Felton Covered Bridge County Park

The grounds are nice but the park is overrun with druggies and drunks leaving trash everywhere and harassing folks. On a really nice spring day, my wife decided to take a walk and put our son in the stroller and walk from our home in Mount Hermon to the Felton Farmers Market and enjoy some fresh air. She ended up with a group of 9 adult men (Scummy looking types) following her. She ran from the covered bridge area to HWY 9 and called me to pick them up so she wouldn’t have to walk back. She said «Never again»
If the scumbags ever get chased out of there it would be a nice place to be.

Cold Fresh air, breath taking view of the valley as the fog clearing up early morning. This is a nice play ground for kids & pets.
Few homeless sitting around & needs more clean up around the sidewalk.

If you want to go on a nice, short, tranquil stroll with your significant other or even by yourself then you’ll enjoy it here. Clean, and peaceful. Yes, some local homeless do tend to hang out here but they seem to stay to themselves. At least that’s the impression that I got. Had a nice walk here with my husband.

So disappointed! Homeless hanging out on the bridge and around it. We couldn’t even see or go on to the bridge. Not a safe place!

Hey homeless people drinking and smoking today within the covered bridge itself. I will call the sheriff on you every single time. That crud does not belong at the park. Same goes for the fellow too drunk to push his grocery cart full of shmutz.
There is a serious issue with the homeless thinking the park is the place for them to get their buzz on. Jerks.

This place used to be so sweet and fun, the play ground is WAYY better then when I was a kid, but homeless peopl camp out here or under the bridge or in the bushes or the parking lot, making it not as fun and gross to be at sometimes… I would recommend Skye park much more then this park which is sad since I grew up here :(

OK park with the kids. Modest playground has fun equipment and swings. Covered bridge is fun to explore. Several off-​leash dogs make lawn less than inviting. Scruffy dude sleeping on picnic table at 4pm. Large group of somewhat sketchy-​looking drinkers at far picnic table leave half the park stinking of cigarettes… overwhelmingly strong smell in parking lot, and wafts over to the playground at times. Overall a decent community park but unfortunately high sketch factor.

«I’m just trying to find the bridge… Has anybody seen the bridge?» — Led Zeppelin «The Crunge»
Covered Bridge Park (CBP) is a ±7-​acre that was built around the historically significant Felton Covered Bridge (FCB). The park doesn’t have a lot of amenities, but it (like much of the Santa Cruz area) does have a rather bad Local Outdoor Enthusiast (LOE) issue. The surrounding area is rife with them, and you can tell that there’s all sorts of other shady nonsense happening around you. The reviewers that think there isn’t a problem, are obviously not paying attention. Now that we’ve gotten that out of the way, here’s what the CBP has to offer:
–Adequate Playground, and Tot Lot
–Sand Volleyball court
–x2 Port-​O-​Potties, that are fairly clean, but not very well-​stocked.
–Picnic tables
–Decent-​sized grassy field
–I didn’t see any BBQ pits, but the Santa Cruz County Parks website says that it’s OK to Q it up; I guess it’s a BYOB type of situation.
–Fishing in the San Lorenzo River is allowed, with proper licensing.
–No street parking, but there’s a parking lot with thirty-​two spots available.
–The awesome FCB is the real and only reason that anybody should come here. The FCB was built in 1892 – 93 and is believed to be the tallest covered bridge in the country – at a whopping 35′. For 45 years it was the lone entry point into and out of Felton, before it was «retired» in 1937. It’s a CA Historical Landmark, and listed on the National Register of Historic places. It’s a wonderful piece of architecture, and should be admired.
If you take this park on it’s face with just the available facilities, and factor in the LOE issue then you’re probably looking at a 1 – 2 star park. However, the coolness and «must-​see» factor of the FCB throws a monkey wrench into that. So, using my gozintas, 1.5 plus 5… carry the one… divide by six… oh, screw it – 3-​stars! Now, to quote the the Godfather of Soul, James Brown: «Take ‘em to the Bridge!»

Wish people would quit whining about homeless & teenagers. There everywhere in the world. A part of life. Not really a lot crime there. A safe place place to enjoy the day. Read a review advising not to go there at night. It made no sense because the park is closed after sunset & you will be cited. At night your more likely to get a ticket than running on criminal or drug activities.

I hate giving this place one star — it’s beautiful, and my dog loves it here! Unfortunately, it’s also full of homeless people, some of whom are aggressive. It’s not a safe place anymore, IMHO. Very sad.

My wife insisted we check it out so we did. Glad we did, very old school and a blast back to the past. Not sure why they had to cover these things but a work of art and construction that’s for sure.

I photographed a bridal party here over the weekend. i like that you dont need a permit to photograph here. The covered bridge is really cool, and it connects one part of the park to another. I just wish the park was bigger!

I would not come here after dark, this place turns shady when the sun goes down. There is a lot of drug dealing happening at this park and across the street at the Safeway plaza.

Saw this on a road side attractions website and decided why not make a quick stop here on the way to Santa Cruz. It is worth it! Free parking which is great and around 3 minutes after the exit from the highway. Very easy to find the place.
I don’t know what kind of air I have been breathing but the air in Felton is FRESH! It was a little chilly. The park is nothing too special. There were a few pathways or trails in the park and seemed to be popular to locals with dogs and kids. A small creek was located to the left side. The playground right by the parking lot seemed like a hit. Some homeless people and some random people were walking through the park or hanging around the park at 9 in the morning!
Now the main attraction is the bridge within the park. The bridge is 80 feet long and has been restored back in the 80’s. It is amazing that this bridge was the entry point to Felton! Some neat details can be found in the bridge when you look up.
Overall, it is Worth a quick stop because of the bridge not for the park itself. However, don’t see how people can spend more than a hour here really. I missed out on the area with horses! Had no idea there were horses there.

The size alone is amazing.

As far as park goes, this park is nothing special – has some good play structures with plenty of parking spots and a few picnic tables in the shade. We found this park from a recommendation from a ranger at the campsite. Just minutes pass the Roaring Train Camp and across from the Safeway Plaza. What makes this 3 star park a 4 star are two things– the covered bridge and the Horse Farm next to it. I am actually surprise no one has Unilocal about the horse ranch? Course I have a 3 year who just love horses. After an hour of play at the play area, we took a walk thru the covered Bridge (which reminds me of that Madison County movie) – so cool! At the end of the bridge we took a left and ran into this wonderful horse ranch. Open to the public FREE (even better)! While we were there, we discovered that many of these horses were rescued horses – so cool but sad to read the stories of where each horse came from. Check out my review on «Covered Bridge Equestrian» for more photos.

This is a cute, fun little park but I started laughing when I read the other reviews because I thought the homeless tweakers might be a one off, bad experience that I had today. I guess they are a regular fixture there?
Just to give you an idea of how bad/​scary they are, normally when people smoke cigarettes and pot next to a playground, I have no problem approaching them, and asking them to move. These people are the type that you don’t feel like approaching because you get the feeling that you’ll soon end up on a «Missing» poster if you do. Yeah… I choose my battles. Which stinks because there were some really awesome families playing at the park today. Speaking of things that stink…
The port-​o-​potties were nasty. The last cleaning date listed on the door was ¹²⁄₆ and it’s now February. Yes and it looked like it. And while we are on the subject of poop… What’s with the horse poop all over the entrance to the covered bridge!!! I have fond childhood memories of that bridge attending the firmen’s pancake breakfasts, family walks, community events, etc. I was so excited to share the bridge with my own family. Once we jumped over all of the poop, we were deterred from finishing the trip over the bridge by the large group of teenagers smoking on the other side. If I had all of the money in the world, I would hire Chuck Norris to go clean out this park.

It’s a fun little park for kids near Roaring Camp Railroad when your kids are aching for more footwork and climbing than what is offered at Roaring Camp. We have been here only during the day while visiting Roaring Camp, so I cannot comment on homeless people hanging out there in the evenings or on the tweaker neighbors in the vicinity.
The equipment is new and safe, and the park is clean. And the covered bridge is cool. Plusses: sand, lawn, swings, slides, zipline. Cons: no bathrooms or water fountains.

A really cute park, as evidenced by this the fourth 5-​star review for the place. The lawn is so big and expansive, I would love to play some flag football out there with some friends. There is also a sand volleyball court, a nice playground, decent parking, and some picnic tables which my wife and I took advantage of after a long day.
The bridge itself is awesome in the truest sense of the word. It inspires awe. Massive structure, and historic to boot. Worth the drive for sure.

Located practically next door to Roaring Camp Railroads, we’ve made a habit of stopping here on our way home from Day Out With Thomas to unwind and get any last bursts of energy out before driving home. Named for the wooden covered bridge which provides an amazing and unusual backdrop for the place, this bridge was once Felton’s only road link with Santa Cruz. It remained in use until the 1930’s when a concrete span was built to carry Graham Hill road across the San Lorenzo River.
Today the bridge is the biggest curiousity in the Covered Bridge Park. My kids enjoyed chasing each other around in it and experimenting with the structure’s «echo factor.» Other amenities in the park include a cool playground complete with a rock climbing mountain, swings (including what my daughter deemed the «couch swing) and a play structure that had a bridge, big and small slides and a sort of zip line across it. There are plenty of picnic tables as well as lots of space to spread a blanket out on the grass and enjoy.