CALIFORNIA
Muir Beach
Muir Beach is situated nearby Muir Woods and Mt. Tamalpais. The beach and hiking trails were open but Muir Woods itself is currently closed. Even in June we encountered 60 degree F temperature and TONS of fog. There were still people attempting to enjoy a beach day though, and the parking lot was full. In this picture you can kind of see how many people were there. Lot’s of people in shorts and swimsuits that I felt sorry for.
Thankfully you can park down the road a bit on the dirt shoulder. Just be careful in the residential neighborhoods, the signs we saw there indicated people were pretty tired of tourists blocking their driveways.
For trails, I can’t find anything online about them but this is the “trail map” we saw and “followed”. I highlighted the trail to Pirate’s Cove we took. I think I estimated from my fitbit this route is about 4 miles roundrip - we just went out and came back the same way.
The beginning of the trail is incredibly steep and was really tiring. Actually nearly the whole route is up and down two or three large hills. But the views at the top of the hills are pretty crazy, with long green valleys and a view of the Pacific.
Pirate’s Cove is pretty challenging to get down into, it’s down a pretty steep cliff with loose rocks and not great footholds. Since it was windy and cold it also wasn’t great being down there, but we still sat down and had some snacks.
Getting back up from Pirate’s Cove was actually easier than going down, but man were our thighs burning by the top! Thankfully I switched from an N95 mask to a surgical mask and I think those are just a lot easier to hike in.
When we got back to the trailhead we weren’t quite ready to head back so we poked around. The beach was really windy so we followed a random trail that we saw horses on. There was a sign that said no petting the horses because of COVID-19. This pandemic really does take so much from us!
As always I just feel lucky to get the chance to get out of the house and see more of the place I love to live! If you’re going out hiking, please remember to bring a mask and cover your face when crossing paths with other hikers. It’s okay to go outside but if we’re going to get life back to any semblance of normal, we all need to try a little harder!