Cowell Redwoods State Park

On By nationalparkswithtIn USA
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San Francisco Bay Area➢

In October of 2025, I flew to the San Francisco Bay Area for a long weekend to visit my cousin, who had been battling a serious illness. Her partner had spent the past two years balancing work with full-time caregiving, so we made a point of getting out for a few day trips while also spending time at my cousin’s bedside. We had originally planned to visit several National Park Service sites, but a federal government shutdown began the day I arrived, closing them all. Fortunately, California’s outstanding state park system gave us plenty to explore instead. Over the next few days, we visited towering redwoods, coastal beaches, historic sites, wildlife sanctuaries, and scenic reservoirs, proving that even with unexpected changes, the Bay Area offers no shortage of memorable places to discover.

In my rented Prius, I visited Portola Redwoods, Natural Bridges, Cowell Redwoods, Old St. Hilary’s Historic Preserve, Burlingame Shorebird Sanctuary, Lafayette Reservoir, and San Juan Bautista State Historic Park. Though I’ve visited the area many times over the years, these were all new parks for me.

Cowell Redwoods➢

After our morning at Natural Bridges, we drove to Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park in Felton. Once again, our GPS gave us some trouble, and we had a little difficulty finding the park entrance. Once we got there, we headed to the visitor center, which turned out to be one of the more extensive visitor centers we visited on this trip. The exhibits covered both the natural environment and the history of the park and explained how the area came to be protected.

The preservation of the redwood grove has a long history. In the late 1800s, Joseph Welch, a local lawyer and preservationist, recognized the value of the old-growth trees and worked to protect them. He helped save what became known as the Fremont Tree, named for John C. Frémont, who reportedly camped beneath it in 1846. Later, AP Hill and Josephine McCrackin continued the effort to protect the grove as logging threatened the remaining redwoods.

When private efforts were not enough, Santa Cruz County stepped in and purchased part of the grove in 1900, creating one of the earliest publicly protected redwood areas in the region. The property eventually became part of Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park after Henry Cowell’s family donated additional land to the state in 1954. Today, the protected grove allows visitors to experience a section of the old-growth forest that might otherwise have been lost to logging.

Before we started the Redwood Grove Loop Trail, a ranger pointed out a family of banana slugs just outside the trail entrance. It was a fun introduction to the forest and a reminder to look closely at what was happening on the forest floor as well as above us.

The Redwood Grove Loop Trail is an easy, mostly flat 0.8-mile walk through a grove of towering old-growth coast redwoods. We enjoyed the peaceful walk beneath the trees and found the experience much quieter than our visit to Muir Woods. The trail was short enough to explore without rushing, giving us plenty of time to stop for photos and take in the enormous trees around us. After spending some time in the redwood grove, we continued our Bay Area road trip.

Bay Area Posts➢

Location: 101 Big Trees Park Road, Felton, California
Designation: State Park
Date designated/established: August 18, 1954
Date of my visit: October 3, 2020

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