Marin County is a peninsula of California on the edge of the vast Redwood Empire, an untamed and uneven terrain of dense forests and dizzying cliffs. Crossing Golden Gate Bridge from San Francisco is enough to get a whiff of adventure, as you head for the ferry to the picturesque town of Sausalito. Then a hike in Muir Woods National Monument, where handsome redwoods flourish, will give you a foretaste of the North, paradise of trappers and woodcutters.