Muir Woods National Monument is known for its towering redwood trees. It was designated a national monument by Theodore Roosevelt when he was president. According to the “tree talk” we attended, it was done so because creating a National Park requires Congressional agreement – but creating a National Monument only requires an executive order.

Trails wind among the trees and most of them are either paved or up on a deck. The easier trails are not hard to do at all and are very suitable for young children. It’s really, really peaceful and I thoroughly enjoyed our hike through the trees. The trees are crazy tall – and offer excellent shade from the sun. During our time there, it was never too hot.

There are two ways to get to Muir Woods without doing a tour via a company – driving or taking the shuttle.

If you’re driving, you need to purchase a parking pass on the website ahead of time. Each parking pass is for a specific time slot and you need to arrive during that time slot. You can, however, stay as long as you want.

If you plan on taking the shuttle, you can go to a two shuttle spots. You need to buy shuttle tickets ahead of time as well and need to arrive during the designated time slot. You can, however, stay as long as you want and grab a return shuttle any time you want.

We opted to drive to the Pohono Park and Drive and grab the 8:30am shuttle from there. This was a great decision because we didn’t have to worry about anything! We just got on the shuttle there and hopped on the next shuttle back when we were done.

After our visit to Muir, we drove over to Sausalito for lunch and a nice walk along the water. Check out these amazing views!