Muir Woods National Monument, California

It seems that something so beautiful shouldn’t be this easy to reach. John Muir’s favorite woods lie just across the Golden Gate Bridge from San Francisco, but step onto its trails—especially on a quiet weekday—and you are in another world.

The coast redwoods (sequoia sempervirens if you want to get Latin about it) grow 300 feet tall; beneath them spread lush carpets of ferns and mosses. With most trails paved and relatively flat, this is a great place to take kids. More