Hikers along the Canopy View Trail in Muir Woods National Monument/Kurt Repanshek

The trail branched to the right off the main path and climbed steeply uphill, helped by wooden ties that held back the earth and formed a staircase, and into the trees. The crowds, though, mostly went straight, making our choice easy. Up we went!

Muir Woods National Monument, just north of the Marin Headlands portion of Golden Gate National Recreation Area in California, was set aside in 1908 by President Theodore Roosevelt via the Antiquities Act. The landscape had been preserved by William Kent and his wife, who had purchased it three years earlier to prevent the old growth forest from being turned into a reservoir. They then donated the tract to the federal government and asked that it be named in honor of John Muir.

Though the national monument covers only 560 acres, there are six miles of trails that weave through it, a modest trail system but one that can be expanded greatly if you tie into the trails in Mount Tamalpais State Park that surrounds the national monument.

Thanks to the acres of tall trees, the hiking here is almost entirely in the shade, with only occasional breaks into the sunshine.

The Canopy View Trail (aka the Ocean View Trail) lies a short distance down the main path from the monument's visitor center, just beyond Founders Grove with the Pinchot Tree. This redwood was dedicated in May 1910 to Gifford Pinchot, then head of the U.S. Forest Service, for his efforts in seeing the national monument designated.

Though the steep grade that takes the trail towards the roof of the national monument might seem formidable if you're not used to hiking, the grade quickly levels out as the trail winds through the towering forest near the top of the monument. The trail actually takes you slightly outside Muir Woods and into the state park.

We doubled back into the monument, though, down the Lost Trail that ran a very short distance before intersecting with the Fern Creek Trail. A left turn there brought us back down into the monument and to a peaceful spot in Fern Creek Canyon where the Kent Tree, which honors William Kent for his efforts to see the landscape protected, once stood. A Douglas fir, it fell during a storm in March 2003, and now lies across the creek.

A coastal Redwood rising in the heart of Muir Woods National Monument/Kurt Repanshek.

At the Kent Tree you have choices: Take the Redwood Creek Trail back to the visitor center, passing the Cathedral Grove of redwoods and the Bohemian Grove of redwoods, or head west along the Ben Johnson Trail that runs along the northern border of the monument. This trail also offers options, as you can again doubleback down the Hillside Trail that takes you down the western side of Redwood Creek and back to the visitor center. Or, you can continue on the Ben Johnson Trail back into the state park with views of the Pacific Ocean provided by the Dipsea Trail and the renewed Ocean View Trail. 

We again took the trail less traveled, following the moderate but steady rise into the upper realm of the monument. A short zig-zag jog in the trail got the heart pumping a bit, but was over quickly and we soon found ourselves standing with views of the ocean below.

Not far to the north from where the Dipsea Trail meets the Ocean View Trail is a bench where you can sit back and relax after your climb to the top and enjoy the panoramic views of the ocean and down to Stinson Beach. If you had arranged a car shuttle, you could even hike down to Stinson Beach and wet your toes in the surf. If not, take the Dipsea Trail back to the southeast and down into Muir Woods and the visitor center. We followed that route and enjoyed the easy descent.

Traveler footnotes: 

* Any trip to the national monument requires a very early departure if you intend to drive your own vehicle. We arrived about 10 a.m. on Good Friday and found both parking lots full. We finally parked at the end of a line of vehicles running along the shoulder of Muir Woods Road, roughly a quarter-mile walk from the visitor center. When we returned to our car later that afternoon, the line had stretched to more than a mile. A great option is the Muir Woods Shuttle that runs from Mill Valley to the monument. This year the shuttle operates into October.

* Print out a trail map. For some reason the visitor center no longer has decent trail maps of the monument, instead offering only the monument brochure with a very small-scale map that provides a poor overview of trails if you're planning to hike. Printing out this map will give you a great resource for charting your way through the woods.

* National park trivia experts know that William Kent, as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives, in 1916 introduced legislation to create the National Park Service.

* Though Kent and Muir were friends for a time, that friendship collapsed over disagreement over whether the Hetch Hetchy Valley in Yosemite National Park should be turned into a reservoir.

* If you do make it down to Stinson Beach, and it's a particularly hot day, before you head too far into the surf know that there have been shark attacks here.