Hikers in California have a reason to smile, after an iconic redwood forest trail reopened in the San Francisco Bay Area.
The beloved Ben Johnson trail, in the Muir Woods National Monument, is one of the most popular routes in the area, leading hikers through 5.2 miles (8.4km) of scenic redwood forest and gaining over 1,000ft (304.8m) of elevation in the process.
Its renovation has been a lengthy project, taking four years and costing the National Park Service $1.8 million.
To complete the restoration, NPS workers selected and transported old, fallen redwood trees from the nearby Kent Lake, on the western side of the Mount Tamalpais watershed. The huge trees were cut into logs, taken to the woods by truck, and transported along the trail using a high-tech zipline. Each log measured exactly 14ft (4.3m) and weighed roughly 600lb (272.2kg).
Once they were in place, the reclaimed wood was used to craft vital stairs, paths, and fences along the trail, to help restore it to its former glory.
Along with the time-consuming nature of the project, workers were restricted by the nesting season of the endangered spotted owl, which forced them to work between August and January only. They also used hand-crafted tools instead of chainsaws and heavy machinery so as not to disturb the birds.
The trail was last reconstructed in the 1940s by the Civilian Conservation Corps. Prior to the renovation, hikers had to do battle with unclear, worn-away paths, fallen trees, and a lack of stable stairs. With the new infrastructure in place, they can enjoy the breathtaking trail without worry.
Local hiker Jim Willens told CBS: "The trail is obviously just totally awesome and magnificent and goes through some wooded areas, some sunny areas, and the amazing redwoods.
"The renovation has been very thoughtfully done, it's beautiful, it makes it a lot easier to come down these parts, which probably had been rained out, and it's a great piece of work."
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