> NOW PLAYING: Fireflies on the Porch

back in may, i planned on visiting a bunch of places near (or approximating near) home that mean a lot to me. here's the start (and maybe end, i dont know. i'm busy!) of that.

some background: henry cowell redwoods is a state park about half an hour from santa cruz. it's at the southern end of a long line of redwood forests along the california coastline. i've been a few times, but didn't stay very long. despite that, i'm very much in love with the area around it– driving along highway 17 can be either described as 'magical' or 'torturous', depending on the time of day and who you're asking. it's littered with towns in the midst of forested mountains— a specific kind of place i am very fond of.

prior to the 1700s, modern-day henry cowell was primarily inhabited by the sayant tribelet, alternatively spelt as sayante or sayanta. they are a part of the awaswas language group and the greater ohlone indigenous cultural group, who lived along the california coastline. the late 1700s brought spanish colonisation and the land would proceed to change hands from spain to mexico to the US, though very little of it would ever be returned to the original residents. colonisation led to the genocide of indigenous peoples across the north american continent, but they live on to this day. here are some web pages about the indigenous peoples of modern-day santa cruz.

The Sayant and Achistaca
The Ohlone People of Santa Cruz County
Quail Hollow Ranch: A History
Amah Mutsun Tribal Band
Tribal Band Reclaims Land Stewardship

in the 1800s, different areas of the park were used for three different ranches– rancho rincon, carbonera, and zayante. it's been used for gold-mining, logging, papermilling, gunpowder and lime production… later in the 1860s, a section of it was bought by the welch family and advertised as a tourist destination, gaining enough attention that two U.S. presidents visited. the destination was eventually sold to the county to become a park. the other section of the park was owned by the cowell family, though 24 years after the sale of the welch's property, the last remaining member of the cowell family gave a section of the property to the state to commemorate his father, henry cowell. he got the county to change ownership of the welch property too, and thus henry cowell redwoods was created.

i looked at two different hikes to take at henry cowell – either the one mile observation deck hike, or the three mile lime kiln hike. i'm by no means an experienced hiker, let me be clear. i'm an unathletic youth with a sickly demeanor and chronic pain, and as much as i would like to conquer the santa cruz mountains, i'm not quite there yet. in the end i decided that the observation deck was too short of a hike to be worth driving out for.

i printed out a copy of the park map and highlighted the trail i was meant to take. i wanted to really immerse myself in the redwoods, so i decided against bringing headphones and essentially shut my phone off for the walk. i got to henry cowell just after 5 pm.

there's a dip to get to the main body of the trail. it goes from this big, open parking lot straight onto gravel and then to dirt, which gets progressively thinner and harder to navigate along the way. a lot of times i think of forests as less thick than they truly are, though that may be attributed to the forests i'm more accustomed to, those being the 'forests' of urban parks and high-elevation winter-time. the santa cruz redwoods are green, busy, and alive. it's a nice change of pace.

i take pictures of almost all the bridges i come across. there's something inexplicable about them.

half of the time i was in the woods i was accompanied by fall creek. there's a creek up near a place i visited a lot when i was younger that i still visit on occasion now. two years or so back i spent the better half of an hour splashing around in it and telling the two most important people to me at the time about it. i walked through it to get back to my car this year. it lost some of its charm.

once you cross fall creek to turn onto the south fork trail, the trail really does start to narrow.

to the kilns:
shouldve brought bug spray, hope i can get back before sundown. lots of rocks and sticks to trip on. its pretty up here. need to get my mind off writing this blog. its cool to see people along the way :-) LOTS of bugs fuck me

i started along the trail pretty late and the light was gradually petering out, and i could feel the bugs start to come out. the one thing i forgot did end up being bug spray, but i had lots of water and food.

there's a section of the trail where the ground builds up around it to build somewhat of a natural alleyway, which was seriously breathtaking in person, though once you get past that it's a steep incline up. i stopped midway through this to catch my breath, and progressed upwards...

sweaty and tired but very happy. it's pretty up here.

...to find the kilns. they were a lot bigger than i'd expected. unfortunately, i didn't grab any pictures of my own, but here's the placard.

the way back was just as long, though i ran into a lot less people. on the way in i met a lot of people on their way back, and i sort of wish i had the chance to stop and chat with them, or something. there were a surprising amount of families out for the evening time! i even saw some folks swimming in the creek at the very beginning. at the kilns themselves there was a pair of university students discussing some on-campus happenings, which was weird to overhear. i think i'm getting closer to okay with not going to UCSC, though.

the very end (or beginning) of the trail brings non-pine trees, and this big clearing with wide-open blue sky.

it slopes upwards, now, in a switchback pattern. it's getting near sunset, but the light is still strong enough to paint across the trail.

i turned back for one last look after i got to the top of the switchback. the picture i got doesn't capture the blue greens as well as i'd like it to.

i finished the hike around 6:30, the parking lot significantly emptier than when i'd last left it. i got in my car and made my way home.