Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park
Directions: From Highway 17 in Santa Clara County, drive southwest towards Santa Cruz. At Scotts Valley take Mount Hermon Road driving northwest for about 3.5 miles. When Mount Hermon Road ends at Graham Hill Road, turn right. After just 0.1 mile, Graham Hill Road ends at a traffic light where you will turn right onto Highway 9. Drive about a half mile on Highway 9 and turn left into the main entrance.
Parking Fee: $6.00/car
Facilities: Restrooms are available along with a nice gift shop
Park Website: http://www.parks.ca.gov/default.asp?page_id=546
That’s the little gift shop
There is plenty of Parking at Henry Cowell
Starting off into the redwoods, kind of like Muir Woods
Looking up into the towering trees
Looking into the cave at the base of one of these redwood giants
Hiking through the woods
Heading up the Pine Trail
This sandy trail use to be ocean floor
That sewer cover
Further along the Pine Trail
The distances don’t look so bad ...
Up on the Observation Deck
One view out from the Observation Deck
Putting boots back on after forging the river
I’m still out in the water, it felt to good!
Trekking along the Buckeye Trail
Campers along the San Lorenzo River
Sitting under the toes of a giant!
More hiking through redwoods
What’s this doing there?
Continuing on ...
Buzzing through the gate!
Heading down the trail...
... And trying to catch up to end the hike!
On Saturday, 14-July-2007, I joined up with the Stanford Outing Club for a group hike at Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park.
The trail route: Redwood Loop Trail -> River Trail -> Eagle Creek Trail -> Pine Trail -> Observation Deck -> Pine Trail -> Powder Mill Fire Road -> Buckeye Trail -> Big Rock Hole Trail -> Rincon Fire Road -> River Trail - end.
GPS Stats
Distance hiked: 9.3 miles
Total ascent: 2000 ft
Trailhead Elevation: 268 ft
Max Elevation: 800 ft
Moving time: 3 hrs 02 min
Moving Average: 3.1 mph
Overall average: 1.2 mph
Time stopped: 4 hrs 30 min
Personal stats
Dates Hiked:
14-Jul-2007
Start time: ~ 10:00 AM
Weather: Clear and sunny. Temperatures were in the low 80’s for the hike.
Water consumed: 3.0 liters
plus 600 ml Gatorade
Finish time: ~ 5:30 PM
Total time: ~ 7.5 hours
Beauty: The lush redwood forests are certainly majestic. This hike went through the redwoods, across the a river and through open chaparral and brush.
Wildlife seen: Just some birds and the occasional lizard.
Difficulty: This hike was a moderate one for me and should be fine for anyone who is not a couch potato or suffering from heart disease. There were a couple of spots though that were tougher and climbing 2000 feet over the hike is still a good workout. And some of the stream crossings were tricky as maneuvering through the underwater rocks without stubbing a toe or tripping was a task.
National Geographic TOPO! software website:
Listed at nearly 1800 acres, Henry Cowell is not particularly a very big park. For the first time visitor like me though, it seems larger and it is not hard to spend an entire day roaming it. That is exactly what I did in this group hike with the Stanford Outing Club.
The organizer and leader for this hike was Julio and this was the first time I have joined in on one of his hikes. There were 19 of us altogether for this hike and Julio lead us on an enjoyable adventure of trail blazing and multiple river crossings (4 in all). I’m only in my second year of hiking now and until this hike, I have never had to forge across a real flowing river.
Well, OK, the San Lorenzo River is at a low point and it never quite reached my knees but I still had to take my boots and socks off to cross it. But after hiking up and down hills on a warm day and on some rather dusty trails where the dust was really flying, getting my feet wet in a cool river was just the ticket. I might add that it did much to further create that sense of adventure!
This hike also offered some other surprises as well as at one point, we passed one of those iron sewer covers on the trail, you know, like the ones you see embedded in city streets. And I was surprised that while hiking up the Pine Trail to the Observation Deck, we hiked over sections of trail covered in sand just like you might find down on the beach at Santa Cruz. I immediately thought that trail maintenance volunteers must have hauled that sand up there and spread it out on the trail. That sure would have been a lot of back-breaking work if someone had done that. Turns out actually, that the sand is there because that area had been sea floor once upon a time in the distant past. Pretty cool!
The hike also offered some nice views of the surrounding area from the observation deck. And when you got back to park headquarters they have a really nice little store where you can purchase Henry Cowell tee shirts and mementos to help you remember your visit. And a portion of the money you spend there goes to help maintain the park, something I really like! Soooo, what are you waiting for? If you live in the Bay Area and you haven’t been to Henry Cowell, get off the couch and go! And now as my hiking hero Tom Mangan would say, let’s look at the pictures.
