Muir Woods - To hell and back

Baby seal (complete with ears and mouth combo, turd on legs, schmoo schmoo!)
see all photos »

If you ever come to San Francisco and want to see 'Muir Woods' DON'T try and ride there!  We did the 34 mile round trip and this is our story! After complimentary breakfast we walked  down the hill, seeing a wild baby seal on the way, into Fishermans Wharf at 10.30am and hired 2 mountain bikes for 24 hours. We rode back up Fort Mason down into the marina and along the bike path of Golden Gate promenade up to the bridge. The weather was great today clear blue sky, sunny and much warmer (sods law as Andy decided to wear his only long sleeved top!) We rode over the west side of the bridge to Marin Headlands, past Fort Baker and into the lovely town of Sausalito. The town looked quite medditeranean in its architecture and layout. We carried on past the marina to Bothin Marsh where we sat and ate lunch. We then headed inland and joined highway 1 which started off ok but soon turned into a never ending incline from hell so we had to push our bikes for quite away trying not to get hit by the cars as there was no pavement. We eventually turned off the highway but the steep incline continued until FINALLY the road went down hill and so we flew down Mount Tempalpais and into Muir Woods. We were glad to say the woods are beautiful with some of the biggest trees you're ever likely to see with a small stream down the middle and the sun peering through the branches. There are lots of different trails to follow in the woods and if you're feeling adventurous you can hike up the side of the valley in various directions. We did the 1.5 mile trail and including stopping frequently in awe to take pictures we stayed about 1.5 hours. Then it was back on the bikes for the journey back! According to the bike rental map (bloody useless!) there were no 'incline/hills' for a different route home.....well compared to Mount bloody Everest there werent! We ended up pushing our bikes (again) but this time extremely steep gravel paths on the edge of cliffs over looking Muir Beach, still we got great views of Ocean Beach! We ended up turning back and eventually got on our way and reached Sausalito where we decided to get the ferry back to Fishermans Wharf. This turned out to be a really nice trip but also it was a good job we didnt continue to ride back as Meg nearly threw up with exhaustion! Also Andy managed to get a free beer on the ferry as a member of staff needed one of our spare pens....result! When we got back to the hostel at 9.15pm (yes nearly 11 hours after we left!) we ate dinner then collapsed complete with a bit of sunburn to boot.