Muir Woods in Marin County reopens for 1 week thanks to private donations during government shutdown

MARIN COUNTY, Calif. (KGO) — In the North Bay, locals and tourists are getting a big surprise during the government shutdown, which has closed many Bay Area attractions. Muir Woods National Monument has reopened, thanks to private donations. The reopening is only temporary and visitors are not wasting any time getting there.

Nature guides are back among the ancient Redwoods, telling visitors about the wonders of Muir Woods.

“It feels great, I’m glad people have heard about the opening they came back,” said volunteer John Maclennan.

The National Monument is reopening to the public, after being closed most of October due to the government shutdown.

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“Oh I love it. I was tripping all over my feet looking up, they’re so tall,” said Laila Mohamed.

Laila Mohamed from Raleigh, North Carolina didn’t think she’d be able to visit the amazing trees.

“I’m really grateful, my mom went on a tour earlier this week and they weren’t able to come in because it was closed. I fully expected we weren’t going, but they said Muir Woods is open, I was so happy,” said Mohamed.

The Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy says gates have reopened thanks to a group of park concessionaires and vendors which raised enough funds to keep Muir Woods open with free admission through October 31.

“This is the largest tour that we do as far as the numbers,” said Jerry Evola.

Evola from A Taste of San Francisco tours was shuttling visitors into the redwood grove again.

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“If you have the opportunity to give people please and education is always better than shutting something down,” said Evola.

Alcatraz tours are also running to the Rock during the shutdown, thanks to a donation from the ferry operator, Hornblower Cruises, that’s keeping operations going.

“I went yesterday to Alcatraz, I even met a former inmate, Baker,” said Leah Chopan from Dallas.

About 80% of America’s 430 National Park sites remain open in some capacity, although most have been reduced to bare bones staffing at Yosemite, concerns about BASE jumping and illegal camping has led to a call from former parks officials, for the landmarks to be closed until the shutdown is resolved. In a statement, the Coalition to Protect America’s National Parks said:

“Keeping parks open without adequate staff is in violation of the National Park Service’s founding mission and inconsistent with the laws passed by Congress. We recognize that closing parks is not an easy decision but it’s the responsible one.”

At Alcatraz and Muir Woods, the situation is different. Most rangers on duty for now and volunteers are glad they are.

“It’s all about the trees in here, not the birds, not animals it’s about the trees.” Maclennan said.