Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park Campground

This is a gorgeous campground! It's big and it's busy, but the sites are mostly very private and lush and green. Each site has a different configuration, but this place books up fast, so you have to look at photos online and the dimensions of the site and hope it works out.

We were a little worried when we arrived in our 26ft class c, we worried that we wouldn't make it through the narrow roads and overhanging trees, but we were ok. Not sure that this place would be good for giant rigs though. Getting into our spot was a bit tricky, and when coming out a ranger truck was blocking our road (he was cleaning the bathrooms, I believe), which made leaving very tricky as well.

There are beautiful hiking trails all over this campground, but there is so much poison oak - everywhere. All over the camp sites, trails to the bathroom, hiking trails, etc, it was everywhere.

Showers and toilets looked clean, showers are coin operated, $0.50 for 2 min.

If you arrive before checkin they will have you wait at the day use area several miles away - heads up.

Worth returning campground!

Beautiful trails nearby. 

One of the hot shower in male restroom wasn’t working on the day we were there. Partner ended up wasting a few quarters for a cold shower.

Nice Campground, very close to South Bay. 

Site 39 is spacious but with limited privacy.

Nice campground, spots separated by a lot of trees. It was possible to check in late for one night $35. The available spots were listed at the entrance.

Really Nice place. Clean bathrooms, took my fiancé camping here for our first time. Really enjoyable space. Safe. Family friendly. Beautiful location. Cold!

Huge sites and very quiet. Downside is it is very shaded. Our two solar panels could barely keep our two batteries at half capacity. 5 mins from Roaring camp make a fun place to be. The visitors center is on the other side of the park, as is the San Lorenzo river. At present the river is very low and looks dank. The climate right now is chilly, wet and misty/overcast. The bathrooms are older but clean. It’s a quiet campground.

Also, no dump station. The nearest place is in Scotts Valley but it was closed on Sunday. After that the nearest station is New Brighton Beach, 30 mins away.

Foggy in the morning this time of year, warms up about noon. Dogs allowed, but can’t bring them into bathrooms. Flush toilets and coin showers, I think about 1 quarter per minute. No trails for dogs to walk on, but you can walk them around the campground or go for a short drive down the road to find a dog friendly trail. Lots of oak trees and scrub pines. Campsites are dirt with bear bins, picnic tables, and fire pits. Lots of poison oak and poison ivy. Also, if your dog likes to eat acorns, note that they can be toxic to dogs. There are acorns all over the place this time of year, and my dog ate a few of them. She didn't get sick, thankfully.

My girlfriend and I stopped here for a night on our norcal trip and we are already planning our return. The spots are huge and equipped with running water (i don’t know that i would drink it but works for cleaning a pan), a picnic table, fire pit, and food storage locker. Our spot had a small back area nusseled in between some trees that gave us plenty of privacy and allowed us to wake up looking straight up at the treetops and watching the birds playing in the trees. Would 100% return without a doubt

Went for a quick walk after arriving and it turned out to be this amazing quiet redwood forest at sunset. Lots of families and bathrooms. Good tmobile service

    GF and I stumbled across this campground and decided on a last minute trip to unwind from life's stresses. It's a gorgeous camp ground with flush toilets, $.25 showers, and tons of trails. It's not super secluded but how many campgrounds are within 5 minutes of good pizza and places to grab a cocktail? And a ton of gorgeous hikes all over the place.

It never goes wrong with henry cowell campground.

This park is recovering well from the recent fires there are trails of all levels I suggest that yes that you heat the level posted as they are not a lie

There were a lot of walking trails from the campground. Cell phone reception was very bad. Bathrooms were clean but no soap, looked like each campsite had trees to hang a hammock.

Beautiful camp grounds with huge old trees. The staff are great and the area is well kept. It stays cool under the enormous trees all year round. The showers are $1 for 4 mins quarters only and there is no change machine this being the only down fall. So other then the showers everything else is amazing.

Most of the sites are large, with the sites around the loops perimeters are more private. The sites on the inside of the loops not so much. Lot's of posion oak. Lot's of hikes, most are not dog friendly. Restrooms are very clean. Cheaper firewood available in Felton.

This is a lovely campground in Henry Cowell Redwood Park. Sites have varying degrees of sun/shade, picnic tables, fire rings, and best boxes. Bathrooms and showers y clean and conveniently located.

This was our first trip as a family (husband, wife, 2 boys-5/7) and my first forest camping. I couldn't of asked for a better location. Everything was clean and super safe. There are lots of notices about the poison oak but it was clear of our campsite. It was incredible sleeping in a tent outside in a forest. Santa Cruz is minutes away so we snuck a beach day in. The hiking and large Redwood trees made us so incredibly happy.

I recently went full time to road school my 6 year olds. We came here for a last minute shake down trip after many set backs with the RV.

Came with zero expectation. But gosh this place is magical!

The campsites were large. Could easily accommodate my 25’ RV and more. Unlike most rv parks where you’re stacked on top of each other. There is so much space and privacy. We even had friends come over in their campers or tents for an overnight visit. (8 people allowed per site)

The neighborhood vibes were incredible. The junior ranger activities were well loved by my daughter and me. And the campfire event on Saturday night was informative and well above expectation.

Definitely will be visiting more often.

Really nice campsite, and sites had ample trees and shade. Plus the ample trees within campsites is great for hammocks! Bathrooms were super clean and didn’t smell bad. Bear boxes were big and spacious. Nice short walking areas right from our site and we were also close to the observation point which we walked to one of the days. We had a really big group and had 3 sites but we were all able to gather around the fire pit of one site which was nice. Overall a really great spot and would totally go back!

I would just say watch out for the bees, I think yellow jackets, there were quite a few of them. Someone in our group even got stung on the toe.

Campgrounds were great! We had site 95 and I have to say that our 26 ft trailer plus our truck was a tight squeeze. There were bigger sites that would've suited us better but it was a nice little tucked in site. The poison oak is prolific. Our site was literally surrounded by it. But if you can stay out of that everything is clean, there are coin operated showers and firewood for sale, and despite popular belief, alcohol is allowed. We would definitely go back. The close proximity to santa cruz and other coastal towns make it such a great home base to go out exploring and I highly recommend checking out the Roaring Camp Railroad thatll take you through the redwoods and over to the Boardwalk.

We loved camping here with our 25ft camping trailer. There was plenty of room for it on site 105, however if it was any higher it would be hitting tree limbs. Our site was private but easy to get to trails, showers, bathrooms. Etc. if you have littles the roads are paved so a scooter or bike could be fun.

We really enjoyed our stay at this campground. We reserved site #69 and found it to be very spacious and flat. We had plenty of room for our 10 person tent and still had room for a few more. However, not all of the campsites are like this. I recommend looking at campsite photos online to find a site that fits your needs before booking. The campgrounds were clean including the well-stocked bathrooms and coin-operated showers. There are plenty of conveniently-located water spigots as well as garbage/recycle bins. We didn’t have any issues with critters/insects during this trip. Please be aware that poison oak grows throughout the campground. While it didn’t get in our way, it’s probably worth mentioning. I loved that the campground had access to several beautiful trails. We decided to visit the Redwood grove. Absolutely stunning trail! We had so much fun pointing out the banana slugs and admiring the beautiful coastal redwoods. Would love to stay at Henry Cowell Redwoods in the future.

This is a great classic car camping site. Every site had a picnic table, fire pit and bear box. Sites had a variety of sizes and "styles". Some were very woodsy and some more open and sunny. Bathroom was clean and we liked that they sold firewood on site. Only 4 stars because the sites are pretty close together and a few had fairly sparse greenery separating you from others so we felt a little on display. We would be very happy to come back!

The beauty of the Redwoods never disappoint! I don't know why people are giving it such bad reviews. It's a great quiet spot. It had large spaces and was super easy to park my travel trailer.

You should visit soon!

Only positive is the view of the region as this camp is located on the top of a hill.

Campground is nice, with private sites tucked into the trees. Facilities were clean and decent. Great hiking trails in the area.

If your looking for redwoods, this is a great stop. Beautiful hikes with great views. Near downtown Santa Cruz and Felton.

Awesome spot! We only stayed a night and didn’t get to explore the trails but plan to visit again in the future

The site we picked (33) was adorable. Lots of trees and shade, picnic table, and fire pit. The neighboring campsites were close so we could see and hear our back and side neighbors. The reception staff was nice and campground host helped us get some firewood. Bathrooms were...not great. Weird back stall with a tiny door so if anyone is sitting there...they will see you and you will see them. 😬 Close to town (Target and Trader Joe’s only a 15 min drive away, the Mystery Spot even less). We had cell service at our site but not when we got to the main road. We would come back!

...there is poison oak everywhere you turn and the campsites are rather close to one another.