Muir Woods National Monument
Muir Woods National Monument is located in Northern California, on the west coast of the United States. The woodland park is 12 miles north of San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge, and near the Pacific coast. The park has 560 acres of forested area populated by Coast redwood (Sequoia sempervirens) trees.
The monument has a number of walking trails were visitors can get a close look at the magnificent giants. Many of the redwoods are over 300 feet tall, 18 to 20 feet in diameter, and up to 2000 years old.
It started in 1905 when U.S. Congressman William Kent noticed that the valley area contained one of the last unlogged stands of old growth redwood trees near San Francisco. He and his wife purchased the initial land and donated it to the U.S. Government to be protected parkland. President Theodore Roosevelt declared it a national monument in 1908. It was Kent who suggested the park be named after conservationist John Muir.
