Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park
Hike - July 25th, 2009
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About Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park: Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park is nestled in the forested coastal mountains just a few miles from the city of Santa Cruz. It is nearly 1800 acres of remarkable diversity - huge redwoods, lush stream canyons, open sunny meadows, pine and oak forests and high dry chaparral-covered ridges. The main entrance on Highway 9 in Felton leads to the day use area, picnic areas, the Redwood Grove, Visitor Center, Nature Store, and many trail heads.
The park has beautiful old growth redwoods, grasslands, mixed evergreen forest, sandhill chaparral, and a riparian area featuring a narrow, rocky river gorge with sandy beaches. There are trails that lead to hilltop vistas where you may lookout over the Santa Cruz Mountains and Monterey Bay. For those just want to see the magnificent redwoods, there is a .8 mile Redwood Grove Loop Trail which starts at the visitors center. This trail takes you past the oldest and tallest trees in the park.
Hike Description: Our hike passed through dense groves of redwoods, laurels, Douglas firs, and chaparral-covered slopes. We passed under a trestle for the Roaring Camp steam trains and stopped at the parks observation deck which has a sunny platform for views of the Monterey Bay. The trails we covered were the Eagle Creek Trail which took us to the Redwood Grove, the Buckeye Trail which was a series of switchbacks that lead us down to the river where we bravely waded across to complete the hike along Rincon Fire Rd trail. The hike was about a 6.5 mile loop.
Park Details
Hours: Sunrise to sunset. Best to call the Henry Cowell State Park 831-438-2396 for all details.
Carpool Info: Meet at 7:50 a.m. at the Los Gatos Park and Ride. From Highway 17, exit on Saratoga/Los Gatos Road. It's located between University Ave & Santa Cruz Ave. It's the Northeast lot. It's hard to miss. You should see other people and cars.
Driving Directions: Directions: take HIghway 17 south to the Mount Hermon exit in Scotts Valley. Go right for 3.5 miles, then turn right on Graham Hill Rd. After a short 0.1 miles, turn left on Highway 9 and drive half a mile to the park entrance on the left. Meet in the visitor center main parking lot past the entrance kiosk. The entrance fee is $6.
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