Although the magnificent California redwoods have been successfully transplanted to five continents, their homeland is a 500-mile strip along the mountainous coast of southwestern Oregon and Northern California. The coast redwood, or Sequoia sempervirens, is one of the tallest living things known to man (!); the largest known specimen in the Redwood National Forest towers 368 feet. It has an even larger relative, the Sequoiadendron giganteum of the California Sierra Nevada, but the coastal variety is stunning enough. Soaring toward the sky like a wooden cathedral, Muir Woods is unlike any other forest in the world and an experience you won’t soon forget.

While the rest of Marin County’s redwood forests were being devoured to feed San Francisco’s turn-of-the-20th-century building spree, Muir Woods, ensconced in a remote ravine on the flanks of Mount Tamalpais, escaped destruction in favor of easier pickings. Granted, Muir Woods is tiny compared to the Redwood National Forest farther north, but you can still get a pretty good idea of what it must have been like when these giants dominated the entire coastal region. What is truly amazing is that they exist a mere 6 miles (as the crow flies) from San Francisco -- close enough, unfortunately, that tour buses arrive in droves on the weekends. You can avoid the masses by hiking up the Ocean View Trail, turning left on Lost Trail, and returning on the Fern Creek Trail. The moderately challenging hike shows off the woods’ best sides and leaves the lazy-butts behind.