Redwoods May 12

 May 12, 2021, Tuesday Day 8 Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park

I again went swimming in the morning. This time there was a Russian family in the pool. In the beginning the two kids who were playing around and doing kids stuff in the pool stayed out of my way as I did laps on one side of the pool. Later they expanded their area of play and began to interfere with my laps. It took a bit of gesturing, but their dad finally corrected the issue.

As I exited the pool I saw my spouse and step-daughter walking to the car for the drive to Watsonville. Suddenly my wife fell over. Her knee had given way.  That put a damper of the proceedings. 

I helped her back into the room while the step-daughter drove off to Watsonville for her second vaccine shot. When she retuned about 1:00 we left the resort at about 1:00 headed for the Henry Cowells Redwood State Park with only a few electric miles. I got lost on the way there as I was directed to the Park campgrounds. After a few U-turns I got back on the correct route. We passed through the small town of Felton, about 6500 population, before arriving at the park entrance and the visitor center. 

There is a small, modern Visitor Center with some information, state Park Rangers and a large gift shop. In light of her knee injury we left my wife at a picnic table under a grove of Ponderosa pines to work on her writings and headed into the Park on "the Loop". At the entrance to the Loop there were the three known types of Redwood trees, the Coastal Redwood, the tallest, the Giant Sequoia, the biggest in volume and the Dawn Redwood, the most foliage. The main park covers 1,750 acres, has 15 miles of easy hiking trails and comprises old growth, virgin Redwoods, which are 1400 to 1800 years old, which grow to a height of 300 ft and 16 feet in diameter. The Loop is a self guided walking tour. There were few visitors and we encountered a docent, Edgar, who was eager, to give us essentially a private tour. 

Edgar spun a Park origin tale based on greed, spousal pressure, fear and paranoia, obnoxious and interesting behavior and finally philanthropy, leading to unforeseen consequences. The land was part of three large Mexican land grants, rancheros. As Europeans came into the area they began cutting the redwoods. William Welch purchased that area we were walking through with the intent to log the area to feed his lumber mill. However  his wife objected, so he established a hotel and restaurant, The Big Tree Grove Resort, which attracted, among others, Presidents Benjamin Harrison and Theodore Roosevelt.  Roosevelt hung out with John Muir and once took off with him on an overnight hike without the Secret Service. In 1899 a photographer, Andrew Hill was taking pictures in the grove. Welch confronted him, angered that someone else might be making money off "his" trees, and demanded Hill's negatives. This angered Hill, who appealed to his friend. William Jeter who happened to be the California Lieutenant Governor, and a power in Santa Cruz politics to make these trees accessible to all. They could not get Welch's land, but, in 1902 the California Redwoods Park in Big Basin was created through an act of the California legislature. It consisted on 3800 acres containing a old growth forest and was the first California state park. This is just north of Henry Cowell Park. In 2020 the CZU Lightning Fire Complex roared through Big Basin and it is now closed.

Meanwhile, in 1865 Henry Cowell a local industrialist who owned a quarry and limestone business in adjacent to Welch's property. This business supplied stone and wood for many of the buildings in San Francisco. It required lots of fuel for the kilns to produce the lime from the limestone for use in concrete. So he cut down and burned redwood trees. His business made him very wealthy. By 1886 he was the wealthiest man in Santa Cruz County.

He had 6 children, many of whom led tragic lives. One son died at age one. A daughter died in a buggy accident on the ranch. The two remaining sisters were so devastated by the death of their sister that they never again set foot on the ranch and lived out their lives as recluses. Cowell believed that would be spouses for his children were only after the family money. When one son married against his father's wishes, he was disowned, until quickly divorced. As a result none of the other children married and there were no grandchildren. 

When Welch died in 1930, he wanted to leave the land to the county, with the condition that it become a park The county initially declined, but under pressure from Jeter, still a political heavyweight, it relented. In 1954, Samuel Cowell, then 90 and the last of the Cowells since there were no grandchildren, approached the state offered his land, now covered with second growth redwoods, to the state if: 1) it created a park; 2) merged the park with the county park and 3) named the park after his father. The state agreed and the county was more than happy to relieve itself of a money draining, nonrevenue producing property. As a result The Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park was created in August 1954 and was named for a man who cut down lots of redwoods for burning while the man who preserved the redwoods received no recognition.

P.S. in 1973 Herbert Mullin killed four campers in the park.

The Loop was a very pretty walk. Lots of very big trees.  Although the second growth trees are big, it was easy to see their difference from the old growth forest. It felt as if I was walking in a cathedral. The forest smelled wonderful. There was a tree plaque for Welch, a Roosevelt tree and a tree with a large cave that once served as a bedroom.

The Roaring Camp and Big Trees Narrow Gauge railroad is a tourist activity while is adjacent to the park. But not connected with it. It runs steam powered trains down to Santa Cruz. We saw and heard the train pass by while we were in the park.

After leaving the Park we stopped in Felton at the Felton Covered Bridge Park. The roof was very tall.

Before returning to the Inn we stopped for a drink and snacks in Santa Cruz. Upon returning to the Inn i was dismayed to find that another EV was occupying the one working charging station. I was finally able to plug in around 11 pm and charged overnight. We had dinner at the Sunset Restaurant. Great views while watching the sunset. Food and wine were very good and pricy, even with my discounted drinks and appetizer.