Hello fellow wanderers!
Muir Woods. Everyone must visit at least once in their life if they love all things forest and giant redwoods. We spent a few days in the San Francisco area and thought we would take a day and hike the famous and historic Dipsea Trail. Yes, you read it right, I said historic. The first Dipsea Race took place on this trail back in 1905. It is the oldest trail race in the United States, putting this trail on the national historical registry.
This trail just about killed us (not literally, but close enough). It is a grueling and treacherous trail with tons of ups and downs. If you do not like steps or physically cannot handle steps, then please avoid this trail. We hike a lot on many different types of trails and we were not prepared for this hike at all.
The Dipsea trailhead at the Muir Woods Visitor Center was closed so we were forced to enter the Muir Woods park and walk the board walk to the very end and cross over Bridge #4. The boardwalk is beautiful and the Visitor Center was open. We stopped in and grabbed a sticker for our collection. After we crossed Bridge #4, we followed the Ben Johnson Trail up to the Dipsea Trail. There were several switch backs on the Ben Johnson up to the Dipsea. Once we finally connected to the Dipsea, the steps began. I cannot even tell you how many steps there are, up and down. We stopped at the leg of the Dipsea that takes you down to Stinson Beach (our goal was to make it to the beach but we didn't give ourselves enough time). We stopped and snacked here before turning around. While we were eating, we were approached by a coyote. It was getting late and we had a lot of steps to climb back up. Had we stayed, we would have hiked out in the dark.
We hiked a total of 10.4 miles round trip with an elevation gain of about 2,500-3,000 feet total. We were exhausted by the time we got back to the Jeep. It is an absolutely beautiful trail and hiking in February was perfect weather as well. It was not hot or cold. The overcast marine layer covered up the ocean so not much of a view there but Muir Woods is a magical place that all should visit at least once.
We had plenty of water and snacks for the trail but what we didn't have or even think to get since we were staying in a hotel was a protein shake or muscle milk. We hurt the next three days and could barely walk after all of those steps. If you don't believe me, watch our YouTube video for the full hike. It was brutal! (and we don't say that often).
We hope you watch our video and subscribe to our channel. We would truly appreciate it.
Thanks so much for wandering off into Muir Woods with us!
Chris and Brandi
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