Marin hike: A breathtaking journey to Muir Woods

Energetic summertime visitors may want to visit Muir Woods by hiking to it, or perhaps you do, too. Our vigorous 6-mile loop hike from Pantoll on Mount Tamalpais, down the Stapleveldt and Ben Johnson trails to Muir Woods and up the Dipsea, is stunningly beautiful and intriguing both ways. With iconic Muir Woods as its featured destination, the loop is spectacular throughout.

The trip down, often through precipitous, extensive redwood forest with switchbacks, feels wild and primeval. Muir Woods is awe-inspiring and its level easy trails a welcome respite. The trip up the Dipsea to Stapleveldt and back to Pantoll is rigorous in its elevation gain but also consistently varied and interesting. This loop — although not the shortest or easiest from high on the mountain to Muir Woods — is magnificent and worth the extra effort.

• Summary of hike: This 6-mile loop hike is difficult, requiring the ability to climb down steeply and up steeply on its trails, sometimes with stairs and switchbacks and sometimes not. The trail can be either smooth or with roots requiring care.

There is no Muir Woods entrance fee unless you leave and return through the main entrance. Restroom facilities are located at Pantoll and Muir Woods. No dogs are allowed.

• Getting there: Take Panoramic Drive to Pantoll. Parking at the Pantoll lot costs $8 ($7 for seniors). Across from Pantoll on the uphill road, there are a few free parking spaces.

• The hike: Our trailhead for the Stapleveldt Trail is at the bus stop near the entrance to Pantoll. Take the trail to the right, past the campground, and continue on its downward plunge until the trail forks at a sign. We take the Stapleveldt Trail to the left to the Ben Johnson Trail .5 miles away. The sign indicates Muir Woods is 2.6 miles away, but that is to the visitor center and we will enter it almost a mile closer.

Both the Stapleveldt and Ben Johnson trails descend steeply with some good switchbacks through extensive redwood forests, often carpeted with redwood sorrel. Springs are evident in places. There is a primitive feel and beauty to both trails. At the lower part of the Ben Johnson Trail, a group of redwood trees soar and interlock their upper branches, forming a canopy. The trail is a wonderful prelude to Muir Woods.

Once you have entered Muir Woods on the Ben Johnson Trail, you will be following the right side of Redwood Creek, but in a short while, consider crossing the creek over a bridge and walking down the left side. Be sure to explore the acclaimed Cathedral Grove and the Bohemian Grove Trail, which you can locate easily by paying attention to the large trailside maps and signs that will guide you to them. There are other sites and trees just as rewarding along the way.

Muir Woods is celebrated as the only significant area of virgin redwoods still standing in Marin County and throughout the San Francisco metropolitan area. We would have lost it were it not for William Kent, Marin’s giant in the preservation of its lands.

The redwoods had been growing in the isolated canyon — now named Muir Woods — long before Columbus landed in North America. In 1904, a water company tried to buy the canyon to build a reservoir to capture the waters of Redwood Creek for Mill Valley. To conserve the trees, Kent bought the land for $45,000, borrowing a significant portion of the purchase price and reassuring his wife: “If we lost all the money we have and saved those trees, it would be worthwhile, wouldn’t it?”

But the water company resumed its threat in late 1907 by filing an eminent domain lawsuit to establish the reservoir. To defeat it, Kent sent his deed to the woods to the federal government for a national monument, suggesting it be named Muir Woods in honor of John Muir.

In January 1908, President Theodore Roosevelt accepted the deed and declared the land a national monument. He wrote to Kent, asking his permission to name it after him rather than Muir. Kent replied to Roosevelt: “I have five good husky boys. If these boys cannot keep the name of Kent alive, I am willing it should be forgotten.”

As you walk through Muir Woods, think of this gift, which in the nick of time saved these trees for our great-grandparents, grandparents and parents, for our generation, for our children and our grandchildren and for the generations to follow.

And push your imagination back many centuries when the trees stood on land inhabited only by the Coast Miwoks and bears, mountain lions, wolves and other animals generally long gone from Marin. Redwoods, as John Steinbeck wrote, are truly “ambassadors from another time.”

Drink in the atmosphere, particularly in the uncrowded areas away from the visitor center. As you regard the height and immensity of the redwoods throughout, you feel small, but your spirit swells.

Once you are ready to leave, walk out past the visitor center on the right side of the parking area for a short while. Take the bridge crossing Redwood Creek, and the path will take you to the Dipsea for your climb up the mountain. Luckily, you are not racing.

Continue up the Dipsea, merging for brief intervals with Deer Park Fire Road, until you reach the junction where the sign on one side points to the Stapleveldt .2 miles to the right and on the other side points to the TCC .2 via the left fork. Take either to rejoin Stapleveldt for your climb back to Pantoll. A great hike!

See you in two weeks.

A longtime avid hiker and Marin resident, Jim Holden is the author of two nonfiction books: “It Happened in Marin” and “Adventurous Lives, Daring Acts.” He can be reached at MarinhikingJim@gmail.com.