John Muir Woods, Marin County

I suspect that this will be one of my shorter posts.

In the 19th Century a Scotsman immigrated to America and settled in California - his name was John Muir and he was a Botanist and, before his time, an Environmentalist. At that time industry was taking advantage of the wealth of redwood trees - large, beautiful and ideal for use in building construction. John Muir recognized that the supply of these beautiful giants was limited so he went to work to save what he could.

There are the 'Trees of Mystery' between Eureka and Crescent City in Northern California and the John Muir Woods in Marin County. Much of the rest of these giants of the forest have disappeared.

It was Ric who pointed out to me that there was a bus tour to the John Muir Woods which left from the Fisherman's Wharf area in the afternoons. I booked a ticket and went on that ride.

The bus was a standard coach which was fine on the city's streets, on the Golden Gate Bridge and Route 101 but rather large for the 2 lane highway that twisted all over the place between the freeway and the park. As the road went up and down and back and forth for a few miles, I came to appreciate the dexterity of the driver - we did not have a mishap nor did we seem to come close to one.

 
The walking path proceeded on an elliptical route through those woods - the park is not all that large. Still it is beautiful.

There are two creeks coursing through that forest. This is Cedar Creek which  is the smaller of the two.

                                                    The larger is Redwood Creek

                                                      Also Redwood Creek

            I grew up more or less on the edge of the rain forest in B.C.so this spot felt familiar to me

                   In the midst of a dense growth of trees with a little bit of sunlight shining through

Our stay in John Muir Woods was not much more than 45 minutes long before the bus left for Sausalito. As I had been to that community a few times before, I opted out of the scheduled tea break and boarded the ferry to return to the City. Those who travel to San Francisco on the ferries are greeted, upon leaving the ferry, by a friendly face.- a statue of Mahatma Gandhi.

The simple man who was a hero to India - and to much of the world - on a pedestal near the financial heart of a major U.S. City.