Muir Woods

 After biking across the Golden Gate Bridge, Ben and I caught a shuttle in Sausalito up to Muir Woods.

When we had originally looked into going to San Fransisco we had thought about driving and stopping at a few of the National Parks. After seeing that each park was around three to four hours away from each other, I knew we would not have enough time to explore it all. I guess we will just have to plan some more trips in the future! Since we were not about to go see the Giant Sequoias, I knew we had to make the short trip to Muir Woods to be able to enjoy the Coast Redwoods. The tallest living thing on the Earth!

 

 Visiting Muir Woods surpassed all expectations, it was a wonder to behold such a beautiful place. Even though there were many other people in the forest with us, everyone was hushed by the peace and beauty, walking around whispering to each other.

 

 

 The Coast Redwoods flourish in California's fog belt along the Pacific Ocean. They rely on fog for up to 50% of their water and have evolved to live in the fog belt's climate, in addition to foggy summers they need rainy winters, and year-round moderate temperatures.

These remarkable trees can not only withstand fire, but they also have the ability to reproduce new trees through a burl.

Redwood burls form on some of the trunks of trees. Fresh green sprouts grow up from these burls. This ability is fairly unique to the redwoods to be able to reproduce not only from seed but also directly from their own burl growth. Even redwood logs lying on the forest floor are apt to sprout long after the parent free has fallen.

Hundreds of years ago a single large redwood grew here. Then the tree died. You can see the original tree truck in the center of the picture now dead and blackened.  From the fallen tree the burls were able to sprout and grow up around the original tree forming a circle. This is called a family circle. The new growth always connected to their parent tree even after they have gone and the remainder of the family able to grow together.

• My only wish after visiting Muir Woods was that we could of had just a little bit more time.

Being able to spend a couple of hours in Muir Woods, makes me appreciate even more the ability to protect land through National parks and monuments. It would be nice if we lived in a world where the environment did not need protecting. But for now I am grateful that these beautiful Coast Redwoods will be around for my children to enjoy and so forth.