Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park Campground

We loved the trails through the woods. We saw the iconic banana slugs and all went into the hollowed out trees. Definitely worth spending a few hours just exploring. Great for kids and adults.

Amazing 

This is an awesome spot to camp with your family. Hiking and biking trails, nature walks, showers, flush toilets, it has it all for the not so campy campers. I make a point to camp here at least one time a year on a Fall surf trip to Santa Cruz.

Family Camp Galore

Plenty of space, good hiking, sandy

This is a nice campground in a great part of California with lots of hiking and beaches nearby. The bathrooms were clean and well kept. My only critique would be that the sites are pretty small and  very close together. We were in site #66 and the adjacent sites were very close.   

Nice Campground

This park is just outside of Santa Cruz about 15 minutes or so in Felton.  It is pretty and the sites are private.  There are very hot showers for and a buck of quarters gets you 5 minutes.  The park has a bit of a yellow jacket problem that they dont really seem too concerned about addressing.  Yellowjackets on trails, in campsites and near bathrooms.  5 in our group got stung and there was a massive nest in site 41.

Redwoods and Santa Cruz

Great private campsites and amazing hiking.  Dont get confused, the campground is 3 miles away from the visitor center and some of the other hikes.  Weird!  Super warm hot showers, more shower stalls than toilets, so weird.  And tons of yellow jackets and bees.  Got stung real nice on the leg and pretty much so did everyone else.  Including our friends who pitched their tent basically on top of a ground hive!

Bee Cowell!

We stayed here while visiting family in Felton, we are from Michigan.  Was such a awesome place to camp.  Clean, and quite.  Plenty of hiking trails. Hike into the redwoods or go a few miles down the road and take a ride on the Roaring Camp Big Trees Railroad.  

Beautiful Camp Ground.  

We stayed here for a night and thought that it was a clean campground. Our site was on the smaller side, but it accommodated us all. There were a few trails that started from the campground, which was nice.

Nice campground with plenty of hiking

This campground has large open sites for tent camping. It was covered in trees and had some options for better more private spots, but sadly the campground was almost to capacity when we went. The options for tent camping was limited. I know for our next visit to reserve ahead of time, and to request cliff side tent camps. Cliff side tent camps are separate and have full vista views.

Large open campsites 

An inexpensive way to stay &amp; vacation in Santa Cruz.

Many ways to explore nature (Hiking, Biking, Train Ride through redwoods down to the ocean &amp; beach, camping, leisure easy walk through old growth redwood trees, zip line through the redwoods - just down the road, etc)

Short beautiful drives &amp; motorcycle rides, in the Santa Cruz Mountains &amp; to San Francisco &amp; Monterey/Carmel/Big Sur - only a few hours away in either direction

Dog friendly

Kid friendly

Great Surfing Areas nearby (learn to surf at Cowell’s Beach - a great long board &amp; beginners spot)

Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk (free concerts on Main Beach in the summer months)

Santa Cruz has a huge selection of super awesome food &amp; restaurant choices!!! Brekkie, Brunch, Lunch, Dinner, Ice Cream, Candy. Unbelievable food!

If I missed something, just ask. Although, I don’t live there now. I grew up there &amp; lived there for 30 years. When I go back to visit, I camp at Henry Cowell.

A Hidden Gem in the 💜 of the wise old redwoods...

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

Trails are nice but...

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! 

Cute, cozy, close to stuff! 

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

Looking for Redwoods?

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!

Great RV spot!

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.

Excellent campground w/ access to stunning trails!

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. 

Beautiful & Clean! 

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.

Great park!

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. 

Really Nice Campsite!

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. 

First camping trip

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. 

Beautiful Spot Outside of Santa Cruz

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

Sky views are astounding 

It never goes wrong with henry cowell campground.

Birthday weekend 

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.

Nice place

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. 

Chilly but huge sites

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

Majestic campground in the Santa Cruz mountains

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.

Nice Campground 

Nice Campground, very close to South Bay. 

Site 39 is spacious but with limited privacy.

Nice campground close to city

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.