Utilizing the second long weekend of the year (President’s Day Holiday), I had originally planned a trip to meet up with some friends in San Francisco. But, because I love to maximize my time exploring, I decided to randomly kick-off a Chinese New Year’s resolution (a new tactic since I never seem to have my act together in time for 1/1) of a National Parks Challenge. The challenge was to visit as many national parks and monuments within the National Park Service system in a year.
My first google search was “national parks in the Bay Area” which rendered 9 results.
- Muir Woods National Monument – 1st stop
- Point Reyes National Seashore – 2nd stop
- San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park
- Rosie the Riveter/WWII Home Front National Historical Park
- Fort Point National Historic Site
- Eugene OāNeill National Historic Site
- John Muir National Historic Site
- Port Chicago Naval Magazine National Memorial
- Golden Gate National Recreation Area
I didn’t realize there were so many other NPS designations outside of the 60 national parks. There were also recreation areas, monuments, historical parks, seashores, historic sites and memorials. This annual challenge will probably end up becoming a lifetime one.
So, we were going to attempt to do both Muir Woods and Point Reyes in one day.
First stop of the day was Muir Woods, which is a hop, skip and a jump from bustling San Francisco but it feels so much further away. It’s about a 40-minute drive from SF without traffic. Go early!
Muir Woods National Monument was established on January 9, 1908 when President Roosevelt signed legislation to protect an old-growth coast redwood forest from destruction.
There are lots of easy, family-friendly hikes along accessible boardwalks as well as longer, more remote hikes away from the larger crowds.
We ended up starting the Canopy View Trail and just kept exploring one trail to the next until we found our way back out a couple hours later.
We did curb our exploring a bit because we still had Point Reyes to get to that day which was still an hours drive away!
Good to Know:
- Due to very limited parking, reservations are now required for all personal vehicles and shuttle riders at Muir Woods. You can make your reservation by visiting www.gomuirwoods.com.
- Go as early in the day as you can to avoid as much of the crowd. We booked our parking reservation at 8:30am and had most of the Canopy View trail to ourselves. When we exited around lunchtime, the large buses and the rest of San Francisco had arrived and it started to look like Disneyland!
Muir Woods National Monument
1 Muir Woods Rd
Mill Valley, CA 94941
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