- Start your explorations of the Muir Woods at the Visitor Center, with an excellent model of the Muir Woods valley, and a small diorama of redwoods. There’s also a café with good selection of sandwiches, salads, drinks and snacks.
- The Main Trail follows along Redwood Creek, a clear sparkling fern-lined stream that’s home to coho and steelhead salmon (no fishing, these lovely fish are endangered). Along with the towering redwoods, look for sword ferns, lady ferns, and moss on the forest floor. The trail is a wide boardwalk so it’s easy with strollers, and open year round.
- From the visitor center, go up the trail to the first bridge. Check out the huge cross section of a redwood from 960 AD. The self-guided nature trail begins at the Pinchot Tree, ten different stops where kids can learn about not only the redwoods, but the stream, fish, and banana slugs (park map has all the explanations at each of the stops).
- For a one hour loop walk, along the creek, walk up the trail to Cathedral Grove, come back to bridge 3, cross over the creek and walk back down by Bohemian Grove. Even little kids will have fun with this walk. For a 1 ½ loop hike, continue up to bridge 4, then take the Hillside Trail back to the visitor center.
- Fern Creek & Ocean View Trails – Bigger kids will enjoy a longer hike up Fern Creek. From the Main Trail (before bridge 4), take the Fern Creek trail which goes back and forth across the creek – one bridge is built across a huge downed redwood tree! Continue on to the Lost Trail, then Ocean View Trail along the west side of the valley and back down the Main Trail. (Fewer people on this trail that the others above).
mar 23 2016 ∞
mar 23 2016 +