Journeys›Photograph

Sunny Spring Family Hike at Muir Woods

·San Francisco, California·#bay area#family#spring#lake#hike
Two adults and a child in a backpack carrier stand by a lake with trees and hills in the background.

Family hike day at Muir Woods, and the weather cooperated completely — warm, clear, spring in full effect. The baby rode the whole way in the backpack carrier, which is still the best purchase we've made. She spent most of the trail perched up there over my shoulder like she was supervising.

We followed the water for a while, then climbed up through a stand of eucalyptus where the roots and rocks made it more of a scramble than a walk. At some point somebody handed her a little daisy and she chewed on it instead of smelling it, which seemed about right.

Near the end we let her out in a stretch of tall grass — grass up past her knees — and she went stomping through it on her own, pigtail flopping. Getting her back into the carrier after that was the hardest part of the hike.

A woman and a man carrying a child in a backpack carrier stand by a lake with trees in the background.A woman in sunglasses, a child with a flower in a carrier, and a man smile by rippled water.A woman, a baby holding a flower in a carrier, and a man smile against a water background.A man carries a child in a backpack carrier, with a woman standing next to him, amidst many trees.Two people and a child in a carrier stand among trees, some with light bark, in a forest.A light-haired child with a ponytail looks left, reaching out in tall green grass.A child in a brown patterned top with a ponytail stands in tall green grass, hands slightly raised.A young child in a patterned shirt and shorts stands smiling in a field of tall green grass.

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