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Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park is a property of the State of California's State Parks Department. It is located in Santa Cruz County, primarily in the area in-between the cities of Santa Cruz, Felton, and Scotts Valley, and the University of California at Santa Cruz, though there is an extension in the Fall Creek area.
Geography
The main park is approximately 1,750 acres, and the fall creek extension is an additional 2,390 acres. In the numerous stream canyons live large populations of coast redwoods, giant sequoias, Douglas-firs, California bay laurels, and bigleaf maples. The highest points are far enough above sea level to support fairly unique chaparral communities known as "elfin forests." The majority of the rest of the park is made up of mixed evergreen populations, including more Douglas-firs, madrones, live oaks, and even the occasional Ponderosa pine, which is considered extremely rare at such low elevations. The old growth redwoods are located entirely in the main section of the park, as the Fall Creek area was logged extensively for fuel for lime kilns.
Features
Both portions of the park have much to offer vacationing families or nature enthusiasts.
Main park
There are over fifteen miles of hiking trails here, some of which lead to small, isolated sandy beaches on the San Lorenzo River. Additionally, there is the famous "Redwood Grove" of old-growth redwoods, the oldest trees in which are approximately 1400-1800 years old and grow to about 300 feet tall and 16 feet wide. In one location, all three types of redwoods, the coast redwood, the giant sequoia, and the dawn redwood (not native to the continent) are planted together for comparison. Campsites are available.
Fall Creek extension
The extension is graced with over twenty miles of hiking trails, mostly along the creeks. Here can be seen historic lime kilns, as well as the old sites of 19th century industrial structures related to the limestone quarrying and refining and logging industries.
History
The area that is now Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park was once inhabited by Zayante Indians. It was first colonized by the Spanish, but was partially logged by British and United States entrepreneurs. A significant number of buildings in San Fransisco were built with redwoods from the Santa Cruz area. Another major industry was limestone quarrying and processing, which was the business that attracted Henry Cowell to the area in 1865, where he purchased 6,500 acres of land, including 1,600 acres of forest.
It wasn't until the 1920's that the Welch family, owners of a large resort adjacent to Henry Cowell's holdings, raised support for the County of Santa Cruz to buy and preserve their pristine redwood lands, an action finally approved of, in large part thanks to the work of California Lieutenant Governor William Jeter, in 1930. Eventually Samuel Cowell, aged 90, last of the Cowell line, donated the rest of what is today the park to the state, but only under the condition that the County also give up its portion of the land to the State, so that it could all be managed together. Thus, Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park was officially created on August 18, 1954.
External links
Official Site (http://www.santacruzstateparks.org/parks/henrycowell/)
Park Map (http://virtualparks.org/pics/henry-cowell-v24.jpg)
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