Day 6 - Sunday, July 18

Today our trip moved to stage 2 - Northern California and Wine Country.

We left SF and drove north across the Golden Gate Bridge, along highway 1, to do some hiking in Muir Woods. Crossing the bridge in the morning fog:



Muir Woods is an old-growth redwood forest that borders the Pacific Ocean - it's just a short drive from the Golden Gate.





These redwoods are enormous and according to our hiking map, the trees thrive because of the cool, damp, foggy climate. Many of these trees have burned out bases from fire damage (like the one we're standing in):





We hiked a 4 mile loop (1,000 ft elevation gain) that went through Muir Woods up to a lookout point, then back down through grasslands and a fern forest. After hiking was finished, we headed over to Stinson Beach. Highway 1 is incredibly windy, so we drove the 10 miles at a snails pace and enjoyed the gorgeous views. Here's some pictures of the Pacific coastline:







Leah's first ocean experience, the water was freezing: