Muir Woods

I have a National Parks annual pass that expired at the end of February. I had purchased it in Virginia because I visited national parks and national forests often enough that the annual pass made sense, but here in California there isn’t much National Park Service land that charges an entrance fee and is within easy driving distance, so I won’t be buying a new one. I did rather want to use it one last time before it expired, though, and the only place I could think to go was Muir Woods, which I hadn’t been to in over 10 years. I’ve actually driven by once or twice while out on Highway 1, but that place is IMMENSELY popular and there was never any parking. So a couple weekends ago I decided to get there when they opened so I could get parking, and use my parks pass for a final time. I arrived at 8:10 a.m., scored a nice parking spot…and found the ticket window empty! So I didn’t have to use my pass! I was also a little disappointed the fog I drove though on the way in had dissipated by the time I got to the park as I thought the trees would look lovely in the fog, but despite getting in free-free (instead of pass-free) and it being fog-free, it was a lovely morning.