Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park Loop Hike

Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park consists of two units near the town of Felton. Many people are familiar with the 40 acre old-growth redwood grove near the main entrance to the southern unit of this park. As my De Anza College class discovered yesterday, there is far more to this ecologically diverse park than that little grove.

After carpooling from Los Gatos we met at the main parking lot in front of the store. From there we walked the western half of the Redwood Grove Loop Trail, which was saved by Joseph Welch as part of his nineteenth century resort.  After some of our group crawled into the hollowed out Fremont Tree we left the grove and headed toward the Pipeline Road. We stopped to examine a rare albino redwood.

We continued south on the Pipeline Trail, through groves of second-growth redwoods and then headed uphill on the Eagle Trail. We took a short side trip to examine a gnarly old-growth redwood and a beautiful display of fragrant azaleas. As we climbed higher we left the redwoods behind and entered the unusual sand hill ecology, with many flowering plants, knob cone pines, and ponderosa pines. We saw great numbers of sticky monkey flowers and bush poppies. This unique ecosystem is the result of sand that settled in shallow seas 12 million years ago and then being uplifted. There are several species of plants, including a species of manzanita that only grows in this environment.

From the Eagle Trail we turned right on the Pine Trail, which took us to our lunch stop at picnic tables atop a large concrete cube at the highest point on the hike. We gained about 500 feet from where we started. We enjoyed views of the surrounding mountains, a glimpse of Monterey Bay, and the antics of several acorn woodpeckers on a dead ponderosa pine.

After lunch we headed downhill on the Ridge Fire Road,  which reenters the second-growth redwood forest. We crossed the Pipeline Trail and continued west and turned right on the Rincon Fire Road. From there we turned left on the River Trail, which took us along the beautiful San Lorenzo River. After intersecting the Pipeline Trail we continued back to the Big Trees Grove and then walked the eastern half of the Redwood Grove Loop Trail, where we enjoyed the sight of many magnificent old-growth trees.

After returning to the parking lot most of the group joined me for a short excursion just beyond the park boundary to the property of the Roaring Camp & Big Trees Railroad. In addition to watching the old steam train pass by we examined an old steam donkey, which used a one-piston engine to pull heavy logs by pulling a steel cable around a spool

. We also saw the remains of an old nineteenth century sawmill.

TO GET THERE... The main entrance is just south of Felton on Highway 9. There is an entrance fee.