Camping & Hiking at Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park
I felt deep regret after hearing the local radio show hosts announce a few weeks ago that summer was officially over – we hadn’t gone camping once this entire summer. I guess we got caught up with all the busyness… but luckily in the Bay Area, even when summer is over that doesn’t mean the camping season is over too. I frantically scoured the Internet for available dog friendly campsites and was able to snag a last-minute reservation at Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park for this past Friday night, as well as at Fremont Peak State Park for late-October. What a relief!
We’ve been to Henry Cowell SP multiple times before to hike, but this past weekend was our first time camping there. It did not disappoint – we’ll definitely keep this one in our dog friendly campground rotation. With an early start to the weekend, we beat traffic and arrived at our campsite #51 in the mid-afternoon after a short 30-min drive from San Jose. We were one of a few who set up a tent at our campsite – the majority had RVs or trailers. Our campsite was well-maintained, spacious, shaded by lots of trees, a convenient 2-min walk to clean bathrooms, and only a 5-min walk away from the start of a 6.4 mile out-and-back hike from the campground to the opposite corner of the park.
The hike was peaceful and relatively empty on a Friday afternoon – we only passed by five small groups of fellow hikers on the main Pipeline Road, of which only two also had a dog with them. We saw all sorts of wildlife on this hike: wild turkeys, banana slugs, woodpeckers, lizards, and squirrels. Plus, we heard lots of people cooling down in the river near the main entrance, but sadly couldn’t join since the trail markers clearly indicated that Kona was not allowed inside that area. Overall, it took us ~2.5 hours of leisurely hiking to complete this 6.4 mile route. By the time we got back to our campsite, it was already dark and we were too tired to fire up our camping stove to cook dinner – luckily Henry Cowell SP is only a short 5-min drive to Felton or Scotts Valley.
The rest of the night consisted of us picking up take-out from Sushi San and eating their sushi rolls back at the picnic table at our campsite. We admittedly weren’t expecting much from a sushi restaurant in a small town like Felton, but were very pleasantly surprised by their reasonable prices, quality fish, and unique flavors. The Lompico Roll (unagi, hamachi, avocado, lemon, green onion, macadamia nut) was not only absolutely delicious, but a steal at only $9.95 – it’s impossible to find that price point for sushi rolls in the rest of the Bay Area!
