Good morning everyone, happy Sunday!  Yesterday, I went on a little adventure from San Francisco to Muir Woods National Monument in the North Bay.  Since I do not have a car, I decided to take the bus.  The bus network in San Francisco is pretty good and it took about 1.5 hours from my apartment to get to the Muir Woods Visitor Center.  Depending on where you are coming from, your trip to Muir Woods might be slightly longer or slightly shorter.  Luckily for me, there is a bus stop a few blocks away that offers very direct service to Muir Woods (Google Map).  I used my Clipper Card to go on the 10 North to Sausalito (a very pretty beach town with great views of the Bay) and the cost was $10 one way.  I could have taken the 70 North as well, but the 10 North came sooner, so that is the bus I took.

Side note, if you see the bus coming, you need to flag down the bus driver since they do not stop at every stop.  Also, the bus goes over the Golden Gate Bridge, so the views can be very good on a clear, sunny day.

Once we got off the bus in Sausalito, we transferred to the Muir Woods bus 66.  The bus makes 1-2 stops along the way to pick up passengers, but the journey is about 50 minutes each way and it gets pretty windy in the forest.  You do not pay the bus driver, but you need to pay for the return trip at the Muir Woods Visitor Center.  The price is $5 round trip per person.

Here is the entrance to Muir Woods National Monument, a few feet from the Visitor Center.

There is a nice restroom next to the Visitor Center.

At the Visitor Center, you can pay for your entrance fee ($10 per person) and return bus ticket ($5 per person).  Keep your receipt to show the bus driver for your return trip.

Here is the entrance to the Muir Woods National Monument.

Conveniently located near the entrance, there is a gift shop and cafe.  I stopped in for some lunch.  Everything is pretty healthy, but a little pricy.  Feel free to bring in your own food, snacks, and drinks, but you can only eat them at the designated dining area.  I had a turkey sandwich, BBQ chips, and a ginger beer.  Ahh!

Once in the national park, there is a central trail that is paved, perfect for wheelchairs and strollers.  There are also several other trails, that can be steep/muddy.

Pictures (especially on an iPhone) do not capture the beauty of Muir Woods. The trees are huge and most are several hundred years old.

Most of the older trees have burn marks from one of many forest fires that have come through over the centuries.

After walking around for a few hours, we headed back to the Visitor Center and grabbed a bus back down to Sausalito.  If you are planning on driving to Muir Woods National Monument, get there early, since parking is limited.  There are some great comments about Muir Woods from this recent post.  Instead of taking the “boring” way back to San Francisco by bus, we took the Sausalito Ferry to San Francisco (Ferry Building / Embarcadero).  The price is $6 with a Clipper Card or $11.25 for everyone else.  Bikes are also allowed on-board, but I am not sure if bringing a bike on-board costs extra.

If you have any questions, please leave a comment below.  Have a great day everyone!