MUIR WOODS How to Get There? | San Francisco to Muir Woods

Hey there everyone, my name is Eduardo Arroyo, but you can call me Ed, and today we're here exploring Muir Woods in Mill Valley, California. Muir Woods is one of the most popular locations to visit here in the Bay Area for both locals and tourists alike. The entrance to the park is very affordable. There are trails that suit just about everyone, and it's only a short distance from the city of San Francisco. The goal for today is simple, get to Muir Woods, share a few tips with you guys in order to prepare for your visit, and enjoy a hike in this beautiful day. So, if you guys are interested, come with me. Hey there everyone, this is the start of our day. The first matter of business that we have to take care of is figuring out how to get to Muir Woods, and there's multiple ways to do this, the first one being by car. This option is the fastest and the easiest one, however, you have to consider that you have to find parking at the park, and that's really tough because there's a lot of people that want to go there. Even if you reserve your parking spot, that doesn't mean that you're going to find one right away. You might have to wait there for like 30 minutes or more for someone to leave, so you could find yourself circling the parking lot for a little while. The other option is the guided tour bus, and they might be able to pick you up from like your hotel or like a point in the city that you're close by. The only thing with that is that it's usually expensive, but if you're not from San Francisco, it might be the best option for you. Yet another option is to take a shuttle. This is what we're doing today, we're taking a ferry from San Francisco to Sausalito, and then we're taking a shuttle from the city to the park. One last option that you might consider is Ubering or taking Lyft to the park, however, I wouldn't recommend doing this just because the issue is not getting to the park, the issue is how to come back. There is no signal or Wi-Fi at the park, so you have to be considerate of that. You are not going to be able to call an Uber in order to come back to the city. Right now, I'm standing right in front of the ferry building right here. We did a vlog on this, I'll leave it in the description below if you're interested to learn more about this building and what happens right here every week. That right there is the schedule. We are wondering if we should take the 10am one. They might give us a discount, but we'll see. We're walking now on the outside of the ferry building. I think that is our ferry over there. The good thing about this is that we have Clipper, and apparently they give you a discount if you do it this way. So we're about to go through the gates. You could get the tickets the normal way, but if you do it with the Clipper, the price of the ticket goes from $13 something to like $7 something, so I think it's definitely worth it. This is our ferry. It's happening guys. We're leaving this place. So it's really quiet, it's like awkward silence here you guys. Before we get to the park, I just wanted to share with you guys a few tips. Make sure you pack a few essentials for your hike, depending on how long it's gonna be. Let me show you what I packed. By the way you guys, everyone is looking at me. I brought a bag with enough space as you can see. Brought my comfy shoes. What are those? I also brought a life jacket just in case. I got sunscreen and water bottle. And if it does get sunny, you're gonna need a cap. We also got a lot of food and snacks for our hike. There's also not a lot of places to stop for lunch, so what we decided to do was buy a Subway foodlong for breakfast and the other half for lunch. There is a cafe at the Moorwoods Park, but there's not a lot of options, so we decided to come prepared. Anyways, we're supposed to be getting down. As you can see, people are already getting down, but I was recording this last part. Let's go! Hey there everyone! We just made it here to the park and as you can see, the view is beautiful. We're ready to explore, but before that, I would like to tell you guys a few things that I think would be very useful. For starters, the park opens at 8am and it closes at sundown, so make sure you plan your trip accordingly, your arrival, your leave times, as well as your transportation. There's an entrance fee that you can pay here at the entrance, but if you want to make things more convenient for yourself, you can go ahead and pay that online. We actually paid that along the shuttle that we took here this morning. And there's also no phone service or Wi-Fi available at the park, so make sure you plan accordingly for that as well. The trees here are super tall, so they cover a lot of the sunlight that hits the ground, which makes this place a little cooler than you would expect this region to be. It would be a good idea to pack light layers that you can put on or take off throughout your hike. As far as the trails, there are actually three self-guided trails here at the park. These are paved, so they're easy to go through on your own. If you feel that you want to do more, there's actually other trails available. Those you can find through guided tours that take you through more unpaved and natural trails. So if that's the case, make sure you do your research so that you can be more prepared. There is also a visitor center where you can pick up a hiking trail map and also get more information about the history of this place. And if you keep walking a little further, you will find a cafe slash gift shop where you can stop for lunch or pick up any souvenirs. There's also a restroom area really close by. A cool thing that we found is like a slice of a tree and it has like the different rings and on each ring, it tells you like the date that it represents. So according to this, this specific tree would have been born in 909 A.D. That is really cool, you guys. I was reading some of the trees here were around 500 to 1,000 years old and I think there can be older than like 1,500. These trees are so old and super tall. Look at this. It keeps going. We're going to go up these stairs. Apparently, there's a nice view at the top. So we're going to check that out. So we got away from our path just a little bit to look at this and I think it was worth it. Look at this, you guys. It's so beautiful. All the happy little trees. Bob Ross would be so proud. So you might be wondering how these trees get to be so old because California is really famous for having like forest fires and whatnot. One thing you have to know is that these trees are super resistant. The bark surrounding the tree is actually really thick which prevents the tree from being critically damaged by the forest fires. The tree itself also has a lot of different chemicals inside that prevent it from rotting which affects many of the other trees in this area. One thing that I thought was super interesting is that the fires actually help these trees. The fires kill a lot of the vegetation and other trees around so the soil becomes super enriched by these organisms which helps these trees to grow even taller and stronger. As you continue walking through the park, you'll find plaques that have really cool information as well as quotes from really important figures. This one right here is from John Muir which I want to talk to you about next. Ever since the beginning, this was a very famous spot to come and hike and a lot of different groups did just that. One of the most famous groups to come and hike this particular area was the Sierra Club which was founded by John Muir. John Muir was a famous preservationist from the Bay Area and the namesake of this park. So apparently we just got to the end of our hike which is Bridge 4 which is the longest of the three paved trails that there exist. There's more as you can see but these are more if you want a longer and more intense experience. Wow you guys, definitely this trip has been great. We have stopped several times on the benches just to stare at the trees and at the rivers flowing. It's so peaceful. We really needed that and if you do as well, I recommend this place. One thing that we can tell you guys is that there's a lot of people so sometimes you're going to find like 7 people walking through the same trail. Like this. Choose your trails wisely and it's better if you find something that is more like far away from where everyone is, you know? We're going back to where we started. We're going to see if we catch the bus back because the last one is at 6. Look at this guys. We were actually over there. I don't know if you can see the people but let me zoom in. There right there. We went all around to where we are now. This is the view you guys. All these redwood trees surrounding us. It's amazing. Let me show you real quick. I don't know if you can hear, you can see a lot of people there behind me and right in front. Everyone is heading back. That is the gift shop slash cafe place and we're heading to the visitor center and to the entrance. Okay you guys, we made it back to the beginning. I don't know if there's any other better place to say goodbye than right here at the entrance of the park. If you guys enjoyed the video, please go ahead and click the like button and subscribe to my channel if you want to see more videos like this one. Always remember to be kind, have an open mind. See you next time.