Your Guide to Exploring Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park
Before I moved to California, I didn’t know there were California Coastal Redwoods south of the Bay Area. While these aren’t as tall or numerous as those in the north, it was still beautiful to spend the day at Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park. I loved how green and lush it was. Plus, the smells created a sense of peace within.
Best of all, it is only 15 minutes from downtown Santa Cruz and an easy place to check out when you’re in the area.
Your Guide to Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park
What to Know Before You Go
The main entrance is at 101 North Big Trees Park Road in Felton. Day use costs $10 per vehicle, $9 if you’re 62 or older, paid at the entrance kiosk or by envelope if the booth is unstaffed. The park itself is open sunrise to sunset year-round.
The visitor center runs shorter hours than the park, and they shift with staffing, so treat any specific hours you read, including here, as a starting point and call (831) 335-4598 or check the park’s site before you drive out expecting it open. Cell service is not consistent; download any maps you need ahead of time.
Getting There
Felton sits about 15 minutes from downtown Santa Cruz, an hour from San Jose on a good traffic day, and close to two hours from San Francisco depending on which route through the mountains you take. The main entrance and parking lot are on Highway 9, easy to find, hard to miss once you see the line of cars along the shoulder on a summer Saturday.
A Little Bit of History
The park’s name comes from Henry Cowell, an industrialist who bought roughly 6,500 acres here in 1865 to run lime kilns and quarry limestone, the same operation whose ruins you can still walk past in Fall Creek.
The land itself had passed through three Mexican land grants before that. By the 1920s, conservation-minded residents pushed to save what remained of the old growth from further logging, and Samuel Cowell, Henry’s son, eventually donated the family’s remaining acreage to the state.
The park was dedicated in 1954. Theodore Roosevelt is often credited with helping spark the broader push to protect redwood groves like this one along the coast, decades before this particular parcel became a state park.
Is Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park worth visiting?
Most definitely. Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park is a gem, and I loved strolling through the redwoods and craning my neck to see the tops of the trees. It’s stunning, and you’ll love stopping by to check it out.
Where else can I see Coastal Redwoods in the area?
You can see Coastal Redwoods outside Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park.
- Big Basin Redwoods State Park
- Portola Redwoods State Park
- Bear Creek Redwoods Preserve
- Purisima Creek Redwoods
Where can you stay while in the Henry Cowell area?
- Camping in the campground
- Find a cute cabin or VRBO
- Stay in Santa Cruz
What to do and where to hike in Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park
Redwood Grove Loop
Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park’s hiking area isn’t too big, making it perfect for a half-day excursion. Start at the visitor center and take the Redwood Grove Loop Trail. This 1-mile walk is flat and suitable for the entire family. It is not paved, though.
Halfway through, a wooden fence marks a walkway that leads further into the forest. I’d recommend heading out a bit further to extend the hike and hopefully avoid the crowds.
Garden of Eden
The next big attraction is the Garden of Eden, which brings you down to the river. Park here, and then you’ll follow the trail down and then alongside train tracks for about 1.5 miles. You’ll then see a few signs warning people not to dive or jump into the water.
Take this down to the river inside Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park. I can only imagine this place is uber-popular with the UC Santa Cruz kids. I found it nice and peaceful; there were only two others here.
Observation Deck, Short Route
About a mile round trip with roughly 250 feet of climbing, a reasonable option if you want elevation without committing to an afternoon.
Observation Deck Loop, Long Route
The route hikers mean when they talk about the real climb at Henry Cowell: Pipeline Road to Ridge Fire Road to Pine Trail to Eagle Trail and back, close to 5 miles round trip with 550 to 600 feet of gain.
Ridge Fire Road and Pine Trail cut through sandhills habitat, a dry, sandy pocket that looks nothing like the redwood flat below it, ponderosa pine and manzanita instead of fern and redwood sorrel. The deck itself sits at 805 feet and clears the canopy, Monterey Bay on one side, a run of Santa Cruz Mountain ridgelines on the other.
Fall Creek
The quiet half of the park: a separate unit reached from a different trailhead off Highway 9, with more than 20 miles of trail and none of the parking-lot crowding of the main section.
Old lime kiln ruins from the Cowell family’s quarrying operation sit along the creek, remnants of the industry that predates the park by decades. If the main lot is full, or you’ve already done the loop twice, this is where I’d send you.
Swimming at the Garden of Eden
The San Lorenzo River bend at the end of the Garden of Eden Trail is the swimming spot people mean when they ask about swimming at Henry Cowell. It’s a river hole, not a lake. Current and depth shift with the season and with how much rain fell that winter, so it runs low and calm by August and can move fast and cold in spring.
Diving is banned outright because of submerged rock, and the park doesn’t allow glass containers, alcohol, fires, or dogs at the water’s edge. Go on a weekday if you want the sandbar to yourself; weekends draw a crowd once the temperature climbs.
The Roaring Camp Steam Train
Roaring Camp sits right next to the main parking lot, close enough that people regularly assume it’s part of the state park itself. It isn’t. It’s a separately run, ticketed narrow-gauge railroad that predates the park’s current boundaries, and the steam locomotive climbs Bear Mountain through redwood forest with a conductor narrating the logging history along the way.
You don’t need a ticket to visit Henry Cowell, and paying the state park’s day-use fee doesn’t get you on a train. A lot of families combine the two anyway, hiking in the morning and catching a train departure in the afternoon, since the ticket booths are only a short walk from each other.
Estimated time needed to enjoy Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park: 2 hours
You don’t need to make Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park a full-day trip or the main part of any road trip. It’s lovely, but with only a few trails available (there are more by the campground we didn’t get to hike), you can get in and out in no time.
Photography Tips for Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park:
- Bring your widest lens possible or a GoPro. The trees at Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park are tall, and you’ll want to capture them all.
- Consider a tripod. Under the tree canopy, light won’t be abundant. To keep your ISO down, use a tripod and slow your shutter speed to create beautiful work without added noise.
FAQ For Visiting Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park
Yes, particularly if you haven’t stood inside an old-growth grove before. The 40-acre loop near the visitor center gets you into trees over a thousand years old within ten minutes of parking, without the drive or crowd of Big Basin.
Day use runs $10 per vehicle, $9 for seniors 62 and up. Pay at the kiosk or the self-serve envelope if the booth isn’t staffed.
Yes, at the Garden of Eden, a swimming hole on the San Lorenzo River about 1.5 miles round trip from the main parking lot. Diving is prohibited, and glass, alcohol, and dogs are not allowed in the water.
No. Roaring Camp is a separately owned, ticketed narrow-gauge railroad next to the main parking lot. The state park and the train share a fence line, not a ticket booth.
Two hours comfortably covers the Redwood Grove Loop and the Garden of Eden. Add the observation deck loop, and you’re closer to half a day.
Yes, but only on leash in the campground, picnic areas, and on paved Pipeline Road. Dogs can’t go into the Redwood Grove, onto the unpaved trails, or down to the swimming hole.
Final Thoughts on Visiting Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park
Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park sits just outside Felton, a short drive north of Santa Cruz, and it holds one of the more accessible stands of old-growth coast redwood left on the Central Coast.
The park is bigger than the postcard version most people see.
Between the main unit along Highway 9 and the separate Fall Creek section a couple miles away, Henry Cowell covers 4,623 acres, though the 40-acre grove near the visitor center is what draws nearly everyone who parks here.
It’s a really great place to visit while exploring the coastal areas around Santa Cruz, and I know you’ll have a fun time.
Until next time, adventurers, stay safe.
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