The main entrance to Muir Woods, which features the Muir Woods Visitor Center, is on Muir Woods Road — a winding road down to the valley floor from Panoramic Highway above. While you do need a Muir Woods parking reservation if you want to park your car in the lot at the entrance, you don't need a reservation to actually enter Muir Woods. 

At the Presidio Nursery, Parks Conservancy staff raise trees and other native plants from samples collected in the Presidio. When they grow, these plants provide natural habitat for local pollinators, making it possible for more insects to thrive and birds to nest, making the Presidio's ecosystem more resilient to climate change. 

Marin County is set to begin a $3 million project this summer to overhaul trails and repair environmental damage caused by decades of visitation at one of the country’s few remaining old-growth redwood groves. About half of the project funding is from a California State Parks grant. The project is part of the One Tam collaboration of public agencies with support from the Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy nonprofit group.

The $25 million project planned for China Beach has broken ground. “The Parks Conservancy was able to raise $10 million in philanthropic dollars to support the project cost, largely donations from the local community,” said Claire Mooney, vice president of parks, places and innovations at the Parks Conservancy.

John King: "It is the past, present and future combined in a way that defies simple narratives — just like the uncompromising, ultimately seductive metropolis in which it resides."