Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park is just north of Santa Cruz, California. It is named after a local businessman who died in 1903. His family donated some of the land to be a public park. The park opened in 1954 and has grown to 1,750 acres over the years. It is home to old-growth redwood trees, some of which are over two thousand years old. The San Lorenzo River runs into and through the park. So does a rail line. The park has camp grounds and picnic areas. We started our visit with a picnic lunch before hiking in to a beach deep in the park.
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| A happy sign and a less happy sign |
The river is fed by rainwater in the area. The winters are usually wetter. In December 1981 a big storm came and flooded the area. No one died in the flood but twenty people died in mudslides caused by that same storm. The park was mostly submerged.
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| Glad we didn't come in 1982 |
The picnic area has some natural fencing along with amenities that would probably survive a flood.
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| Fenced-off parking |
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| Grill for roasting big slabs of meat? |
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| A sink |
We walked over to the visitor center. On the way, we saw our first sign of the local inhabitants.
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| Walking in woods |
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| This made us SCATter |
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| The nature center |
The center has the typical items: a scale model of the park, some taxidermied locals, skulls, etc.
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| We started on the far left |
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| Big cat |
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| Skulls of critters |
We started our hike through the old-growth redwoods, seeing some amazing trees that are over two hundred feet tall.
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| Three trees in one |
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| A fallen tree |
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| A massive trunk |
Many of the trees are large enough to provide shelter to us smaller humans. Sometimes a group of trees grew together. Other times, fire hollowed out the center of the tree to provide room inside!
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| An entrance |
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| Peekaboo! |
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| Could be used as a table if we were ten feet tall |
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| Another shelter |
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| A bumpy tree |
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| Standing in a stump |
We went inside one tree. Our group was ten and we all fit comfortably inside, though it was dark. This particular tree was used as a home with a wooden floor and a stove. The creature comforts were removed over the years.
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| Looking up a tree from inside |
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| The floor |
Other trees provide nice tunnels to crawl through.
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| Which one to go in? |
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| Coming out of a tree |
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| Yet another shelter |
Our hike took us to the Garden of Eden beach on the San Lorenzo, but we still had a ways to go. We came to a train bridge that has a pedestrian crossing below.
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| Sighting the train bridge |
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| A simple pedestrian bridge |
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| Better view of the bridge |
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| Walking along the train tracks |
We saw a grove of trees that probably all grew out of the root system of a central tree--a nature-made fort!
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| Intelligent design? |
Our path went along the tracks. Eventually a train came along so we waved to the passengers.
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| Walking on the trainbed |
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| The river below |
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| Train coming! |
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| Expensive, covered seating |
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| Cheaper open seating! |
We made it to the trailhead leading down to the beach where we had a good time in the water.
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| Climbing down |
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| People already here! |
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| More of the beach and river |
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| The other side of the river |
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| Daughter and son in the water |
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| More of the same |
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| Working together |
One of the low cliffs provided a spot to jump off into the water. None of our family did this. Plenty of other teenagers did.
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| Flying woman! |
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| King of the mountain |
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| A beach just down stream |
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| Swimming to the other beach |
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| More fun at the beach |
After an hour or two of fun, we headed back through the redwoods, seeing some man-made shelters along with the natural shelters.
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| Stick piles? |
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| More of the same |
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| Another open door |
Occasional clearings have smaller growth.
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| A break from the trees |
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| Admiring 200+ footers |
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| Trees growing on trees! |
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| Another benefactor of the park |
The visit was amazing!
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