MUIR-LY MUSINGS FROM RANGER MIA

Your first stop for planning a visit to Muir Woods should be the NPS website:  www.nps.gov/goga.  There you can confirm what’s open, as trails and roads can be closed due to downed trees or landslides and due to Covid restrictions.

Chilly days are great for short walks to see early wildflowers, the arrival of birds and maybe some interesting wonders like wild mushrooms!

Some other ventures that are best done now? Familiarize yourself with the location of our local campgrounds, plan a visit to vista points for sunsets as the days warm up and get longer, go to picnic rocks to celebrate spring and look both close-up at lichen or further out to sea!  Learn about local flowers:  https://cnpsmarin.org/plant-science/plant-lists.

Bundle up for some beach time! There are low tides mid-day for beachcombing, but otherwise stay a safe distance when surfs up, watch for sneaker waves and always find a safe spot to scan the horizon for whales!! Here's a gift from the amazing magazine/on-line resource Bay Nature:  https://baynature.org/article/a-seasonal-whale-finder-for-california

Now is also a great time to wave at whomever is walking on the trails, as it is probably a neighbor!  Other respectful practices include visiting early or late to avoid over-crowding and practicing LNT (that's another way of saying pack it in-pack it out), especially those dog poop bags that we see littering our beautiful trails.

The small Bicentennial Campground will reopen and operations and reservations started Monday, February 8.   Bicentennial Campground is a small three site walk-in campground in the Marin Headlands. As long as state and county public health guidance allows, we are also planning for the reopening of our three other popular campgrounds, Kirby Cove, Haypress, and Hawk campgrounds in the Marin Headlannds, in early March. 

Work is happening on so many fronts! Revegetation and protection measures up on Alta near the PG&E powerlines, a new boardwalk in Muir Woods, fuel reduction work on park boundaries and weed removal to protect our native habitats for our enjoyment and safety and that of the foxes, coyotes and bunnies we love to see!

We will share widely when facilities open, when we have cool sightings and when we can welcome volunteers back.  Meanwhile, we hope to share smiles (there is always one behind my double-mask!) and a wave when we're out in our marvelous Marin natural lands!