We didn’t have time on this trip to make it out to Sequoia National Park to visit the largest redwoods, but we still got to see some enormous coastal redwoods on a hike through Muir Woods near sunset.

The setting was almost surreal. We were surrounded by huge trees while shafts of light filtered through into the still quiet of the woods. I told Eric that if fairies suddenly appeared, I wouldn’t be surprised.

We took the Hillside Trail, the longest way around, and as the trail ascended, we quickly lost sight of most of the other people sharing the park with us. The two mile walk was a lovely transition from city to nature and warmed us up for the hiking we planned to do the following day.

While exploring downtown San Francisco (specifically Chinatown) was entertaining, this type of stroll is much more our scene. We would take hiking in the woods over hoofing it around a city any day.