With four days open to go somewhere we came across a cabin somewhere we had never been before, Lagunitas-Forest Knolls. Sounded like the perfect California Redwoods and Beach trip so we booked plane flights, rental car, and packed our bags for some epic adventure!

Quick San Francisco City Tour

Since we flew into the San Francisco California airport why not do a little adventure in the city? We drove straight for Fisherman's Warf and then walked along Jefferson Street to the San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park. We stopped in at the Blue Mermaid for a bit of lunch and the most amazing coffee and bloody marys! We ended the city tour with a drive through China Town and Union Square then over the Golden Gate Bridge to the cabin.

The Cabin in the Woods

The cabin in Lagunitas-Forest Knolls near the California Redwoods area was so perfect for our stay! It has two bedrooms, kitchen with all the stuff you would ever need, nice dining area with space for games or grubbing down, living room area with TV (which we never turned on lol), washer and dryer, and a spacious deck!! The deck was definitely our hang out spot, with the creek and woods right there we always had something to see from deer to blue jays. The hosts were so nice, and very responsive to any messages. You can rent this cabin on Airbnb!

Point Reyes Lighthouse

The first night we took the road to the Lighthouse, which might be one of my favorite drives of the trip! We saw so many elk and bunnies, and the curvy road was challenging and fun. Once we got to the parking area it was a quick walk up the road to the Lighthouse viewing area. Sadly the winding stairs down to the lighthouse were closed, but the view was still well worth the visit. The foggy day made it extra cool and spooky!

Armstrong Redwoods

The next day we took a couple trails in the small 805 acre State Natural Reserve of the Armstrong Redwoods. The quaintness of this park is awe-inspiring and left us wanting more. A couple of the trails we had planned to take were closed for repairs so we settled for the Pool Ridge Trail, which ended up being absolutely stunning but definitely an uphill challenge at the beginning! We ended the day with the Pioneer Nature Trail, flat terrain and beautiful, back through the parking/picnic area which was full of awesome info and some massive trees.

Bodega Head Trail

After a lovely quick drive up Highway 1 to Bodega Bay we stopped to enjoy some awesome fish tacos at Ginochio's Kitchen then on to the Bodega Head Trail. There are two options for this trail, we took the dirt road to the furthest trailhead, allowing us to explore the best parts with less walking through parking areas etc. This is a very easy trail and cliffside views, flowers and wildlife were stunning! I still can remember the beautiful scent of this trail. Be sure to take one of the side trails toward the island, where you can hear and see the seals.

Kent Lake

That night we headed just a couple blocks from the cabin for a little evening hike. There were two route options on the Shafter Grade Trail, one was easy and flat along a creek and the other had a split off that goes at an incline for quite a while to the lake. We took both and it was so fun! The creek has so much foliage and the sound is quite relaxing. The lake route was a surprise, after the uphill climb we could see the lake and realized it was closed to all the roads and there was not another person in sight. This was definitely worth the quick few miles!

Muir Woods

Muir Woods National Monument was definitely my favorite part of the trip! We tried to save this adventure for a weekday hoping for less people. Monday morning and a parking reservation at 8am was great, only about 15 cars in the lot before us. Please know you need to reserve the parking and can show the ticket on your phone for verification at the gate. Take a screen shot though, there is like no service up there.

With so many trails to choose from we decided on two loops:

The first was Canopy View Trail to Lost Trail to Fern Creek Trail, which is about 2.2 miles long, it starts near the entrance of the park and ends near the back. This was an easy and beautiful hike, lots of stairs but well maintained, definitely a great option if you are there during a non-busy time (this trail is one of the most traveled).

The second loop we endeavored was Ben Johnson to Stapelveldt Trail to TCC Trail to Bootjack Trail. This loop starts across from the exit for the Canopy trail, and ends in the back end of the park. It was about 5 miles and the first half was all strenuous uphill. We found amazing things on this trail and thoroughly enjoyed all the bridge crossings and wildlife. Definitely glad we brought lots of water and snacks, they were needed on this trail!

After a long day of hiking we decided to stop in for food at Tony's Seafood, we were not disappointed. Local oysters on the half shell, fish n chips, fish tacos, and the mussels were all fantastic. They had great customer service and wish we had time in the trip to eat there again!

Point Reyes Coastal Trail/Limantour Beach

The last morning we hiked on Point Reyes Coastal Trail to Limantour Beach, it was recommended to us by the cabin host, and I'm so glad he did. The hike was easy, which was good for our sore legs from the day before. It started on a closed dirt road, the ending result was a completely empty beach for miles! We watched seals catching fish in the ocean, pelicans coasting over the surf, and mussels growing on the rocks with their anemones. The perfect ending to our epic California adventure!