San Francisco - Alison Bing [206]
The 1-mile Main Trail Loop is easy, leading alongside Redwood Creek to 1000-year-old trees at Cathedral Grove; it returns via Bohemian Grove, where the park’s tallest tree stands at 254ft. The Dipsea Trail is a strenuous 2-mile hike to the top of aptly named Cardiac Hill, but it’s possibly the most beautiful hike for views – a half-mile steep grade through lush, fern-fringed forest leads from the canyon to an exposed ridge, from which you can see Mt Tamalpais, the Pacific and San Francisco. Gorgeous. You can trek to Stinson Beach if you’re up for a longer stint.
You can also walk down into Muir Woods via trails from Panoramic Hwy (such as Bootjack Trail, from Bootjack picnic area) or from Mt Tam’s Pantoll Station campground (via Ben Johnson Trail).
The turnoff to Muir Beach from Hwy 1 is marked by the north coast’s longest row of mailboxes (mileage-marker 5.7, just before Pelican Inn). Immediately north there are superb coastal views from the Muir Beach Overlook; during WWII scouts kept watch from the surrounding concrete lookouts for invading Japanese ships.
The oh-so-English Tudor-style Pelican Inn ( 415-383-6000; www.pelicaninn.com; 10 Pacific Way; lunch $10-17, dinner $15-29) is Muir Beach’s only commercial establishment. Hikers, cyclists and families come for pub lunches inside its timbered restaurant and cozy bar, perfect for a pint, a game of darts and warming up beside the open fire. The British fare is respectable, but nothing mind-blowing – it’s the setting that’s magical. Upstairs are seven luxe rooms (from $190), each individually decorated in Tudor style, with cushy half-canopy beds.
To get to Muir Woods, drive north on Hwy 101, exit at Hwy 1 and continue north along Hwy 1/Shoreline Hwy to the Panoramic Hwy (a right-hand fork). Continue for about 1 mile to Four Corners, where you turn left onto Muir Woods Rd (look for signs). In summer, Golden Gate Transit offers a daily shuttle service from the ferry in Sausalito to Muir Woods (adults $3, youth and seniors $1); purchase tickets at the SF ferry ticket booth before boarding the Sausalito-bound ferry. On weekdays, bus 61, operated by West Marin Stagecoach ( 415-526-3239; www.marintransit.org), connects Muir Beach with Marin City, Stinson Beach and Bolinas; bus 62 continues to Point Reyes Station on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays ($2; verify schedules, as they change frequently).
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SAUSALITO & TIBURON
Sausalito is the first town you hit after crossing the Golden Gate. Perched above Richardson Bay, it’s known for galleries, window-shopping and picture-postcard vistas of SF and Angel Island. And it’s often sunny: the Marin Headlands block the fog most days. However cute, Sausalito becomes a victim of its charm and beauty on summer weekends, when day-trippers jam the sidewalks, pricey shops and restaurants. For the locals’ scene, wander up Caledonia St. We recommend taking a bike on the ferry from San Francisco to avoid awful traffic.
When it became the terminus of the train line down the Pacific coast, Sausalito was transformed into a busy lumber port. After the war a new bohemian period began, with a resident artists colony living in ‘arks’ (houseboats moored along the bay). Creative genius Shel Silverstein lived on a non-moored Sausalito houseboat on and off through the ’60s and ’70s. The town is still renowned for its houseboat community, one of the world’s largest and most diverse, ranging from mansions to hippie hovels.
Until computers rendered obsolete the Bay Model Visitor Center ( 415-332-3871; www.spn.usace.army.mil/bmvc; 2100 Bridgeway Blvd; admission free, suggested donation $3; 9am-4pm Tue-Fri, 10am-5pm Sat & Sun), this enormous 1.5-acre hydraulic scale model of the entire San Francisco Bay and delta