Years ago I spent about 20 minutes wandering around Muir Woods National Monument, and it was approximately 37 hours not long enough. A whirlwind weekend in Northern California full of adventuring with my bff Bella and her family put us back inside this glorious grove of redwoods just north of San Francisco for the afternoon.

We hiked the entire loop stopping every three feet to swoon at the enormous trees, the late afternoon light filtering through the leaves, and the lushness of this seemingly enchanted forest. Honestly, I would not have been one bit surprised if a wizard or a pack of fairies had emerged from behind one of those massive trunks.

Forests like these simply do not exist in my part of the world. We have a few big pines, but nothing like this. The redwoods were so incredibly impressive; it is easy to see how people worship them. EASY! Some of my favorite trees had twisty, spiraling shapes in their bark, like the tree just kept twisting upwards and the stretch marks became permanent. Up, and up, and up!

I wish I’d had my tripod or monopod with me, the low slanting light begged for long exposures to capture the golden glow throughout the trees, but many of my photos turned out blurry. Not to self: always bring your monopod!

If you are in San Francisco Bay area I highly recommend getting yourself to Muir Woods. We waited for ages for a shuttle to take us there and again on the way back, and fought crowds the entire time. But even with all the teeming masses of humans I cannot imagine a better way to spend the afternoon. Unless, of course, you happen to have access to your own private grove of redwood trees…then do that.