In the 1880s, small but powerful steam locomotives hauled loads of timber out of California’s redwood-forested coastal mountains. Today these steam engines are no longer used in logging, but several of them still operate at the Roaring Camp Railroads in Felton, carrying passengers over trestles and through the big trees, whistling and chugging along, just as they did more than a century ago.
Roaring Camp is a recreation of an 1880s logging town complete to its steam-powered saw mill and period buildings. There's a general store, depot, opera house, the smallest covered bridge in America, antique cabooses that double as food stands and offices, a tiny one-room school house that was actually used as such, a Chuckwagon barbecue and picnic grounds, logger’s skid sheds and engine houses. But the main attractions are the two railroads: a narrow-gauge track that climbs through virgin redwood forests and a standard gauge track that travels down the scenic San Lorenzo River gorge to the beach at Santa Cruz.
As the trains clickety-clack along, conductors on both routes tell stories of the railroads, of railroading, of California and of the redwoods. If this gives the impression that heritage is important to Roaring Camp, that’s because it is. This ethic began as early as 1867 when the Big Trees Ranch, on which Roaring Camp sits, became the first forest of California redwoods to be purchased to save them from the logger’s axe.
But the area’s modern history goes back even further. Fiery mountain man Isaac Graham established a "Wild and Roaring Camp" here as early as the 1830s and built the first sawmill west of the Rockies in 1842. Later, during the California Gold Rush, Bret Harte wrote "The Luck of Roaring Camp," based on a true story that happened here; it became a national best seller and made Roaring Camp famous.
Seeing the redwoods is a big reason people visit Roaring Camp. The train excursions provide one of the best and easiest ways to see the big trees. From open air passenger cars, the trees tower and spin overhead as the train winds up Bear Mountain. At the summit, passengers visit a grove of big trees where light filters through branches like rays through a cathedral's stained glass windows. More redwoods are seen from the Santa Cruz line and a level nature trail is a short walk next door at Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park.
Roaring Camp is located six miles north of Santa Cruz off State Route 17 at Mt. Hermon Rd. Steam trains operate daily except Christmas Day. More information and train timetables are available at www.roaringcamp.com or by calling (831) 335-4484.