After meeting at the Muir Woods Parking lot #2, we’ll go up Dispsea Trail (no racing, just meandering!) and down the Ben Johnson Trail. There will be about a 1000’ elevation gain, sunny on the way up, and shady in the afternoon as we head down. (This is a free "scouting" hike meaning that Wendy doesn't guarantee not to get us lost or that we'll get back on time!).
To get to Muir Woods, exit Highway 101 at the Mill Valley/Stinson Beach exit. Turn left (west) onto Shoreline Highway, then right on Panoramic Highway and left onto Muir Woods Road.
The National Weather Service forecast for Mill Valley on Tuesday is patchy fog before 11 am. Otherwise, cloudy, then gradually becoming mostly sunny, with a high near 72. West wind between 9 and 13 mph. (Click here for an updated forecast).
Tracy Salcedo-Chourre's book, Exploring Point Reyes National Seashore and Golden Gate National Recreation Area proposes hiking this route in the reverse direction (up the Ben Johnson, down the Dipsea) from our plan, but will at least give you an idea of what our hike will be like. Here's the trail map:
(Click here to view and print out a complete description of the hike and map from Tracy's book. If you have Adobe Acrobat Reader on your computer you can print the document. Once you see the document on the "Scribd" Web site, click on the "Download" icon and then on the "PDF" icon to open the document on your computer).
Here's a bit of local history from our "It's A Small World" department to go along with the flora (and maybe fauna) that we might see on this hike:
Muir Woods National Monument was created by President Theodore Roosevelt in 1908 after Congressman William Kent and his wife, Elizabeth Thacher Kent, donated 295 to the federal government and requested that the land be named for conservationist John Muir. Muir, of course, founded the Sierra Club.
Nearly 70 years later, other Sierra Club members and local conservationists Ed Wayburn and Amy Meyer (a long-time friend of Tuesday Meanderer Dick Jordan) formed People for a Golden Gate National Recreation Area (PFGGNRA) to promote the creation of a large, urban federal parkland running north and south of the Golden Gate. The Sierra Club sent a young college student, Mia Monroe, off to work as Amy's secretary at the PFGGNRA "office" (a corner of the kitchen in Amy's San Francisco home).
Today, Muir Woods National Monument is part of the GGNRA and is celebrating its 100th anniversary. And 30 years after she worked for the establishment and expansion of the park as a secretary at PFGGNRA, Mia Monroe is the park supervisor for Muir Woods. (To learn more about the creation of the GGNRA, read Amy Meyer's recent book, New Guardians for the Golden Gate: How America Got a Great National Park, available through Book Passage in Corte Madera. You'll even find Dick Jordan mentioned at page 227!).
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