I’m finally going to get around to checking out Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park, which has two sections in the woods near Felton in the Santa Cruz Mountains. I’ve been to Cowell’s Fall Creek Unit a couple times (hikes here and here | Flickr pix here.) but haven’t gotten to the park’s main unit.

Lots of of folks have posted Cowell-related linkage:

• BAHiker.com has Cowell covered.
• Redwood Hikes has great pictures and trail suggestions. (This is a great Web site; buy their maps and help ’em keep it up.)
• Virtual Parks has great maps (though you’d be well advised to just buy the same maps at the park because they’re too huge for squeezing onto standard printer paper).
• State of California’s Henry Cowell page.
• Santa Cruz State Parks page notes the Zayante Indians once lived there.
• Kevin Gong and his friends went splashing through the San Lorenzo River a few years back.
• Mountain Parks Foundation lists activities (such as: Guided Tours of the Ancient Redwood Grove, 2 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays).
• Wikipedia also has it covered. Trivia: The highest points are far enough above sea level to support fairly unique chaparral communities known as “elfin forests”.
• Flickr pix, 1,419 tagged to date. (The place is pretty in winter).
• Yelp reviews give the down and dirty. Favorite quote: “i don’t know about you, but i absolutely cannot camp without beer. i need to be drunk enough to psyche myself out into peeing into bushes, sleeping outdoors, dealing with spiders and spending concentrated amounts of time with nature.” Seems the rules about no alcohol in the campgrounds are strictly enforced.

Looks like the main attraction in the summer is wading/swimming in the San Lorenzo River. Or, in my case, falling in. Should be interesting.

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