The Muir Ramble Route was created by Peter & Donna Thomas and inspired by John Muir's famous 1868 walk from San Francisco to Yosemite. The Thomas' researched Muir's original route, and created a roughly parallel route that stays mostly off of busy roads. They published a book about the route. The Route website says:
"SINCE JOHN MUIR gave only the most general details of his route, Donna and Peter turned to dusty old maps, from museums and libraries across the state, to fill in the details. Overlaying the old maps with modern ones showed most of the picturesque little roads Muir followed were now major roads and highways. Walking these roads would be pretty grueling, but they were committed by this time and decided to do it anyway. Further study of more specialized modern maps revealed the existence of urban trails, parks and pathways running parallel to Muir's route. This led to the idea of making the trip an "Urban Backpacking" trip, linking these trails and open spaces together while walking as close to Muir's route as possible. Following what they came to think of as Muir's spiritual footsteps, rather than his actual footsteps, they created a three hundred [actually 310] mile SF - Yosemite route that, as much as possible, travels through nature and off the main roads."
