Felton Covered Bridge

Five star bridge!! High ceilings and low floors (lol). Visually very cool and fun to walk on!!! Family friendly place. The bridge connects a playground with the other side of the creek which has an equestrian center!!! You should definitely check out this cool cool bridge!

I really enjoyed visiting this covered bridge - it's one of the tallest (if not the tallest) covered bridge in America! So pretty to walk through, and we ended up at the Covered Bridge Equestrian center on the other side where we could walk around and see the cute horses and donkeys!

It's pretty cool to live in the neighborhood of historic sites and taking visitors to many local interesting places namely - The Felton Covered Bridge is a covered bridge over the San Lorenzo River in Felton, Santa Cruz County in the U.S. state of California. Built in 1892, the bridge employs a Brown truss structural system and is approximately 80 feet long 35 feet tall. The bridge became a California Historical Landmark in 1957, was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1973, and had a major restoration in 1987 after being damaged in storms in the winter of 1982. It is considered to be the tallest covered bridge in the United States, and was the main entry point for Felton for 45 years. The bridge is no longer used on the roadway, but is accessible to pedestrians visiting the Felton Covered Bridge Park. Source: wikipedia

So cute! Tucked behind a park, easy to get to but use the parking lot for the park.

Kinda like Felton's logo

Peaceful and beautiful

Great park! The Bridge itself is interesting. Nice paved walking path around the park. Has picnic and bbq area.

One star deducted from this otherwise five star review because this covered bridge ate my drone! wait, not my drone, uuuuuuhm, it was my friend "paige" who was flying her drone. Yeah, I'm posting on behalf of a friend. Yeah that's the ticket. OK so Once upon a time, in the quaint town of Felton, California, there was a curious drone enthusiast named **Paige**. Paige had a brand new quadcopter and was eager to test it out. She decided to fly it through the wooden enclosed pedestrian bridge in town. As she flew the drone, people walking by were curious about what she was doing and stopped to ask questions. instead of hovering, or landing the drone before engaging the conversation instead, she decided to show off. She didn't realize she was flying the drone too close to the wooden beams of the bridge. Suddenly, the drone crashed into one of the beams, and the sound of splintering wood echoed through the bridge. Paige's heart sank as she realized she had caused significant damage to the bridge and her drone. Paige's drone was beyond repair. Paige learned a valuable lesson that day: never fly a drone while distracted with conversation. It's a surefire way to crash and cause damage to your surroundings and wildlife all the while sending wee little children screaming and running Moral of the story: Always be mindful of your surroundings when flying a drone, and never let your guard down. Otherwise, you might end up with a hefty repair bill and a broken drone.

Aptly named. It's in Felton. There's a covered bridge. In the county. And you park. Aside from the obvious photo op, this park is not incredibly special to tourists, but it looks like a decent place for locals to throw a cheap birthday party for the easy-to-impress, pre-phone crowd for the reservable picnic area next to a playground. Apparently you can also play volleyball, access the river, and fish, but the star is the bridge. Back in 1892, the Felton Covered Bridge was the only entry into Felton, The bridge is believed to be the tallest in the country. At least that's what it said on his Bumble profile.

We had just been to Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park and were cutting through Felton on our way back to the freeway and the Eastbay. Stopped at a red light, we saw a small sign about a Felton covered bridge. Really? A covered bridge here? OK, we had to investigate... The Felton Covered Bridge Park was just down the street. We parked, didn't see any bridge immediately, got out and took a short walk through the park. There's a nice grassy play area, and a playground for kids that was well populated this Sunday afternoon. Earlier reviews mentioned this as a homeless hang out but there were no homeless today. We quickly spotted the bridge at the far end of the park and went to take a look. The covered bridge is quite impressive. Super tall, all built of very solid wood beams. It's a pedestrian bridge now, so we walked through it, our footsteps echoing while we admired the unique architecture. We exited on the other side and there found a plaque detailing the history of the bridge. Amazingly, this is considered the tallest covered bridge in America! It's also on the list of National Historic Places and is a California Historic Landmark. The original bridge was built in 1892 and restored in the 80s after damage by a devastating storm. What I couldn't figure out: why a covered bridge? Especially here? Covered bridges are needed to protect from excessive snow build up that could risk a collapse. Probably not a problem in Felton...

We were in Felton early Sunday after watching the sunrise from Mt Hermon, and we drove by the covered bridge park. Now we've been past here many times on the way to Roaring Camp when the kids were train crazy. But this park was always so crowded. Despite our interest in historical landmarks, we never made it to see this bridge. Today, however, the park was empty. The bridge was empty. The playground and parking lot were emtpy. Perfect opportunity to stop by, enjoy our coffee and pastries from the White Raven, and check out the historical markers. We were not disappointed. The first thing you notice is the size. This is a tall covered bridge, one of the tallest in the country when it was built, in 1892. Tall enough for the steam engines carrying loads of lumber. You can see the walking path in line with the bridge where the tracks must have been, linking up with the main road. Very impressive. Unfortunately, after it was retired in the 1930s, it was almost wrecked in the 1980s, so everything you see now is a restoration. Its kind of good and bad. You can see what it was like when it was built without having to worry about stepping on rotting planks. And they now take pretty good care of it. It still looks new after 30 years of retrofit.

What an incredible spot! Did you know that this is considered to be the tallest covered bridge in the United States? It was built in 1892 and restored in the late 80s. Saw some folks walking their dogs and some were working out and they were all super friendly. Check it out!

Worth checking out. Didn't know one of the oldest standing covered bridges, is just around the corner from Santa Cruz. I've seen it, but always kept driving toward downtown Felton. The day came where we stopped one morning to use their bathrooms and magically fell in love with the bridge. There is a plaque on the other side of the bridge with a summary of the history. As an added bonus, you can walk over to the horse stables to extend the special feeling of awww. There are bathrooms, that are port-a-potties. Bring TP with you, just in case they are all out. I was lucky that they had some in stock.

Friendly looking bridge! It's underwhelming lol but there's a cute park nearby where you can picnic and eat. This is pretty cool that it's the highest covered bridge in the country. Felton is a cool town. I recommend grabbing a burger nearby and eating it here (that's what I did). Clean area! And it's pretty tranquil. I can see why this is a hangout spot for some folks but I was there earlier in the day.

A gem of a small community park. This is an excellent park for toddlers, young kids, birthday parties, dog walkers and those who want to use the loop walking trail. Or to just hang out for a picnic or to relax. It's nice to wander through the bridge whenever I take toddlers to the park, which I do weekly. The pride of Felton, for sure!

I like this bridge. It allows you to look at it and walk on it (and if you'd like to take a photo - that is allowed too). On a sunny day, the cover provides a good shade. If you accidently fell down, you might stop to think how many other travelers have taken that same fall (mostly before sneakers, am I Right?). Many drawings of this bridge depict an evil being just being evil. The devil perhaps? Though I do not believe in the devil, the drawings can make you quite scared if, like me, you have anxiety. I'm not afraid of everything. I am afraid of dying. And everything can kill you. And letting someone see all of the places I have checked in can be a road map to my death, if you were following me. Thank you

This is an interesting place to visit if you happen to be in the area. It's not far from the Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park, so it's good to stop here for a short while if that's where you are headed. You will probably not stay here very long, unless you have children that want to just play in the park. The bridge is located inside a very small county park. There should be ample free parking right next to the bridge. This bridge is definitely worth seeing as it's one of the very few remaining covered bridges in California. You can walk up onto it, but it is closed to cars. It would have been nice if they had some kind of sign telling you a little more about the history of bridge. Perhaps that was there, but I did not see one. You can find some historical information, however, if you simply go online.

Love this park!!!!!!!! this is my favorite park to go to in Santa Cruz area. Lots of people playing at the park, there's a sand volleyball court (no net) green grass, bathrooms, the bridge of course, and the river under it. We went for a dip in the river I'm not exactly sure if you can do that but it was really fun and I hope to take a dip again!! Good picnic spot and Safeway is right across the street, shopping around the corner.

"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 -×2 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!"

This is a beautiful park, they have a nice outdoor play area for the kids and the bridge was cool to walk through. I say this is somewhere to get some cool pictures, not a must see but cool. They only downside would be that there seemed to be a lot of Homeless in this area.

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.

I am heartbroken by this park. I used to go to this park all the time as a small child...it was green, lush, well-kept. I have so many wonderful memories of the park being filled with kids running on the playground, the lawn, and through the covered bridge. Yet, I went there this weekend for the first time in about 10 years to show my husband one of my favorite childhood haunts, and we didn't stay for more than 15 minutes. The Sheriff's office was there (2 patrol cars) talking to someone, the parking lot reeked of marijuana, there were "unsavory characters" all over the lawn and playground area. After looking at the other Yelp reviews, it seems that in the past few years the park has become a hang-out area for the homeless population and substance users. Very, very sad. I hope this changes because it is such a shame to have such a beautiful area go to waste.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 yelp 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.

we had a nice experience on our trip one of the few covered bridges in California, free off-street parking and an adjoining park for the locals, it was well kept and we had no problems with local homeless, but sadly that has become a issue more often here in California, last couple years there has been a explosion in my town as well .

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.

It was good except the bathrooms. Didn't like that they were port a potty's. They should upgrade to regular bathrooms. I would have gave the park a five star if they had normal bathrooms.

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!

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.

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.

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 :(

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!

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.

The playground is fine, but what my grandkids really liked was playing on the covered bridge - plus observing the pigs and the horse stable just on the other side. Altogether, a great afternoon!

A nice little park with plenty of grassy expanse for your kids or canines to run around on. There's even a sandbox, a couple of slides and jungle gym equipment for the younger set. The only downer is the location: the park is situated right next door to a bunch of tiny, falling apart hovels populated by red-neck tweaker types who think nothing of screaming obscenities at you if you dare to park in front of their abodes. They're a lovely crowd: a couple of years ago one of them was stabbed in a drug deal gone bad. Another negative is all the trash left behind by Felton's homeless population, which tends to make the covered bridge their homeless depot, especially in the evenings.

An absolutely beautiful place to go, the Covered Bridge Park is a great place to hang out amongst the wooded mountains of Felton. It is close to shopping and highway so it is pretty easy to get to if you plan to get up through the San Lorenzo Valley. The bridge itself has a lot of history dating back to the 1800s. If you ever plan to visit, at least schedule a picnic in the park here. The views are absolutely breathtaking and the air is fresh and clean.

Way to many creepy jruges for me to go there but great ol bridge and playground. There great space to have picnic

My boyfriend took me here when we stopped by Felton to see this historical covered bridge. It was pretty cool bc it was really old but long lasting. There's a small park in the front entrance that leads to the covered bridge and if you keep walking and turn left after crossing the bridge, it will lead you to an equestrian area where you can see a lot of pretty horses. It's a nice place to visit, there's even a small river you can walk down to, but there's not much going on there. Just nice to see it and enjoy the peacefulness.

Great little park and amazing bridge, what is the best is across the Bridge is a bunch of horses, this is a private facility that allows outsiders (family's) to walk through the ranch and observe all the animals. Great place to take the family! Note: No dogs allowed into horse area.

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.

Great place to spend a few hours with family. Its a must to walk the historic covered bridge and to image the history of the bridge. The playground is fantastic for kids. They loved running and jumping on the play structure. The only problem I had was the fact there were no restrooms just portable restrooms. Not a fan. But if you want to spend a short time go to the park.