Muir Woods National Monument

Redwood Canyon was Huimen country, Coast Miwok, long before it was anyone's real estate. Its trees outlived the logging that took nearly every other redwood around the Bay for a plain reason: the canyon was too steep and awkward to get them out.

The threat that finally came was water, not timber. William Kent and Elizabeth Thacher Kent bought the canyon in 1905 for $45,000, but the water rights belonged to the North Coast Water Company, which wanted Redwood Creek dammed for a reservoir. After the 1906 earthquake raised the demand for water, the company filed to condemn part of the Kents' land. The Kents answered by giving the canyon away. They deeded about three hundred acres to the federal government on December 26, 1907, and on January 9, 1908, Theodore Roosevelt proclaimed it a national monument.

Roosevelt wanted it named for Kent. Kent asked for John Muir instead, though Muir's only known connection to the canyon was a visit in 1904. The water company pressed its suit for another year and then dropped it.

The main trail follows the creek on a level path under the oldest trees. Parking and shuttle seats are reserved in advance.