Santa Cruz County Parks & Recreation Articles

Kids biking to school, seniors running errands, and fun-seekers headed to West Cliff, Natural Bridges or Wilder Ranch are loving the safety and convenience of this community resource.

Discover what's still blooming in the heat of summer.

A large group of volunteers showed up to the Santa Cruz County Fairgrounds on Aug. 9 to help bring the Paddy Smith Park back to life.

Santa Cruz humorist Sven Davis is driving our clown car this morning, the other clowns being Laurence Bedford, Sleepy John Sandidge and me. We stop at the entrance kiosk to the world-famous Henry Cowell Old Redwood Grove Park in Felton …

It was 17 years ago that a group of volunteers began to restore the Rancho San Andreas Castro Adobe, a structure whose endurance over its 176-year lifespan helps paint a picture of California history.

A community project helped spruce up Hazelwood Park Mural on July 27 as part of the ongoing Watsonville Community Mural Paint Day.

The town of Boulder Creek knows how to keep their populace and surrounding areas engaged with events. Whether it’s the 4th of July Parade down Central Avenue, trick-or-treating with local businesses or lighting the Christmas tree in the middle of …

By walking you are not going to meet yourself. By walking, you escape from the very idea of identity, the temptation to be someone, to have a name and a history. —Friedrich Nietzsche

At dawn, at Roaring Camp, up yonder in the mountains of Felton, the foggy mist swirls around the wooden railroad tracks and vintage trains. The fabricated Old West town arises like a ghost, catching glints of a new day, making …

This innovative equity program offers transportation funding for State Park visits to low-income students, providing access to nature and learning.

Nate Bradley and his dog, Raider, stand outside a store in Capitola. An off-leash dog area could be added to Noble Gulch Park. (Tyler Maldonado — Santa Cruz Local)
CAPITOLA >> The Capitola City Council on Thursday advanced a plan …

If we had not gotten lost, we would have never found ourselves looking down on Aptos High School from the mountain above. Seeing the sprawling school from the mountain side made me understand what a huge pillar of this community …

Swimming holes and beach-swims near Santa Cruz that let you work in some exercise.

How paying parking fees at state parks, beaches makes a bigger difference than most people think.

An old guy and a young guy are playing golf, teeing off on a dogleg that angles around a grove of tall trees blocking the fairway. The old guy hits a 2 iron safely out in the grass. The young …

Miles of empty beach in either direction.

The Fourth of July has long been a time of celebration in Santa Cruz County, a height-of-summer fete that draws hordes of people to local beaches to indulge in picnics, swim in the ocean and soak up the sun.

Wilder Ranch State Park is named after dairyman Delos D. Wilder, but just the word “wilder” as an adjective works for me. Henry David Thoreau nailed it with In Wildness Is the Preservation of the World.

Volunteers of the global nonprofit Dr. Shri. Nanasaheb Dharmadhikari Pratishthan completed a conservation drive at Castle Rock State Park, located along Skyline Boulevard, on June 22.

Property will be closed to public access through May 1, 2025 to selectively harvest trees and maintain forest health.