Informative Guide to Henry Cowell Redwood State Park

Henry Cowell Redwood State Park sits on the doorstep of downtown Santa Cruz. Yet is remote enough that you don't know that a busy little town is a mere 5 minutes away. The park is unique, as it is basically divided up into 3 separate and distinct areas. The campground with trails that leads over to the main park entrance. The first area is holding 107 campsites and 4,650 acres of wilderness. Then there is the Fall Creek Unit, truly a hikers delight. Henry Cowell Redwoods offers you and your family so many places to make memories.

Weather Forecast For Santa Cruz

Quick Information:

* Address: 2591 Graham Hill Rd
Scotts Valley CA 95018
* Phone: (831)-438-2396
* Elevation: 648 feet
* Established: 1953
* Size: 4,650 Acres +

Who was Henry Cowell?:

The name behind this amazing park.

Henry Cowell was one of the Pioneers who could see that California is going to develop into one of the great states of the nation. Through their hard work, capitalist mindset and entrepreneurial spirit, they became one of the largest landowners of California at that time. Mr. Cowell started with ships, bringing cement from Belgium and fire brick from England which was put to use in the building of our largest cites from San Diego to San Francisco, Sacramento to Los Angeles.

He acquired land with limestone deposits in the Santa Cruz mountains so that he could produce his own cement. Those limestone queries you can still see on the trails in Henry Cowell State Park today.

Henry passed away in 1903, but his family and namely his son Samuel Henry “Harry” Cowell went on to give this first growth redwood land that you can now visit today to the county of Santa Cruz and to the people. For everyone to experience.

Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park Information:

Campsite Fee:
$35 a day

Day Use
$10 per vehicle

Pets:
Allowed on leash &
attended at all times. Not on trails.

Showers:
Hot showers
(.25 per min.)

Potable Water:
Yes, many spigots around campground

Toilets:
Yes, flush toilets

Dump Station:
No

Let's Visit Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park!

If you are camping in the state park, then you will have access to not only Henry Cowell's locations, but you will also have access to any of the other parks in the Santa Cruz area owned by the state.

I will start with the campground info, then we can see what's going on at the Fall Creek location, where the big redwoods are!

Campground:

A really great campground, you have 107 (though the numbers go up to 113) sites to chose from. All can accommodate tents of various sizes (which I will touch on shortly). And nearly all the pads can handle vehicles with travel trailers or motor homes of up to 35' in total length.

Be sure to get the pad size from reservecalifornia. The campground is consisting of 2 figure 8 loops divided between section 0-51 and 52-113.

Campground Map:

Campsites:

We are partnering with California Campground Authority on YouTube for an in depth view on nearly all the campsites at this State Park.

RV Sites:

Most of the sites can accommodate an RV or vehicle with trailer of up to 35'. When you are looking into which sites can accommodate a rig, be sure to look at the "accommodations" section on each specific site on reservecalifornia. From there you can find detailed information on the length and width of each site. Plus any info should there be any low-hanging branches to know about.

Tent Sites:

Now, this is one of the best campgrounds for tent sites that we have visited so far. We have a 16x13 canvas tent, making us particular on what campground we can stay at. This campground really delivers! There are so many options for families or folks with big tents.

Setting up our site.

Handicap Sites:

Henry Cowell State Park has some excellent options for ADA compliant campsites. All have large paved pads and the water spigot right next to the sites. They are also located directly by the restroom/showers.

Unique Sites:

From camping beneath the canopy of some fantastically humungous trees, or waking up to a canyon view. There are many choices in the way of diversity in this State Park.

Group Camping:

If you are looking for a getaway for a large or extended family or a reunion or even a large group of friend, then check out these campsites:

They are sites 85, 81 and directly across from them is 108, 105 and 103. The first two are on the upper loop and the others on the loop below. But they are connected in between by a beautiful, open, but treed setting. Basically, if you wanted sites with privacy, these aren't them. But for an awesome get together, this would be a place to make memories.

Camping With A View:

As I stated before, some of these sites have very cool views. When we walked over to that side of the campground, I was stunned to see it. I have included a few sites and some photos for your viewing pleasure.

There are a few more than what I have posted here, but you can see more at the link for California Campground Authority.

Below you can see sites, 76, 78 and 80.

Note:

Campsite Features:

These campsites are really nice and, as is standard, they all have a nice picnic table, fire pit and a "bear box". Though there are no bears in this area, there are other critters just waiting for you to leave some tasty morsels. This campground has a "Crumb Clean Campaign". Leave no food out unless you are with said food. So it's convenient to store your food in the food storage bin.

Picnic Table

Fire Pit

Food Storage

Bathrooms/Showers:

One thing about this campground, not enough restrooms/showers. There is only one set of showers for the 2 sections. That is basically 8 showers for 107 campsites. Though when we were there, even though the sign said full, there were maybe 30-40 campsites with occupants. And now that so many people travel with trailers or in motorhomes, the showers aren't very busy.

One night when I had gone alone to shower, I forgot my flashlight and I didn't realize until I had finished up and was headed back to camp. It was a long walk in the pitch black and a little unnerving. I lucked out when someone had turned on the marker lights on their vehicle. So even though I never had to wait for a shower, it was a long dark walk back to our site.

Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park

This area of the park which is attached to the campground section is located 101 Big Trees Park Rd. Felton CA. It is located about 10 minutes down the road from the campground location. Unless, of course, you are hiking there, then you are able to access the rest of the park via the trails located within the campground.

This is the main area for traveling tourists, it's a great day trip if you are staying elsewhere on the coast between Monterey and Santa Cruz.

How to get there:

A Great Place For Families

With 3 younger children, we can appreciate the importance of kid friendly activities. Henry Cowell Redwoods really delivered to us and the kids. Humongous trees, stroller friendly trails, trees with awesome hidy-holes, a little creek, bee flies warming themselves in the sunlight and brightly colored banana slugs. We really recommend this park to families.

Trails:

Henry Cowell offers a variety of trails inside the park as well as the Fall Creek location. Below the photos, I have listed just a few of the various hikes within the main area of the State Park.

Day Use Area Hikes

Redwood Grove Loop Trail: 0.8 miles

Less than a mile long, this trail is stroller friendly and ADA compliant. This trail starts at the visitor's center. I believe that you can purchase the self-guided pamphlets in the store for .25 cents, or you can click this link to download the PDF from home.

We really loved this trail for the kids, it is ADA accessible, which makes it very stroller friendly. Our children really had a wonderful time exploring. Even with a full parking lot, the trails are so large that you can still be alone. When we went there were some local schools on field trips really enjoying themselves. We encountered them briefly then had the park to, what felt like, ourselves.

Meadow Trail: 0.8 Miles one way

This trail starts at the day use entrance bridge, carries on behind picnic lots 2 and 4, then goes on to the main parking lot. Basically, once you come into the park and past the giants logs with the park name, you will cross a bridge. Or, I reckon, you would be better to start at the main parking lot and get to the trail, that way you have a place to park.

River Trail: 1.6 miles one way

To get to this trail, you begin on the meadow trail then take the lower branch at the Y. It leads over towards the Visitor's Center and from there is follows the San Lorenzo River.

You can either stay on this and go under the Train Trestle Bridge, head down to Eagle Creek Beach, or continue on till the end at Ridge Road.

We took the upper portion of the Redwood Loop Trail, then went back on the paved River Trail after heading down under the Train Trestle Bridge a ways. I like to never go the same way twice if I can help it.

I am unsure as to how much is paved, but all that we walked on was. It was very kid and stroller friendly.

The River Trail and the Pipeline Trail are on the same path for a lot of the journey.

Fall Creek Unit

After doing my due diligence, I found that it wasn't all that easy to locate the Fall Creek Unit on the maps. At least not in perspective to the other areas of Henry Cowell State Park. I was finally able to find the park lot for this location and a bit of information on it. There are a few trails you can wander on in the Fall Creek Unit, however I have listed only 1 below, which is the most popular.

This area of the Henry Cowell State Park isn't like the main area. As, the main area is a very family friendly destination, where young and old alike can enjoy the redwoods. The Fall Creek Unit is more of a hikers' destination, very beautiful, but it's definitely a journey for those seeking some exercise in the great outdoors.

How To Get There:

From HWY 9, turn left at the Chevron at the corner of HWY 9 and Felton Empire Rd. From there you will travel a short distance, you will see the sign for the Fall Creek Unit. It is a smaller dirt parking lot, so be sure that you don't leave any valuable in your vehicle, as it is a bit secluded.

This portion of the park is 2,930 additional acres on top of the 4,650 acres of the main area. This part of the park is centered around the Fall Creek, which happens to be the tributary for the San Lorenzo River.

Fall Creek to Lime Kilns: 3.3 Mile Loop

This trail starts out at about 400 ft elevation and climbs to about 800 feet over the course of 2 miles. Passing through redwoods, giant cedars and eucalyptus, this trail takes you to the once active lime kilns.