Muir Woods

Last weekend I managed to get out of the city. Apparently a few miles north of the Golden Gate Bridge there is plenty of things to see. One of them are the Muir Woods.
 

West coast redwood trees dominate Muir Woods' forest. Douglas-fir, big-leaf maple, tanbark oak, and baylaurel grow along side the redwoods. At the lower end of the canyon, red alders line the stream and buckeyes cluster nearby. Baylaurels growing toward the light may assume contorted shapes or topple over. Apparently the winter is the wettest time of the year and indeed I had to cross some serious mud and puddles. I didn't get to see a lot of the fauna, because despite the cold the site was fairly crowded with people, most of which were locals taking their children for a walk.
 

Indeed, the amount of people there did not make it easy to park anywhere near the access to the park so I had little time left to walk before it got dark. Being late was not so bad though, because I had a chance to see a gorgeous sunset on the way back from the Marine hills.