Nature favored Marin County with nature's best as it is found in the northwestern part of California and had been topographically formed as a peninsula that faces southward to look over the majestic Golden Gate Bridge and the San Francisco Bay. Marin County's other neighbors are Sonoma and Napa Counties to its north, the Pacific Ocean and its beaches to its west, and the San Pablo Bay to its east. Nature did in fact favor Marin County with nature's best.
Two very significant bodies of water, the Pacific Ocean and the San Pablo Bay, are hugging Marin County from its east and west, and produce very rainy winters and also keep its temperature from dropping to the same lows as it does in its nearby counties. Furthermore, these same bodies of water favor Marin County with cooler summers and virtually no heat waves, particularly close to either body of water.
The United States Census Bureau, in its recent census, estimated Marin County to have 520 square miles of dry lands and 308 square miles of underwater lands for a sum total of 828 square miles for the entire County.
Nature favored Marin County with its best panoramic views of luxuriant emerald-green farmlands, vivid tidal flats and Mount Tamalpais presiding over the entire spectrum from its height of 2,600 feet.
Nature has also favored Marin County with an extraordinarily power force, the San Andreas earthquake fault, that is both a blessing and a threat. The threat lies in the fact that it is continually disconnecting the Tomale Peninsula from its mainland in addition to the ever-looming earthquakes. The blessing lies in the fact that it is the San Andreas earthquake fault that created Marin County's spectacular topography and, as a bonus, deposited an assortment of richly prolific soils.
As a way of thanking nature for its favors, Marin County has created sanctuaries to protect and preserve that which is vulnerable in nature.
- It has been estimated that more than 1,000 species of plants and animals are saved from harm and extinction at Point Reyes National Seashore which is nested between the rocky shores of the Pacific Ocean, the lush grassy flatlands, the rolling hills and the tree-rich forests.
- Establishing its presence in two islands within the San Marino Bay, the West Marin and the East Marin, the Marin Island National Wildlife Refuge has been set up to shelter the Bay Area's and Marin County's largest populations of herons and egrets. This wildlife refuge also houses many other species of birds who have taken up permanent residence and it provides welcoming feeding and resting grounds for many other migrating birds who are seeking temporary shelters.
- Set up in 1972 and sitting astride several Bay Area counties and measuring an area of 75,398 acres, The Golden Gate National Recreation Area (GGNRA) is one of the largest national parks set within an urban environment in the entire world. With its 59 miles of beaches, the GGNRA is also one of the largest seashore sanctuaries within the United States. And here, nature favored Marin County by endowing it with Muir Woods National Monument which is also part of the GGNRA and, in my opinion, a true Garden of Eden.