When you walk into Muir Woods, it feels like you are getting a GIANT HUG from nature. The redwood trees tower over you while the lush foliage seems to move closer around you, and the stream whispers soothing songs of peace. It is enough to turn anyone into a poet! But as much as we try to capture its beauty in words, or photos, the overwhelming connection to nature that you feel in a special place like this can’t be explained. But, here are 10 amazing photos to inspire a walk in Muir Woods of your own:
“Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in, where nature may heal and give strength to body and soul alike.”
“The clearest way into the Universe is through a forest wilderness.”
“When we contemplate the whole globe as one great dewdrop, striped and dotted with continents and islands, flying through space with other stars all singing and shining together as one, the whole universe appears as an infinite storm of beauty.”
“Keep close to Nature’s heart… and break clear away, once in a while, and climb a mountain or spend a week in the woods. Wash your spirit clean.”
“Come to the woods, for here is rest. There is no repose like that of the green deep woods.”
“Nature’s peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees. The winds will blow their own freshness into you, and the storms their energy, while cares will drop off like autumn leaves.”
“When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the Universe.”
“There is not a ‘fragment’ in all nature, for every relative fragment of one thing is a full harmonious unit in itself. “
“I know that our bodies were made to thrive only in pure air, and the scenes in which pure air is found.”
*Photos by Buddy Baum & quotes by John Muir*
You could easily spend hours hiking through Muir Woods in this majestic redwood forest outside of San Francisco, looking for banana slugs and bugs, admiring the moss, and staring up, up, up at the ancient trees. But even if you only have time for a short trip, definitely try to make it!
However, to truly enjoy this nature-lovers paradise, make sure to get there really early to be one of the first ones on the trails of Muir Woods. Taking one of the trails off of the main loop is also a nice way to stay further away from the crowds. There are even longer trails that extend into the surrounding Mount Tamalpais State Park. Plus, there are many shorter options, including a loop that will only take about half an hour if you are short on time.
The fee to get into the park is only $10, and well worth it! Or get a National Parks Pass for $80, and then you will have an excuse to see more beautiful places in the next year!
