Kicking off Hiking Season with Redwoods

You might have noticed that we’ve taken somewhat of a hiking hiatus over the past few months. We bought our fancy-smancy Deuter Backpack carrier just in time for summer to kick into high gear. And y’all, it can get HOT here (especially since we became quite accustomed to Scottish weather where 75 degrees is getting a bit sultry)! 

San Ramon is situated in a valley east of the San Francisco Bay. The surrounding hills and mountains break up a lot of that temperate ocean climate known on the coast while we just sit here and bake in the sun.  

Since Fall is hypothetically in the air we have been itching to get outdoors, but the heat has kept us cooped up inside despite the plentiful hikes in our immediate area. The saving grace of where San Ramon is located is that if you head about 40 miles in any direction you can get a bit of relief from the blazing heat. As the temps have been reaching the 100s lately, we’ve had to do just that. 

We resolved that any hike we do for the time being will have to be coastal, mountain, or forested, all of which are usually anywhere from 10-20 degrees cooler than where we are inland. We’d heard really great things about Muir Woods, a giant redwood forest just outside of San Francisco. However, everytime I visited the website to find more info I was always discouraged from going since it stated that it’s quite busy and often times parking is nonexistent, especially in the busy summer months. Instead, it gives a list of other area redwood parks to visit that are more off the beaten path. 

We took their advice for our Mother’s Day Hike at Half Moon Bay and again two weeks ago when we visited the nearby Oakland Redwood Regional Park. However, both of those hikes were a bit disappointing in terms of great redwood sightings. 

The trees were tall, but mostly scrawny, and in Oakland we ended up on a trail that was almost entirely unshaded (though I admit the tree-less path lead to some pretty spectacular views). 

But this past week, Jonathan had a Friday off and we decided that by-golly it was time to finally make the trek to Muir Woods and see the majestic redwoods we envisioned in our heads. Despite being only 54 miles from our driveway, the drive in Friday San Fran traffic took us nearly 2 stinkin’ hours. Not a good start. 

And even though we were there in the 'Fall' and on a weekday, all of the parking lots were full and we ended up parking on the street nearly a mile away in an entirely different  park and walking back to the entrance where we paid 7 smackers to enter. 

But yes, the park is gorgeous and well maintained and has clean facilities so $7 isn’t a bad price to pay, I just wish it included a closer parking spot. There are numerous trails for all levels within the park grounds as well as bathrooms, a gift shop and a visitor cafe. 

It was quite crowded at the entrance so we high tailed it so through the most popular trails so that we could feel a bit more secluded. 

Since our drive and walk to the entrance ate up so much of our excursion time, we felt a bit rushed to make it through the park. Still, I feel like we really enjoyed the serenity of the woods and got a good power-walk in. Jonathan especially got a good work out since he is now toting our 21.5 lb son on his back the whole time.

I think if you’re visiting the San Francisco area and you have a spare day to kill, this is certainly worth the trip. However, the 2 hour bumper to bumper drive (each way) and a cranky kid missing his nap made this feel a little unworth the effort for us. I’m glad we got to cross it off our list but I doubt we’ll be going back until Forest has a bit more stamina for these sorts of trips. 

Hopefully the temperatures start to cool off soon here in the valley so that we can go back to Las Trampas and explore some of the other hikes in our area. Hiking is a great family hobby and I can't wait to explore more of gorgeous Northern California. We're taking a vacation in October to the northern coast so we'll surely get some use out of our Deuter Carrier while we're there. 

I'm sure Jonathan is hoping baby boy doesn't hit another massive growth spurt before then! 

P.S. So obviously with our son’s name, we have a bit of a thing for forests. I am thinking of doing a gallery wall in his room with pictures of the various forests we’ve hiked through. Here are a few that I really love from Scotland.   

 Here is the best shot I got from Muir Woods:

I have to say, California is every bit as beautiful as Scotland, but Scotland is absolutely more photogenic. The light there is out of this world, and recently I have been feeling so homesick for the sight of it.  

Can you blame me?