a 612-acre tract land on Mount Tamalpais for $45,000, landowners William and Elizabeth Kent found themselves in the race of their lives to protect it from the North Coast Water Company, who had begun legal proceedings to seize part of it to build a reservoir in Redwood Canyon. Desperate to save the redwood forest, William Kent sent an urgent telegram to his friend, Gifford Pinchot, Director of the U.S. Forest Service, wanting to donate part of the land containing the redwood forest to the federal government. With the help of another friend, Frederick E. Olmsted, an official with the U.S. Forest Service’s San Francisco office and relative of landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted, the three men collaborated throughout December 1907, strategizing to gift the land to the federal government as a national monument instead of the national forest Kent had originally envisioned. The switch is thought to have been due to a 1905 Forest Reserves policy that Olmsted
Trail Stats
11.0 km
335 m
373 m
41 m
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