Muir Woods

 

For our anniversary in August, Steven and I decided to stay in a cabin the woods.  Well, the cabin was in the woods, but just behind the main drag of Mill Valley, a tony town in Marin County. Coffee, restaurants, and shops just a stroll away.  Not to mention the wine and champagne that graced our "cabin" room.

We had come north to see Muir Woods, home of the coast redwood, the tallest living thing on earth. These trees can reach 379 feet and live 2,000 years.  Muir Woods' tallest is 258 feet, about the height of a 23-story building.  I think you get a sense of the proportions of these trees when you see me standing next to one, above.  Impressed?  I was.   

These trees will outlast our record-setting forest fires this year, which were raging just north of us in Sonoma and Napa counties.  These trees actually depend on fire to clear out the duff  and many show the effects of past fires.  Air quality was generally poor in Mill Valley, which is right next to Muir Woods, but once we got the trees, the oxygen emitting redwoods made us breathe easy.  

We hope to come back in November or December, to see the Coho salmon returning to Redwood Creek.  I read that these salmon, and Steelhead trout, represent ancient strains of these fish, and are genetically unique.