Parking lots are very small at the park, so many people leave their cars along the road and walk to the park entrance. There is also a possibility to take a local bus #66 which operates from May to October on weekends.

Muir Woods National Monument is one of the oldest parks in the United States and one of the most impressive ones I've seen so far. The difference between a national park and a national monument is just a formality. Parks are proclaimed by Congress whereas monuments are proclaimed by US presidents. Although the idea is the same, creating a monument is usually way easier since only one person needs to make a decision.

Scientists believe that redwood trees covered most of the Northern Hemisphere 150 million years ago. However, their habitat shrank as the climate changed. Now only two species of redwood trees remained in California - Coast Redwoods and Giant Sequoias. The latter live on the western slopes of the Sierra Nevada mountain range. Unlike coast redwoods which are generally taller, giant sequoias are larger in volume. I'll post an article about them soon, so stay tuned.

Thanks to William Kent and his wife who purchased this land in 1905 to protect it from development. Two years later, North Coast Water Company was trying to obtain a permit to build a dam and a reservoir here. William Kent who later became a congressman offered to donate this land to the federal government if the President (Theodore Roosevelt) agreed to create a national monument there. Of course, Theodore Roosevelt was happy to do that as he was a big outdoorsman and nature lover himself.

William Kent wanted to name the newly created park in honour of John Muir, his friend and a naturalist. John Muir with Theodore Roosevelt probably played the biggest role in the US nature conservation. This is what John Muir said about this park's trees: I never saw a discontented tree. They grip the ground as though they like it, and though fast-rooted they travel about as far as we do.

The biggest concentration of redwood trees is in two groves - Bohemian Grove and Cathedral Grove. Most of them are at least 500-800 years old.

Trees get their colours from the reddish-brown tannic acid which they naturally produce to protect them from fire, insects and fungi.

I suggest you take one of the hiking trails to the forest. Bootjack, TCC, Stapelveldt and Ben Johnson trails make a loop and should keep you busy for at least 3-4 hours. You'll be rewarded with the beauty of nature and solitude as not many people make it beyond paved roads.

Some iris flowers apparently like shade, too.