In less than a half hour, you can go from standing amid the skyscrapers of downtown San Francisco to standing in a redwood grove. Muir Woods National Monument, a 594-acre preserve of coastal redwood forest, was established by President Teddy Roosevelt in 1908. This home to thousand-year-old redwoods lies a mere twelve miles north of the city.

Several bus tours to the monument are available, but I chose the more civil option of renting a car. Follow Highway 101 out of the city across the Golden Gate Bridge. After crossing the bridge, pull over at the turnout for a sweeping view of the city and bay. Next, turn onto Highway 1 and look for the signs to the monument. The entrance road is narrow, steep and winding -- don’t try this with a trailer. (Difficult access to the highway spared this grove from logging.) Soon you’ll find yourself at the visitor center where you’ll pay your $3 admittance to the monument.

Though not quite as impressive as their more massive cousins the giant Sequoias, the coastal redwoods are still some of nature’s grandest creations. They are the Earth’s tallest trees, measuring up to 368 feet high with a 30-foot diameter, and are among the oldest, living up to 2,200 years. At one point on your visit, you’ll see the cross section of a fallen redwood. Stop and count the rings as Jimmy Stewart and Kim Novak did in Hitchcock’s "Vertigo."

Two-miles of paved paths guide you around the grove. On some sections of the trail where the sunlight streams through, you may feel like you are in a cathedral. Birdlife is abundant here, so keep your eyes open for species such as the delightful Stellers jay. You can exhaust the monument’s trails within an hour or so. For hikers who wish to travel further on, some trails connect into Mt. Tamalpais State Park. Because the monument opens early (8 a.m.) and is so compact, I recommend you make it the first stop on an excursion to either Point Reyes National Seashore or the wine country.

These are beautiful 2000 year old giant Red Woods. The area is relatively small, but the drive from San Francisco is short and well worth it. This is a quick trip. You only need to allow about 1 hour to tour the woods and hear from the guides.

You wouldn't walk here for exercise. It is a beautiful forest of giant 2000 year old Red Woods preserved by Golden Gate National Recreation Area.

Muir Woods is located just north of Sausalito across the Golden Gate Bridge, just a few miles from San Francisco. It is about as different from San Francisco as you can get. The trees here are the giant redwood variety, which grow extremely tall with wide trunks, although they are not as big and impressive here as at Mariposa Grove in Yosemite National Park.

If you are in the area, it is well worth the short trip, but get here early as the car parks are small and fill very quickly. Overflow car parks are available but are 1 to 2 miles from the woods.

There is a small fee to enter the woods; I think it was about $3 each. You then get a guide leaflet with details of the different walks available within the park, with their distances and exertion levels, etc. There are several walks on the main track that won’t get you too exhausted, but if you want to test your agility, there are longer and more strenuous walks. We started off by taking one of the more taxing walks, but after a couple of miles we came across a lot of workers trimming back the trees and were advised not to continue as they couldn’t guarantee we would get back later. We then turned around and made our way back, and once into the main area took one of the easier walks. There were quite a lot of people along this walk--we hadn’t encountered anyone on the first walk. But it was very relaxed and peaceful with the sun streaming through the treetops.

There are lots of information points along the route, so you'll know which trees and plants are what. Guides are also on hand should you want a guided tour.

A rest area in the park has toilet facilities and a restaurant, which sells snack-type things such as rolls, hot dogs, ice creams, and drinks. There is also a souvenir shop selling the usual things--ashtrays made out of redwood trees, books, etc.

You probably will not need to spend a whole day here, unless you want to take advantage of the hiking walks available. You can therefore do Muir Woods in the morning and go somewhere else in the afternoon. Due to the parking situation, I would not recommend doing it the other way round.

Muir Woods is just 12 miles north of the Golden Gate Bridge. Here you will see old-growth redwoods, which are different from the giant sequoia trees at Yosemite. Redwoods can reach heights of 370 ft. and a diameter up to 22 ft. Sequoias can grow to 311 ft. high and have a diameter of up to 40 ft. The park has 560 acres with six miles of trails that connect with trails in Mt. Tamalpais State Park. There's a great paved trail, mostly level, that is 2 miles long and an easy walk. It's a peaceful and photogenic place where a stream runs by the trail and moss covers many of the surroundings. Well worth the drive. For more info, go to www.nps.gov/muwo